Powder (film)

"Weve got something out here nobodys gonna believe."

"Somethings happened here. Somethings happened here. Im telling you, with everything we know, about science, about the makeup of the human body, what happened in that classroom is impossible. That kid attracted an arc of electricity from thirty feet away, and not just from the Jacobs Ladder, I mean, after a second it was like it was coming out of the whole… building."

"Everyone in this movie seems a little slow to catch on that Powder is really special. There is, for example, Duncan (Brandon Smith), the intolerant local deputy sheriff, a redneck who likes to shoot deer. The deer hardly feel a thing, he explains, but then Powder acts as a conduit to carry the deers fear and suffering into the deputy, who is so transformed that he sells his gun collection — yet still plays the heavy, making things tough on Powder. To quote Citizen Kane, there are some people who need more than one lesson. … Powder comes across as a cross between Cliff Robertsons Charly, the Elephant Man, Mr. Spock, E. T. and Jesus. He is wise beyond his years, has great compassion and insight, suffers much, and attracts intolerance and meanness even better than lightning. He is also very smart. After an I.Q. test, for example, a psychologist tells him, "All of the tests indicate you have the most advanced intellect in the history of mankind. Do you understand what that means?" (If Powders so smart, why does he have to ask?)"

"The movies mistakes are: (1) to limit Powders activities to the conventions of genre pictures, instead of exploring his effect in a more realistic world; (2) to prevent his enemies from learning from him; (3) to upstage his emotional insights with his electricity tricks; (4) to fail to explain his reality, so that there are no rules to create discipline in the plot, and (5) to expect us to be satisfied with an ending that settles less the more you think about it. The sad thing is, when movies like this fail, Hollywood executives think this proves there are no audiences for original, unusual pictures. Because they think they made one."

"I could never watch television."

"They were afraid to touch me after a while — my grandma and grandpa. They got really scared."