Customer Reviews

Power

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Maybe I just don't get it. But I've loved this film ever since I first saw it in the eighties, and was mesmerized and thrilled by the opening sequence of Mr Gere practising drumming on a practise drum skin to the music of Benny Goodman's version of SING SING SING with Gene Krupa drumming. An opening sequence does not a movie make, but I knew I was in for an exciting ride with Mr Lumet who has rarely failed to thrill me from his first film TWELVE ANGRY MEN, and thereafter with PRINCE OF THE CITY, THE ANDERSON TAPES, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, NETWORK et al. In POWER, part of the deal is to GO WITH IT, that is, willingly suspend disbelief and take the dramatic ride. For my own part the ability of Pete St John (Mr Gere) to manipulate public opinion and get politicians elected has more than a touch of truth about it and the relish with which St John does his job is fascinating to see - he's a professional without a principled bone in his being and Mr Gere (ironically a professed Budhhist) is brilliant , playing that character. He survives - one of the great lines he gives to his ex-lover (played by Ms Julie Christie) is "don't blame yourself". Those in the film who HAVE principles, either commit suicide (Senator played by the great Mr E.G. Marshall), descend into embarrassing alcoholism (Mr Hackman playing a rival media adviser wonderfully comic) or suffer the apparent loneliness and unremunerative fate of the loser (Ms Christie, though that might be stretching it a bit). I can't think of a parallel to this film but PRIMARY COLORS or NETWORK come close, although this film is superior to it. Mr Maltin, and I guess, many others, have got it badly wrong with this film, as I consider it one of the best political films of all time. It's a blast from beginning to end, fuelled by some of films greatest actors, including DENZEL WASHINGTON, superb set design, pungent writing, and great direction, not to mention GENE KRUPA's drumming. Then again, maybe I just don't get it.

This gets real technical when dealing with politics. I loved it! The cast is first rate (Gene Hackman is best), and the direction, deft (by veteran Sidney Lumet). If you want to to pay attention to details (or try to understand) it is rewarding. If you want a paranoia thriller, this ain't for you!

Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman, Richard Gere, JT Walsh and a host of other famous faces create an intense political picture. Gere is a political analyst/(person who makes a candidate look good) and he's running several campaigns. Gene Hackman is a nemesis, so-to-speak. Washington seems to meddling around in Gere's work and from there the abuse of power unfolds. This is a good film, I wouldn't say great due to long periods of slowness, but I do heartily reccommend this film.

Maybe you were wondering what Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman had done together 10 years before they tore it up under water in Crimson Tide. Maybe you were considering if Richard Gere is only an effective, impressive actor when he's mustachioed. Maybe you've been through most of Sidney Lumet's considerable resume and were mulling his lack of an overt political expose piece. Really? So was I.

Power is a great and terrible title for a film about that omniscient and universally applicable theme, the one that fascinates and infuses all relationships and all politics. It is silly to brand a story about Power with "Power" when everything about politics is about Power. If this were called "Corruption" that would be equally silly, but probably a more specific title. So, anyway, you know what this film is about.

What works in Power is its current relevance; political management gurus, message machines, advertising and marketing analysis and expertise, lobbying and for-profit advocacy, all of these things have progressively gotten worse in Washington D.C. and beyond. As a vision of a Karl Rove or James Carville type king maker I liked Power and especially Richard Gere. I can't say I am a big fan of his work, which usually plays on his whispery voice and soft eyed intimacy or menace. Hackman, as always, stands tall and though a somewhat ridiculous character-drunken, over-the-hill, sloppy, brings the combative and volatile energy that his great career is based on. Denzel is a villainous character here, tightly controlled as he always is, here he is the up and comer, the new kingmaker, duplicitous and savage. As well, there are other impressive actors doing standard work: Julie Christie, E.G. Marshall, Beatrice Straight, J.T. Walsh, etc.

This is lower, second tier, later Lumet. Much better than A Stranger Among Us, his worst film. It fits somewhere with Q & A, The Morning After, Family Business and Find Me Guilty.

Power (Sidney Lumet, 1986)

Sidney Lumet will be forever remembered for his string of pictures in the seventies beginning with Serpico (1973) and running through, depending on your point of view, Prince of the City (1981) or The Verdict (1982). After that, conventional wisdom says, Lumet fell off a cliff until the mid-2000s. Me, I think he kept going for a bit afterwards. In fact, save Dog Day Afternoon, I've always thought that Power was Lumet's finest work.

It's the story of Pete St. John (Richard Gere), a Washignton, D.C. spin doctor. Not something you can really hang a movie on, you say? Boring? Oh, no. Not in the capable hands of Sidney Lumet. He grabs an all-star cast of St. John's clients, an all-star cast of their adversaries, installs Gene Hackman as St. John's previous mentor and current rival, and simply sits back and lets an election year unfold in Ohio (with a few detours to other states and a quick trip south of the border for spice). Add in star turns from then-rising stars Denzel Washington and D. B. Sweeney, and how can you go wrong?

Power manages to be a cautionary tale about political spin that never really feels like a cautionary tale; the script and the director are far more interested in these characters, all of whom are at least a touch crazy in the head, than they are stopping every two minutes to hand us message pap. As a result, this is one of the most effective movies of its type, when it comes to getting its message across. Sound like a paradox? It's not. Message filmmakers take note, this is what you want to be doing. Lumet's light touch and the actors' uniformly good performances make this one a gripping thriller, even while you're wondering when something's actually going to happen. It never does. This is not a movie where things blow up and cars chase each other. And yet somehow it's more absorbing than most action movies. You probably missed this one back in the day, and the DVD release a number of years ago got almost no publicity. Seek it out, especially if you're a Lumet fan. **** ½

I was loving this movie until, half-way through, the disc started to jam. I tried it on another player... and no dice. I complained to Amazon... who was kind enough to send me another one... and now I have two discs with the same problem.

I already tried this disc on three players and they all start jamming in the middle of the film.

Beware!

1st half of the movie views good last half of the movie dvd locks up and pixelates no matter what dvd player i play it on. i have two dvd's of this movie and both do the same.

This holds up well and is great for a movie night with your hubbie. Richard Gere is very convincing. This movie goes to show you that Power doesn't get old. It's what everyone wants one way or the other.

This is a story about what has happened to our "government by the people". The people, that is you and I, don't choose the candidates anymore. They are chosen for us by the wealthy (from any country), and their tools are the slick image-makers who are very good at "fooling all of the people some of the time" (I quote Abraham Lincoln). The plot follows one of the tools, Peter St. John (Richard Gere) as he goes about convincing voters to put his clients in office--his always very wealthy clients. He asks top dollar and sells his talent to the highest bidder, regardless of their honesty or lack of qualification for the job. Money is his goal, and he makes lots of it. Pete St. John is the best at his job because he has a gift for understanding the hearts and minds of entire cultures--not just in the U.S., but in other countries. He has the potential to sway the world to his way of thinking, and this is his Power. The other power at work in the film is the power of money. The third power is the power of the people, but for some reason they don't use it, and the film adresses this too, but only briefly. We watch Peter work,view the moral damage he causes, and what it takes for it to finally get to his conscience. Richard Gere's personal qualities of charm and charisma serve him well in this role, and it's what kept me watching the film. There also are many highly talented actors sprinkled throughout the film, and their performances compelled me also to continue to the end. I was a bit bored otherwise, I think because in many ways the film stays on one level, no highs or lows. The climax easily slips by unnoticed. Perhaps gifted director Sidney Lumet was going for a documentary style, but it doesn't work. Too bad, because purely by accident I ended up watching the film a second time through. There is a lot of rich detail about what has become of our system of choosing leaders, and how power is used in our country and across the globe. There is a message in the story, and specifically at the end of the film. Watch it twice and you'll find it a very thoughtful film that is an effort to teach us something about ourselves as a nation.

it was in l986 at the height of the Reagan revolution and this tale of intrigue in Washington featuring Denzel as the villain (or is he?) and helmed by Sidney Lumet is worth remembering, particularly when Richard Gere and Kate Capshaw talk shop in the shower. Beatrice Straight who won an Academy Award for Network tears it up as a greedy Senate wife (of which they are too many to count) and Gene Hackman plays James Carville before there was Mary Matalin. It's a fun movie with Washington sets and Washington set pieces in terms of characters but it's all the more authentic. It even features a chair from US Senate on which presumably was sat a real Senator. Who can ask for more realism than that? When the senate candidate's wife in New Mexico clucks over her husband's appearance on camera, i can recall Bethine doing the same thing to Senator Frank Church at a taping of Meet the Press. Loved it.