VHS Memory Theater Review #1: Absolute Power
Purchase History: 1997 from Columbia House Video Club's Director's Selection. Director's Selection was a service in which Columbia House would choose one movie that they would automatically send to you if you were a member of their video club.
Welcome to the first installment of VHS Memory Theater. Today's movie is a Clint Eastwood thriller from 1997 called Absolute Power. I've never seen it but it's been sitting in my VHS collection since 1997. Absolute Power stars Eastwood (who also produced and directed this) as a thief named Luther Whitney caught in the middle of a scandal. The film starts with Whitney breaking into a millionaire's house. In the middle of breaking into the millionaire's safe, an unexpected guest enters the room. This person happens to be none other than Alan Richmond, The President of the United States (Gene Hackman). Somehow, he becomes a witness and a suspect in a murder involving President Richmond. There’s a lot of corruption involved and that’s all I can say. Absolute Power is the type of movie where it’s best if you don’t know too much about the plot ahead of time. There will be times where you’ll be expected to suspend your disbelief. Eastwood and screenwriter William Goldman (The Princess Bride, Misery, Butch Cassidy) know not to go too much outside the world that’s been created for this film. Acting wise, the cast is pretty impressive: there’s Eastwood, Hackman, Laura Linney, Ed Harris, Judy Davis, Richard Jenkins, Scott Glenn, E.G. Marshall, Dennis Haysbert. All in all, I see this as a film worth watching.
How does this hold up? This movie is pretty much dialogue driven and there’s not much action, so as a kid, I’m sure I would have been bored by it. Being that this is the first time I’ve seen it, it was entertaining.
Is it worth double dipping on DVD? Definitely, it’s enjoyable. I wouldn’t mind watching it again. The cast is impressive and I love the concept of the movie as well.
Would I recommend it? If you haven’t seen it, give it a chance. There are some nice surprises.
Rating: 7.5
Hint about the next movie: It stars Mel Gibson and is directed by Richard Donner. No, it's not a Lethal Weapon movie.
Chillin'
For some reason I never saw it because it just looked so uninteresting to me, but I was 5 at the time. That said, I'm glad I saw it.
When I was young I seen i was enthralled cause of the opening scene. I didn't care if it was boring. Haha later on when I was a little older. I thought it was really good. One of my favorites by Eastwood.