02/14/97
MOVIE REVIEW: Absolute Power
'Power' plot is absolutely hokey

**1/2 (out of five)
Starring Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Laura Linney, Scott Glenn, Dennis Haysbert, Judy Davis, E.G. Marshall. A Columbia Pictures release of a Castle Rock production written by William Goldman, directed by Eastwood. Rated R, contains violence, sexual situations, profanity. Running time: 125 minutes.

By MICHAEL JANUSONIS
Journal-Bulletin Arts Writer

Clint Eastwood's Absolute Power is a pothole-filled potboiler about a burglar who witnesses a murder committed in the presence of the president of the United States.

It makes for a thrilling opening as Eastwood breaks into a Washington, D.C., mansion to steal its jewels, hides in a closet when he hears noises, watches an assignation between the president and a young woman, then stands shell-shocked when emotions run wild and the Secret Service comes in to commit murder and cover up the mess. Soon Eastwood's Luther Whitney is on the run.

But instead of heading south of the border with a fake passport as he'd originally planned, he sticks around, baiting the president's chief of staff (Judy Davis) with trinkets taken from the crime scene. This puts him in more peril.

Meanwhile, Luther tries to make amends with his long-estranged daughter, Kate (Laura Linney), who discovers that she likes her long-absent father better than she thought.

But the acting is often wooden (Eastwood) or simply silly (Gene Hackman as the dithering president) and there's little chemistry between any of the characters. A too-carefully-laid-out shootout with three sets of guns trained on Luther at an outdoor cafe is set up so mechanically that one knows just how it will play out. Except I'd wondered how one hired gun (Richard Jenkins in a shadowy role) knew how Luther was going to be there.

It's showy hokum, with Eastwood constantly turning up in the unlikeliest moments in the most unlikely places, something one can always count on, although one must take his magical appearances at face value. The cover-up artists are anything but, leaving what they hope is a murder scene without really knowing whether their victim is dead.

The ending seems like something that was tacked on to get it all over with. Eastwood directs in matter-of-fact style, but there's no life to it. It seems a far-fetched invention.