Absolute Power 1997, Rated R Warner Brothers Home Video

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Starring Clint Eastwood, Ed Harris, Gene Hackman.

Writing and directing a really clever suspense picture is pretty near impossible, and sometimes, the screenwriter and director just aren't willing to go the extra mile for us, the viewing audience, to create an end product worth seeing. In Absolute Power's case, lots of little clues are left around that the movie makers were more interested in how much money they were pulling in and with finishing production on schedule than making a movie droves of people would flock to. Time and time again, we wonder if the crew couldn't have stayed a little longer to set up the camera angle we want to see, or if the screenwriter couldn't have stayed home from just one night of clubbing and come up with an ingenious way of getting Clint's character from being killed by a sniper, even though he was in the gun sights of the rifle, instead of just having the sniper implausibly miss.

By the same token, Clint, who also directed this picture, could have suggested a thought provoking, message sending finale, instead of having the bad guy commit suicide. I call this "taking the easy way out", and Absolute Power, in every possible way, takes the easy way out.

Clint, wearing an astonishing number of really bad hats, directs and stars as a super thief who witnesses the president's secret service agents shoot and kill the president's lover. Faster than you can question why Clint is leaving the scene of the crime with Secret Service agents still in the house, this movie plods forward into more fabricated and seemingly impossible situations.

One positive in Absolute Power comes in the form of Ed Harris, who, as usual, does an excellent acting job as the cop assigned to investigate the murder. But Harris is not enough to save this film. The idea of the president committing, or being present while others commit, a crime is interesting, but it is the repercussions of this act that seem most intriguing. Rather than attack this head on, as does Murder at 1600, Absolute Power ducks down and takes the safe way home, by having the criminal commit suicide.

If you want to see a "crime in the White House" movie, Murder at 1600 is the only one to consider.