The First Power (1990)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

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.

Before I go into an explanation of this movie, I will discuss the belief system behind this movie. Basically it comes from the ancient Persian religion of Xorastrianism. Some people still follow this religion (such as the late Freddy Mercury) and it is focused around two gods, a good god and an evil god. These two gods are of equal power and are at constant war with each other. Some people believe that Christianity evolved out of this religion, but it did not. More likely this religion evolved out of Judaism. The reason I say this is because Satan is nowhere near as powerful as God, and even though he has a immense amount of influence in this world, he cannot do anything without God's say so. Job 1&2 show us how Satan has to get God's permission to inflict suffering onto Job, and even then God tells Satan how much he is allowed to do. Has God go the right to do that? Well if we read the book of Job through we learn that through his suffering, Job is strengthened in his faith, and the blessings he receives at the end far outweighs anything that could have happened to him. Some say God is not powerful and is not in control because of the suffering that occurs in this world, but the truth is that a lot (but not all) of the world's suffering is because of us, humanity.Anyway, the theology behind the First Power is that God and Satan are of equal powers and give gifts to people to do their will. Satan's power in the world is growing but the church does not want to get involved. He has given a man, Channing, the power of possession. He is killing people in the city of Los Angeles in the form of a Pentegram, but a Psychic, Tess Seaton, can see it. A cop, Russell, is pursing Channing and captures him with the help of Tess, on the condition that he does not receive the death penalty. Russell ignores this and Channing is executed. Because of his power, Channing returns in spirit form and can possess people. If the body is killed then he can possess somebody else. He is practically immortal, and now he is after Russell and Tess.This movie is good as an action movie, but there are a lot of flaws in its logic. It claims that Channing is seeking the power of resurrection to gain immortality, but because he can possess people he does not need to be resurrected. He can gain fleshly pleasures where ever he goes anyway. It claims that Jesus has all three powers, but Jesus may have been able to tell the future and he rose from the dead, but he never possessed anybody. It also assumes that Jesus was a man blessed with powers by God, when Jesus was in fact God himself.The psychology of the film is interesting because Channing constantly plays with Russell and Tess. He is very powerful as is and gets into his victim's minds and twists what they see. He can alter what they see so even though he is possessing a body, he can alter what his victims see so they don't know who he is possessing at the time. What is really impressive about Channing is that way he constantly mocks and plays with his victims. He is not insane, he is just corrupt with power and he knows that he cannot be killed. And the people he possesses are practically dead anyway.Even though there are some flaws in the movie, I do like it. The ending leaves you wondering whether he is dead or not, as we know that he was killed before and he came back. Russell and Tess are forced to the edge of sanity and begin to wonder what is happening. Russell begins to question his faith again, while Tess finds herself unnerved and thrust into Russell's arms. At first they fight, but when Channing's power is fully realised, they realise that they need each other. Especially when Tess fortels Russel's death. This is a decent movie, it is a shame that it only appears on at midnight.

"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

Detective Russell Logan(Lou Diamond Phillips)has a major problem on his hands. The serial killer, Patrick Channing(Jeff Kober), for whom psychic extraordinaire Tess(Tracy Griffith)helped him capture, has been resurrected with The First Power(..given to him by Satan after his execution in the gas chamber)and can possess the bodies of the weak. Somehow, Russell, who joins forces with Tess(..who has an understanding of what they are up against), will have to stop Channing or many women will continue to die at his bloody hands. They will seek help from Sister Marguerite(Elizabeth Arlen)who has tried to inform her superiors in the Catholic church of The First Power, but has been denied access to a weapon that can stop Channing..a cross with a blade that can penetrate the heart of Channing ridding the world of his evil. She'll take it anyway and lend a helping hand to Russell, who'll need all the help he can get when Channing kidnaps Tess preparing her for some sort of Satanic ritual/ceremony.In the film, Mykelti Williamson, always a reliable welcome supporting actor, gets the partner of Russell role..so you know what will happen to him. As in films of this type, everyone around Russell is dying, but when he attempts to kill Channing, he's merely murdering the weak host of some other poor soul he possesses.Pure occult rubbish..stupid from the gate to the finish line. Phillips and Griffith try, I'll give them that, but in a flick like this they don't stand a chance. Kober, who is normally often always effective as the heavy, is really handed nothing more than a goofy villain who leaps in the air and tosses rotten quips.