Snipes is maverick Washington DC detective Harlan Regis. Life in the US capital is never easy (there are war zones with lower violent death rates), so the last thing our hero needs is the discovery of a corpse at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue ... that's the White House to you and me. This has got to be Snipes greatest cinematic performance since Demolition Man. To begin with you get the distinct feeling that this film is going to be another Die Hard clone, but this film rests somewhere between this and In the Line of Fire. This film has some depth to it, the characters are more rounded then you would expect from the action adventure genre, but it also borrows the light humour from Die Hard. This makes for an enjoyable action adventure, plenty of turns and some great acting. The only problem I can think of with this film is that it really doesn't really end very well, without wanting to spoil the film for you I think that there are just too many shots fired and people killed, it doesn't round it off terribly well although I suppose its better than the "Scooby Doo" ending we could have been given "and it would have worked too if it hadn't have been for you meddling kids".

But that's a minor problem, as the acting and the script in other places hold this film above most other films of its genre. Its interesting and lively which is more than you could really ask for and gels together well, definitely worth a look, but you could possibly wait until it arrives on video.

Score : 7/10

Movie Link: http://www.murderat1600.com/

©1997 j-dom media

by Alex Andronov [e-mail him]