Absolute Power (1997) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Biographies-Cast & Crew Production Notes
Rating
Year Of Production	1997
Running Time	121:02
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	1,4	Directed By	Clint Eastwood
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Clint Eastwood Gene Hackman Laura Linney Scott Glenn Ed Harris Judy Davis Dennis Haysbert
Case	Amaray-Opaque
RPI	$24.95	Music	None Given

Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French Spanish	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    How can you go wrong when your supporting cast includes Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Laura Linney, Dennis Haysbert, and Judy Davis? Add to that mix star and director Clint Eastwood, and then have the screenplay written by William Goldman. To answer the question - you can't. Absolute Power is simply a terrific film. The story revolves around a jewel thief, played by Eastwood, who witnesses an accidental homicide whilst conducting a break and enter. To make maters worse, the offender is the President of the United States, Hackman, who, when realising there was a witness sets the Secret Service on a search and destroy mission.

    Eastwood, wearing hats as both star and director, shines in both categories. He delivers a solid, well-measured acting performance and his direction is all class. Every tense cliff-hanger moment is milked for all its worth. The screenplay by veteran William Goldman of Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid Fame is well written with believable dialogue and clever character motivation. The supporting cast are excellent with not a weak link to speak of. Hackman is always at his best when playing the villain, although Davis shines in this area also.

    Absolute Power is an engaging film that relies on story-driven thrills over splashy effects work and should appeal to fans of classic thrillers.

Video

    Absolute Power is presented in an aspect ratio of 2:35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced for widescreen televisions. This is a Region 4 NTSC transfer.

    Sharpness levels are excellent with little to no edge enhancement. Shadow detail is first rate, with nice solid blacks. There is little to no grain apparent and no low level noise problems.

    Colours are natural, vibrant and well rendered.

    There are occasional film artefacts, but nothing distracting.

    If all Region 4 NTSC transfers were this well presented, the ongoing debate on the matter would become a moot point.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Absolute Power has been given an English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track only.

    Dialogue is always clear and there are no audio sync problems.

    The musical score is credited to Clint Eastwood and Lennie Niehaus and they do a fine job. Is there anything Eastwood can't do?

    Surround channel usage is first rate - the 5.1 soundtrack makes great use of directional soundfields.

    The subwoofer enhances proceedings nicely, with ample resonance.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Biographies-Cast & Crew

    Standard PR fare.

Production Notes

    A non-taxing read spread over several pages.

    The Region 4 version of this DVD misses out on a Pan & Scan version, otherwise all versions are identical.

    Absolute Power is a well made thriller with a great cast. The disc is bare bones, but sports a nice transfer and a great audio track.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall