Dramatically and cinematically, the film is fabulous until the final third of its two hours, when everyone tries a tad too hard, from scriptwriter to director.
Comment
01/01/00
Absolute Power (1997)
46
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:39
Fresh:18
Rotten:21
Average Rating:5.6/10
Synopsis: In this slick political thriller, an emotionally disconnected, aesthetically refined master thief is out for one final score before retiring to his treasure-lined hideaway. But during a robbery at... [More]
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn
Director: Clint Eastwood
Reviews for Absolute Power
Top CriticClick to read the article
01/01/00
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06/05/02
Not one of Clint's best, but still better-than-average entertainment.
08/22/08
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10/18/08
Top CriticEastwood is perfect as the bad guy you root for because he isn't nearly as bad as the other bad guys.
01/01/00
The picture might have gotten by if Eastwood had given it some impudent wit. But he directs to the rhythm of his facial muscles.
01/01/00
Sadly, any lofty artistic aspirations are quickly undone by the sheer ill-advised audacity of the story.
01/01/00
Can't believe William Goldman wrote this crap, or that Eastwood, Hackman, Harris, and Davis bothered to get involved with it either.
06/18/02
Clint Eastwood...produced, directed and stars in this generally lunatic, occasionally pathetic and more often comically inept endeavor.
01/01/00
The script calls for no bold statements about the politics of the White House, which makes the film rather weak in purpose.
01/01/00
The plot and its resolution requires simply too much disbelief to be suspended by the audience...
08/29/03
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10/18/08
Doesn't rank with Eastwood's best work as actor/director, but it's nevertheless solidly enjoyable.
06/24/06
Lacks the consistency, depth and suspense that would put it in a league with Eastwood's best work.
01/01/00
A fairly routine thriller that gets high marks as a result of tight pacing and top-notch acting.
01/01/00
Mr. Hackman languishes in the smallish role of a White House buffoon, with Judy Davis equally cartoonish as his witchy chief of staff.
05/20/03
Top CriticEastwood films with his usual effortless pace, generating suspense practically out of thin air.
05/29/09
A pretty decent suspense movie, until its last half hour or so, which ends on a flaccid note and doesn't generate the needed resolution for the solid build-up that came before.
12/06/05
Almost a drawing room thriller, unhurried and genteel but enlivened with suspense and surprising bursts of sly, even biting, humor.
02/14/01
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