On P List of Movie Reviews
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Power (1986)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
10/23
10/23:
I'm upgrading my rating from '3' to '8' for Power.
Working my way through many Richard Gere movies lately, I'm starting to realize how underrated of an actor he is, having
shown a great deal of range while keeping his drama chops in check. In a way, Richard Gere revives his Julian Kay persona
for Pete St. John who's only interested in making big bucks by delivering results in the political arena.
What's interesting is the emergence of Denzel Washington's shadowy figure, somebody with secret foreign ties who wants
to see a certain person coming through which ultimately didn't work. It's in contrast to
his usual body of work during the 90's and onward. Therefore, a dimension has been retroactively added to Power.
The biggest mistake Sidney Lumet made is being idealistic, that is, when Pete St. John has a change of heart by deciding to
back the candidates he likes the most because of their righteous platform, hence the episodic nature of the second half (by
the way, what happened to Cepeda?). I don't think so because it never happens in the real world. The bottom line is: it's
all about money and power. The director will repeat the same theme in
Night Falls on Manhattan.
All in all, Power is a solid, if unfocused, picture about politics with uniformly good performances, but to follow
what's going on will require strict attention.