Matho
The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.
SnoopyStyle
Sister Marguerite is convinced that the events of the Revelation is occurring but her superiors would rather ignore it. An anonymous woman calls LA police detective Russell Logan (Lou Diamond Phillips) with a tip on a serial killer. His team catches serial killer Patrick Channing (Jeff Kober) who is eventually put to death. The mysterious woman had warned against the death penalty. Channing's spirit lives on and is killing Logan's team one at a time. Tess Seaton (Tracy Griffith) reveals herself to be the psychic who called him with the tips.This is filled with the leftovers of a supernatural serial killer thriller. It doesn't have much in the way of originality or surprises. The style is pretty bland and Lou Diamond Phillips is second rate as the action lead. Tracy Griffith is a pretty woman but not a great actress. The beginning is tied up with an uninvolving serial killer case. It would probably be better to leave most of it as flashbacks. It needs to get the movie to the cop and the psychic much faster. It does have some fun with a supernatural killer and the movie keeps me somewhat interested. If it commits more fully with the Jason-like killer, this could be a better horror and a more exciting thriller. The horror effects are more cheesy than scary. It does have one good sequence in the middle.
dworldeater
The First Power is a solid and suspenseful mix of horror and action starring Lou Diamond Phillips. LDP plays Russell Logan, a tough LA detective on the trail of a serial killer that carves pentagrams in the chests of his victims.Logan gets his man with the aid of a smoking hot redhead named Tess played by Tracy Griffith. Tess warns Logan not to pursue the death penalty on Channing. The Pentagram Killer, played excellently by Jeff Kober gets marched to the gas chamber anyways.What Logan did not know is Satan's most favored serial killer has been granted supernatural powers of resurrection and possession. Channing then goes on a killing spree throughout LA while taunting Logan in the process. Totally evil and virtually unstoppable. Channing , Satan's helper is an awesome villain who seems to take great pleasure in his work. Great dark and ominous score as well as suspense and action . I remember really digging The First Power upon its release and it still holds up . Great supernatural thriller.
slayrrr666
"The First Power" is a certainly decent entry that really could've been much worse.**SPOILERS**Following a rash of supposedly Satanic slayings, police officer Russell Logan, (Lou Diamond Phillips) is given information about Patrick Channing, (Jeff Kober) a killer suspected of the crimes. Managing to catch the killer with help of his partner Oliver Franklin, (Mykelti Williamson) they get him executed. Shortly afterward, psychic Tess Seaton, (Tracy Griffith) comes forward that he wasn't supposed to be executed, but now that he has, they're all in great danger. When he manages to kill several other police officers shortly after, he becomes even more attached to the case. When Tess and Russell begin to work together, they find that he has acquired The First Power, a special ability that will allow him to resurrect his spirit for any purpose he wants. Determined to end his reign of terror once and for all, they race to atop him before he is able to gain immortality from his powers.The Good News: This wasn't as bad as it really could've been. This is mostly due to it's big pacing. The first half isn't concerned with searching for the killer, who is now thankfully apprehended in the first twenty minutes. That puts the escape shortly after, and the rest of the film is simply devoted to chasing the killer down. The chases aren't that bad either, with a car chase through a crowded parade route being particularly impressive. That it goes from there to a foot chase inside a giant high-rise isn't bad, and it concludes with one of the greatest stunts in the genre that has to be seen to be believed. Other chases, especially those through the sewer system being propelled by a torrent of raging water and a particularly tense hotel passage way standing out from the others. These are perfectly inserted into the film at the best interval from the previous one to keep the action going and the pace going forward, as it seems like the film never really stops at all once the killer gets out. That's the proper way to keep the audience guessing, since it's unknown what will come next, a foot chase, a car chase or a shootout, and that also keeps them in the film due to it never seeming to slow down at all. The chases are kept perfectly spaced out, leaving enough time for the plot points in between to feel naturally brought up and for the film to feel like it just whizzes by because of the amount of time taken up because of them. It does have some somewhat interesting kills, including several slit throats, a victim set on fire, a stabbing in the chest, being impaled on a pile of pipes after being thrown onto them and a dunking in a bat of acid. The most impressive, though, is when one of them is trampled by a horse, who repeatedly steps on them and begins pounding away. It's a really impressive and creative one, and that it leads into a marvelous chase isn't something to dismiss. The constant dream-scares are slightly annoying, yet they provide some genuinely thrilling moments and get the best scares in the film. Whether that's good or bad is debatable, but they look good regardless. Certainly not as bad as it easily could've been.The Bad News: There isn't much wrong with this one. Most of it's flaws stem from it's complete inability to make sense of anything. There's a real lack of explanation here given for anything here, and it makes the story look really bad. The most obvious one is a flub about what power the killer actually has. This is given when the differences are stated about the three powers that God or Satan can bestow on their disciples. The "first power" being resurrection, the "second" is seeing the future, and the "third power" is the ability to take over another person's body. That, though, is exactly what the killer has. Time and again, this shows us that the killer is possessing victims rather than simply bringing himself back from the dead. This also brings up the fact that it's never given how the killer is connected with any Satanic powers at all. There's nothing given about the connection other than a few demonic carvings. That's not a strong connection, and it's all we get. The reason why they escaped from the prison isn't given either. It just happens and nothing is stated how it happened. This lack of explanations is the film's only real flaw, and it's the one that knocks it down the most.The Final Verdict: While this makes no sense at all and contains tons of plot inconsistencies, it's at least packed with enough action and stunts to keep it watchable. Check your mind at the door and enjoy, otherwise skip it as there's nothing here that hasn't been seen before in much better made films.Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and Brief Nudity
mobile707
Obviously, a movie like First Power cannot be taken seriously on all levels. But if a viewer is willing to judge it on its own terms, I think there were a few strong scenes in its favor: 1. The scene-- near the beginning of the movie-- where the nun alerts the bishop of her concerns. I particularly enjoyed how the bishop tries to envision how the press will portray the Church if he goes public. One can sense that this man has been burned by the media before, and dreads having to say anything "weird" or "controversial" in front of the cameras.2. The scene where L.D.P. is in confession, and the priest morphs into someone else. The priest's response ("First, I must ask a question of my own") was very effective, and the fact that L.D.P. admits that he has fallen away from the Church shows that he is slowly realizing that he is confronted with something/someone that his own world-view (which is implicitly agnostic) cannot explain or understand.3. The scene where L.D.P. dreams of the execution in the gas chamber-- interesting because the audience thinks it's "real"...I disagree with the other reviewer who could not understand why the villain did not move on to "more important" stuff instead of toying with Phillips. I imagine that corrupting the cop's soul was at the very top of his agenda from the start.Anyway, 1st-Power is hardly a classic, but I thought it did stand out from the crowd of horror-thrillers.
