Absolute Power (1997)

Absolute Power is a film that sees a burglar witness the US President involved in a murder and the attempts by the presidents people to retrieve the evidence that would place the president at the scene of the crime. Eastwood plays Luther Whitney the burglar in question who has an estranged daughter (Laura Linney). The story spends a long time getting to the moment where the president gets involved in the murder but once it does the scene itself is quite tense and impressive.

First of all we are meant to believe that Clint Eastwood is still a burglar at the age he was then (He would have been 67) and there was a bit where he was being chased through the woods which must have been for quite some distance and didn’t seem to be out of breath seemed a little implausible to me. After the murder has been committed the story introduces Whitney’s daughter who the police are trying to use to get Whitney. I wasn’t as bothered by this as it felt like they had the desire just to add something to make the story have a bit more emotional edge which it quite frankly didn’t need.

Clint Eastwood is typically Clint Eastwood and plays the role of Whitney brilliantly. When he not on screen my mind tended to wander a little but when Clint was on screen I found myself enjoying the film. Gene Hackman was brilliant as the President and as someone who is trying to control the secret of what happened that day. He comes across as someone who tries to come across as quite dominate but actually crumbles at the first sign of pressure. Very good performance. Ed Harris tends to play bad guys and its easy to see why. In this he is totally weak and doesn’t come across convincingly as a good person. The previous years movie The Rock shows how good he can be when he is a baddie in this he seems to be uncomfortable as a good guy as he seems to bumble his way through his scenes with Laura Linney.

The thing about Absolute Power is that it’s a perfectly decent movie but lacks the punch that you would expect from a movie starring two of Hollywood’s greatest actors. The film seems quite happy to bumble along and at no point did I feel that it was building up to anything particular. The film moves along and then Gene Hackman is killed and that seems to be the end of it. That said I enjoyed it and it showed why Clint Eastwood is one of my favourite actors and is a great director. When you consider his work one thing that can sadly be said about his films it that there is always something to like.

Rating - 7/10

 

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

It’s fair to say that you wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of Clint Eastwood when he is angry and that’s exactly what happens in this film. The film is one that apparently has political themes running through it but to be honest I never really saw them myself because I was just so mesmerised by Eastwood and every time he was the screen I just enjoyed the film and when he wasn’t I just found myself wishing he were. Eastwood as an actor is impressive and most actors would love to have the canon of work that he has but what makes Eastwood stand out above everyone else is that he is a superb director and this film is no different. The story sees Josey Wales who’s wife and child are killed decides to seek revenge and joins the confederate cause.
 
As angry Eastwood films goes it’s up there. Having recently tried to the A Fistfull of Dollars and giving up it was a nice feeling to return to an Eastwood film where they didn’t have to dub (badly) over everyone except Eastwood. The plot was good, it was beautifully directed with some stunning location work and the whole film felt good. But whilst the story may seem to be about one man seeking revenge it must be said that the film has much more going for it. Things don’t seem to be happening because of Wales’ involvement, that there is always a sense that Wales would be happiest with his wife and child at home, not trapesing around the American countryside. 
 
The plot is relatively simple and straight forward yet it works tremendously well with the film being livened up by several humouros characters. The first being Chief Dan George who has been obviously had some turmoil in his life yet is still willing to be helpful. He has this underlying comedy tone that works wonders in this film. Another funny character was Grandma Sarah who comes across as very odd but again I found her comedic tone very good.
 
Eastwood has a great eye for style and gives us some lovely scenes and as always with an Eastwood film what we get is a sense that he has a firm handle on the whole film but my only real issue is that at 135 minutes it could have done with a few minor trims and it could lose about 20 minutes but apart from that what we get is a very good film that has a nice plot, nice direction and some strong characters that I liked and enjoyed when they were on camera. As Eastwood films go its one that I would say is in the middle of his collection, not rubbish but certainly not one of his classics.
 
Rating: 7/10

J Edgar (2012)

I have heard mixed things about this film which tells the life of J Edgar Hoover who was the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Leonardo Di Caprio plays Hoover and this film is directed by Clint Eastwood. This story does a lot to try and be fair to J Edgar, the problem is that at the end of it there was no clear opinion that we are suppose to take away from it. The performance of Di Caprio is quite good and like Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, the performance is better than the film.

Another problem that I had with the film was the prosthetics. In an attempt to make Di Caprio and Hammer look older, they have to appear older and it just doesnt work for me. It is better on Di Caprio than Hammer but neither could be considered a success. That said it was a better film than I was expecting and I dont know what the exact running time was but at no point did it drag. The performances from Di Caprio and Hammer were solid and it was nice to see Judi Dench and was happy that she got more than a fleeting appearance like she did in Pirate 4.

J Edgar is not a bad film but I was hoping for something a bit more from it. I will be getting it when it comes out on DVD.