14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An impressive, tantalizing thriller, March 27, 2004
Once again I find myself praising a movie that a majority of folks seem to view as average at best. Murder at 1600 is a serious movie that you can't take too seriously, not if you want to enjoy it. Wesley Snipes has a few humorous bits, and Dennis Miller is his normally wisecracking self, and I think the movie perhaps benefits from this remote air of unreality due to its subject matter - after all, the brutal murder of a young woman inside the White House is some pretty serious stuff. The other main aspect of the film, which supplies the motive for the murder in the first place, is - granted - a little bit out there, and that is where the subtle sense of unreality pays dividends; without it, it would really be hard to get from here to there.
Carla Towne is a young unknown White House staffer - until her body is found in a White House restroom sporting a number of deadly knife wounds. This is not good news for the President, who is already bottoming out in the polls for still attempting to negotiate, six months into the crisis, the release of an AWAC crew captured and obviously tortured by the North Koreans. Wesley Snipes plays Detective Harlan Regis, the investigator summoned to the White House to investigate the murder. The Secret Service as an organization is less than friendly and cooperative, viewing the White House as its beat alone. Except for his buddy and sometimes partner (played by Dennis Miller), Regis is pretty much on his own. The tight-lipped and intimidating Nick Spikings (Daniel Benzali), the chief of White House security and definite contender for the next Lex Luthor look-alike contest (his Marlon Brando impersonation isn't half bad, either) assigns Agent Nina Chance (Diane Lane) as Regis' liaison with the Secret Service. Spikings doesn't mess around, and once he has tabbed an individual for the murder, he wants Chance to have nothing to do with Regis. The detective is pretty persistent, though, and Chance has to weigh her sense of duty against her sense of justice.
The list of suspects is quite fluid, and I think the movie does a very good job of sustaining suspense and the sense of mystery throughout. The facts as Regis acquires them make not only the President's philandering son, but the President himself possible suspects. Then you have the crisis with North Korea coming to the fore, with the President really frustrating his top advisors with his incredibly wimpy refusal to risk war with North Korea over the military hostage crisis. The truth, when it comes, does push the envelope to some degree, but it is certainly logical in the given context. I didn't ID the real bad guy any sooner than Regis and Chance did, so that to me is a good thing.
A great mystery, plenty of action, power politics, lust, murder, conspiracy inside conspiracy: Murder in 1600 offers the viewers all of this and more. The ending itself is well done in my opinion, as well. Thus, this reviewer counts this as an impressive and very entertaining thriller.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
CAPITOL PUNISHMENT, April 27, 2005
It's a dark and stormy night at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Under the eternally captured eyes of Washington and Jefferson, a lovely young blonde is having sex in one of the rooms in the White House. Soon a maid discovers her body in a stall in the restroom. She has been stabbed to death. Uh-oh, is this going to be a problem or what?
MURDER AT 1600 has a lot of incredible plot contrivances that don't work unless you go ahead, suspend your belief, and enjoy the ride. Dwight Little's competent direction allows us to do that. Remember, it's just a movie, and even though its plot seems a bit far-fetched at times, it works as an engrossing thriller. Wesley Snipes is convincing as a no-nonsense DC homicide detective who forces himself onto the investigation, which should have been federally handled since it took place on Federal property. But then we wouldn't have had a movie. Diane Lane in a rare "action" role is marvelous as Dena Chance, the secret service liaison who realizes a cover up is going on. Daniel Benzali (from the critically acclaimed but short-lived tv series MURDER ONE) chews up the scenery as the head of security and the always delightful Alan Alda gives fine support as the head of NSA. It was nice to see the still lovely Diane Baker as the First Lady (I remember her so fondly from those 60s tearjerkers and of course as the murderess in STRAIT JACKET); Ronny Cox is an appropriately wimpy president; and Tate Donovan does well in the underdeveloped role of the president's sexually promiscous son.
This is one of those aw heck, what the heck kind of movies. It's fun to watch and I enjoyed it.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just as good as Absolute Power., July 15, 2000
This is the first murder mystery film to have the White House as the location of the crime. This is what makes the film more suspenseful and interesting. I have this DVD and I really like this movie. It's really worth watching.
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