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Power Play
An investigative reporter links the deaths of three people to a high profile corporation, while scientists working on their privately funded research project are forced to look beyond their work and face realitytheir experiments may be the cause of a series of killer earthquakes. The corporation will stop at nothing to keep this secret from becoming public.
Release : | 2002 |
Rating : | 3.5 |
Studio : | American Cinema International, |
Crew : | Art Direction, Production Design, |
Cast : | Dylan Walsh Alison Eastwood Tobin Bell Frank Birney Boti Bliss |
Genre : | Action Thriller |
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Reviews
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
It's just breathtaking in it's awfulness-- you really must see it!Depending on your perspective, Dylan Walsh is either the savior or the problem here: since he's the only one on screen that can actually get his lines out with something akin to natural cadences and inflection, he either ruins the movie by pointing up everyone else's flaws, or he saves it by providing some context for their awfulness.I'm inclined to the later view-- thanks to him, it works as high comedy. He's the 7 footer in a game of dwarf basketball, his skill set just doesn't apply in this context, and his discombobulation is delicious.The real treat though is Ms. Eastwood, whose inability to speak in plain English is so pervasive I actually googled her, expecting to learn that she was a Russian beauty who pronounced her lines phonetically, with no understanding of their meaning. But no: she's just a talent free American who will leave you laughing with every line she drops. Whether she knew what the lines meant must remain an open question.
This fast-paced, over-the-top comic-book-styled film seems to be rather unpopular here. I watched it last night, didn't know what to think of it, read all the user comments, still wasn't sure.So I re-watched it this Sunday morning, and guess what? I started to like it! Unlike the first time's puzzlement, I felt joyful anticipation for the more remarkable scenes (just brief hints: gas station, cemetery, sushi place, baseball bat...) The "stock footage" taken from Dante's Peak (which I haven't seen yet) was of course impressive, the home-made disaster scenes less so.Being a big fan of Clint Eastwood, I of course welcomed his daughter Alison. Not earthshaking, but a nice face to look at, and at times I tried to find family similarities. The face I liked most was Sara's neighbor's. Oh, and the lobby security man..But the baddies were best! Dangerous yet incompetent brutes one can love to hate, up to the CEO. Also interesting that this film is mostly Brazilian (check the end titles), with possibly just a 2nd unit for LA location shots.I won't watch this film again today or tomorrow, but certainly at a later time. Imperfect and silly as it is (take just the mysterious "laser" which in effect is a UV lamp), it has endeared me already :^) As to mindless violence: yes, there is plenty (reminding me of Lasse Spang Olsen, or Takashi Miike). There is no real moral, and, as Matt says in the end, there isn't even a story here. Still, I had my fun, and will again.
While channel surfing, we found this movie with its promising synopsis. We were dismayed at the flat acting, and formulaic storyline. We found amusing the exploding car scenes, unbelievable shoot outs, and sets that crash down with the weight of tyro-foam and cardboard. What was even more hilarious was seeing all the recycled scenes from "Dante's Peak", where the church front falls on the school bus, the store fronts break away from the main street, the overpass collapsing, and the red truck speeding down the alley way as the bricks fall down on it. It was a good laugh although unintended, and leaves the viewer wondering if it was not originally intended as a low budget spoof of disaster films.
I loved this film. It is very exciting and has a lot of great action scenes (many earthquakes, chases, etc.) It moves really fast--never boring for a moment. Dylan Walsh is very cute and very good in the film. Clint Eastwood's daughter, Alison Eastwood is the love interest. She's > O.K. but not as good as the other actors in the film. I would highly recommend this film if you enjoy fast paced action movies.