'Murder at 1600' dies on-screen

For the past few weeks, heart-pounding and explosive trailers for "Murder At 1600" have burst onto movie screens and television sets everywhere. These awesome previews promise a smorgasbord of thrilling action, incredible stunts and an armful of beautiful babes.

It's just too bad the trailers were more fun to watch than the movie.

REVIEW
	Murder at 1600 At Briarwood and Showcase

"Murder At 1600" stars Wesley Snipes as Harlan Regis, a hard-nosed, smart-mouthed, Washington, D.C. homicide cop who's just stumbled upon the biggest crime of his career: A woman has been brutally murdered at the White House. But for some reason, the government is extremely unwilling to let him carry out an investigation.

Aided by reluctant Secret Service Agent Nina Chance (Diane Lane), Regis plows through hostile Secret Service agents and evidence that mysteriously surfaces or disappears, to discover a massive conspiracy plot which will affect the fate of the entire nation.

When the world violently cringed after seeing Charlie Sheen in the dumb "The Shadow Conspiracy," filmmakers thought that they would make almost the same movie, this time with Wesley Snipes as the prospective winning factor.

Granted, Snipes is a lot more entertaining than a guy who can't show his face without making people think of Heidi's "Lil' Black Book O' Names," but the plot of "Murder" is much too shallow and much too limp to be any fun.

The film's erratic pace is chunkier than year-old milk. As the underlying conspiracy behind the murder slowly emerges and the President is in dire risk of being implicated, the movie is fairly suspenseful and engaging. Unfortunately, the suspense is diluted with boring, sluggish scenes of the White House at work that seem to belong to an entirely different movie, one titled, "What Corrupt Government Officials Do When They're Trying To Pretend They're Not Pricks."

But after the film's predictable finale and the actors finish overacting, you can't help but feel sorry for "Murder At 1600," as it had the potential to be so much more.

Snipes is excellent in this movie as an intelligent and resilient action-hero. He possesses the mega-masculinity needed for this role, but shows more brain power than the usual Arnold or Jean-Claude characters.

Diane Lane is occasionally amusing as the Secret Service agent and former Olympic sharpshooter. She tends to be melodramatic and has her femininity taken advantage of by the filmmakers (one scene has her jumping off a fire escape ladder, which causes her hairband to loosen, allowing her hair to blow freely in the wind as she runs like a supermodel at a photo shoot.)

But the scenes in which Nina asserts herself as a strong female are great. One of the best scenes in the movie has Chance skillfully shooting out the lights of a hovering helicopter.

"Murder At 1600" also stars Alan Alda and Dennis Miller, two solid actors who do a fine job in this film.

The acting in "Murder At 1600" is quite good overall, but not enough to keep this movie from dying. If you are a conspiracy-movie aficionado, you may be able to find a bit of amusement in this film. But for the rest of the world, don't push your luck. You'll be much happier just watching the trailers.

Dennis Miller, Diane Lane and Wesley Snipes star in "Murder at 1600."

04-18-97