Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 28, 1995                   TAG: 9510310015
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EXCELLENT ACTING CAN'T OVERCOME FLAWS IN 'POWDER'

First, there's the music. Even in simple scenes, the orchestral score rises to ridiculous dramatic levels, overinflating the low-keyed action. Then there are the settings. It's impossible to tell whether key scenes take place in a public school or a mental institution. Finally, there's the matter of plot. Writer-director Victor Salva comes up with several possibilities but doesn't stick with any of them.

The title character (Sean Patrick Flanery) is an albino teen-ager who's discovered in the basement of a Texas farmhouse after the death of his grandfather. It doesn't take counselor Jessie Caldwell (Mary Steenburgen) and Sheriff Barnum (Lance Henriksen) long to realize that Powder's intelligence is even more extraordinary than his pigmentation. He's a genius whose isolation has left him with no social skills. Instead, he has weird electromagnetic powers that come into play when bullies attack.

He also has to handle disbelieving public officials, a racist deputy (Brandon Smith) and a pretty red-headed girl (Missy Crider). And what about the sympathetic science teacher (Jeff Goldblum), the sheriff's dying wife and his estranged son, and out-of-season hunting? Salva touches on all those issues, and comes up with a single answer to all of them - insensitive father.

Having arrived at that unsatisfying and simplistic answer to his muddled conflicts, Salva then cops out with an absolutely silly special-effects conclusion.

Salva actually did a better job with his last effort, ``The Nature of the Beast'' (reviewed in the video column below), but he has generated more controversy for an earlier conviction on a morals charge that has recently been made public. It's drawing attention to ``Powder'' that the film really doesn't deserve.

Despite uniformly excellent performances in the leads and supporting roles, the film's glaring flaws are insurmountable. Remarkably similar material was treated more effectively in a recent episode of television's ``X Files.''

Powder * 1/2

A Hollywood Pictures release playing at the Valley View Mall 6 and Tanglewood Mall Theatre. 111 min. Rated PG-13 for strong language, subject matter, brief nudity, violence.