Bradford Tatum, Brandon Smith (I), Jeff Goldblum

A young bald albino boy with unique powers shakes up the rural community he lives in.

Flixster Users

69% liked it

47,057 ratings

PG-13, 112 min.

Directed by: Victor Salva

Release Date: October 27, 1995

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: August 10, 1999

Get It:

Stats: 1,910 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Your Rating



clear rating

Flixster Reviews (1,910)


  • August 10, 2008
    Really sad movie, but it's very realistic in the way people treat those who are different. It makes you realize how much you take for granted.
  • June 3, 2008
    Sean Patrick Flanery plays Powder; an albino who was born shortly after his mother was killed by a lightning strike. Because of this, Powder is gifted with the ability to generate and channel electricity, and is also clairvoyant to an extent. Shunned by his father, Powder is sent...( read more) to live with his grandfather, who dies leaving Powder in the hands of Jessie Caldwell (Mary Steenburgen) who runs a school. Because of his odd appearance, Powder is shunned by most of the other students and quickly becomes an outcast. The supporting cast are good too Lance Henriksen's leather-beaten roughness is well-suited to the Southern sheriff part and Jeff Goldblum gives another of his appealingly hyped performances. It is a slick little piece, perhaps a little burdened with clichés, that frequently points to the director Victor Salva's roots in thriller/horror films. These visual references stop the film from becoming too saccharine and help to build tension effectively. Unfortunately, his previous films weren't the only aspect of the director's past that shadowed him into this film.
  • January 15, 2008
    Great performances but stupid, unrealistic, illogic, lame, poorly developed plot. An awful movies... but the performances are really cool.
  • August 6, 2007
    sigh, I cried like a little baby the first time, the second, the third...you get the point
  • July 31, 2007
    Wow, here's a movie that had completely excaped my memory. I hated the crap out of it!
  • November 23, 2009
    Recommended by WitchfulThinking.
  • November 19, 2009
    Reccomended to me, by a good friend. have to check this out, by "Peaceful Warrior" director, Victor Salva(The Book changed his life after what he did during his clown movie, If you haven't heard about it already;the book saved his life while in jail)
  • November 19, 2009

    ...( read more)style="width:280px;">




    POWDER (1995)
    GENRES: FANTASY, SCI FI, WEIRD, DRAMA
    DIRECTED BY: Victor Salva
    FEATURING: Lance Henriksen, Jeff Goldblum, Mary Steenburgen, and Sean Patrick Flanery
    PLOT: A supernaturally gifted teen misfit fights against the grain when he is forcibly integrated into a callous, backward community. A strange blend of fantasy and drama, Powder has shadings of The Enigma of Casper Hauser, Carrie, and The Man Who Fell To Earth.

    COMMENTS: In a situation reminiscent of Casper Hauser's enigma, Jeremy Reed (Flanery) is discovered sequestered in his grandmother's basement upon her death in a Podunk Texas town. A bright, sensitive boy, he has been raised without contact with the outside world with which he is acquainted only through books. He happens to be albino, and not just like Edgar Winter. He is mime white.

    Additionally he is hairless . Because of his unsettling appearance he attracts the unbecoming nickname, "Powder." He also seems to attract static electricity. Because of his appearance his father rejected him and his grandparents sheltered him, thus his contact with the outside world is novel and very troublesome for Powder and for others.

    The film opens with his premature birth after when his mother is struck by lightening. This turns out to be foreshadowing because the concepts of electricity and energy are dispersed throughout the film. Clues are provided that Powder's body exudes some sort of interactive electromagnetic field.

    Wrist watches run backward when he's upset, televisions overload with static, and other electric and electronic devices run haywire. In a discussion with his teacher, the instructor tells Powder that Einstein allegedly said he wasn't sure death exists because energy never ceases to exist, and that if man ever reaches a point where he can use all of his brain, he would be pure energy and not need a body. This catches Powder's attention.

    Powder is technically still a minor . He is not exactly the picture of redneck conformity. Ideally he needs to be in a progressive, tolerant environment. So of course the local authorities lock him up in a violent rural boys home that seems to be more of a reform school than an orphanage. As one can imagine, he is welcomed with open arms by the crude, hostile ruffians. Well not exactly. They harass and torment him incessantly with murder in their collective eye.

    While he is a ward of the state, two staffers played by Steenburgen and Goldblum try to help him. Powder takes aptitude tests. His unusually high scores indicate that he has a profound intellect, but nobody believes it. His test results are challenged by a panel of hostile state goons. Meanwhile, his tormenting bullies in the state boys home discover that he can defend himself with seemingly telekinetic-like electromagnetic powers.

    Powder assists a dying woman like a faith healer. This seems to add a religious element to the film which complicates efforts to comprehend Powder's true existential nature. While his invitro exposure to lightening has evidently bestowed him with electromagnetic powers, he has others as well, such as apparent psychic ability. Difficult to classify and out of his element, Powder is like an alien who has been displaced and stranded.

    As Powder and the confused, disturbed locals continue to clash, the chasm grows wider as many become awed by or fearful of his unusual talents. All Powder wants to do is go home and live in seclusion. He escapes and tries to do so, but his family property has been foreclosed upon. Some town officials encourage him to run away and others want him back in the boy's home.

    Near the end of the story there appears to be some suggestion that Powder is just too unique for this world and Powder is portrayed a little bit like a Christ figure. It is dubious that this is really what the film makers had in mind. Powder is a science fiction fantasy about nonconformity and social rejection, not a religious allegory. Like the subject of Brian DePalma's Carrie, Powder is gifted and different, ostracized and misunderstood.

    However Powder does not take spectacular revenge based on seething resentment, Instead he strives and strives to escape somehow, always trying to find a away to transcend his dilemma. The conflicts, uncertainty, tension and turmoil come to a flashpoint when a huge thunderhead approaches town and Powder rushes into the storm. In a spectacular cinematic sequence many uncertain elements of Powder's riddle merge in an unexpected way that is unconventionally conclusive and magical.





    POWDER - (1995) - CLIP - CLICK TO PLAY
  • October 22, 2009
    kinda weird but awesome none the less
  • October 5, 2009
    This is a movie about an albino boy who grows up in a well protected home. When his parents pass away he's no longer allowed to live in his ''safe place''. It turns out that this guy has very unique powers and this disturbs many of the town's citizens. A very touching story with ...( read more)great morality issues.

Critic Reviews


No recent reviews.

Comments


  • meatball101
    February 2, 2007
    it was one of the most beautiful films i have ever seen i couldnt stop crying
  • nereidrain
    October 31, 2006
    beautiful film i.e the main character.. most of the others especially the bitch annoyed the crap out of me.. she was in whats eating gilbert grape and uh i've despised her ever since lol.. i think he was a damned beautiful albino

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Official Trailer

More Like This


Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Edward Scissorhands
    Edward Scissorhands (60%)
  • The Trip to Bountiful
    The Trip to Bountiful (50%)
  • Napoleon Dynamite
    Napoleon Dynamite (100%)
  • Phenomenon
    Phenomenon (71%)

Facts


No facts approved yet. Be the first

Powder : Watch Free on TV


Powder Trivia


  • In The Movie "Powder" Sean Patrick Flannery Plays What Kind Of Person?  Answer »
  • Which movie is the story of an albino teenager who has special powers?  Answer »
  • In "The Wirard Of Oz", the man who was originally supposed to play the Tin Man was hospitalized when he got poisoned from aliminium powder!  Answer »
  • In Wayne's World, what does Wayne mean by 'baking powder'?  Answer »

Recent News


No recent headlines. Got one?

Most Popular Skin


No skins yet. Interested in creating one?