Absolute Power is an absolute treasure to those who love a well-told tale of greed and the lust for power.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 23, 2025

A Clint Eastwood film that lays out the ingredients for a well-made political thriller, but its lack of intrigue and calculated effect throws the mix into an unfinished sketch. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Dec 7, 2021

Eastwood the director sets a pace so poky that grannies with walkers seem fleet in comparison. Of course, this makes the many plot holes and implausibilities all the more evident...

Full Review | Jun 25, 2020

Clint Eastwood as producer-director-star strikes out in a rather slack thriller that oddly recalls a couple of Hitchcock's lesser movies, To Catch a Thief and Topaz.

Full Review | Jun 25, 2020

Absolute Power is... fresh out of the clichés that reduce most thrillers to formula.

Full Review | Jun 25, 2020

Credibility is the main casualty of the piece, but William Goldman's taut script is well realised by thoughtful direction and the high-calibre cast.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 25, 2020

"Absolute Power" is appealingly untrendy: no car chases, no explosions, no nubile strippers. There isn't even a single character in the movie under 30.

Full Review | Jun 25, 2020

An ingenious, taut thriller beset with narrative gaps and unconvincing moments.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 25, 2020

"Absolute Power" is not a "must-see." But if you're looking for a well-made, grown-up movie, it's worth your time and money.

Full Review | Jun 25, 2020

Absolute Power is one of those evil-in-high-places thrillers that hums along nicely while the crimes are being committed, and sputters while they're being solved.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jun 25, 2020

It's more effective than expected - aside from the scenes of excessive sex and violence, that is - mainly because Eastwood gives one of the most deeply felt performances of his career.

Full Review | Jun 25, 2020

"Absolute Power" wanders. Yet, the movie is worth seeing simply because of Eastwood's presence, his (and Green's) camera, his excellent cast.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 25, 2020

It's let down by a wildly implausible script... but it's still enjoyable, and the sleaze theme is nothing if not timely.

Full Review | Jun 25, 2020

Eastwood has infused Absolute Power with a predictably deliberate sensibility that fits the material quite well...

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 9, 2019

Eastwood is at his effortless, slyboots best: he deftly cranks up the suspense at the beginning, but by the end he's cruising along so briskly that he can afford to throw away the climactic, violent scenes other directors would belabor.

Full Review | Mar 2, 2018

A reasonably engrossing and entertaining suspenser for most of its running time that is undercut by too many coincidences and some whoppingly far-fetched developments in the home stretch.

Full Review | Jul 6, 2010

...Eastwood makes what he can of a nifty, though implausible, what-if idea.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | May 24, 2010

Eastwood films with his usual effortless pace, generating suspense practically out of thin air.

Full Review | May 29, 2009

Frequently fun, but glossy tosh.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 18, 2008

The plot is a doomsday version of Bill Clinton's Paula Jones problem, but the theme is impending mortality--settling scores before time's up.

Full Review | Aug 22, 2008