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Extreme Measures
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Hugh Grant's best comedic performance may have been last year's "Notting Hill", but his best dramatic performance was in director Michael Apted("The World Is Not Enough")'s overlooked 1996 drama, which I also considered one of that year's best pictures. Grant's plays Guy Lutheran, a stressed, overworked doctor at New York's Gramercy Hospital. The first choice we see him make is early on in the movie, where he only has one bed available and has to choose between a police officer who's been shot or the drug addict who shot him. He only has seconds to decide and even though both patients are alright in the end, whether or not his choice was right bothers him.
Lutheran is a quickly rising doctor in the medical community and has a promising career ahead of him when a man comes into the ER and dies on his table of completely mysterious symptoms. At first shaken by the event, he questions his superiors, who tell him that "things like this happen." After he becomes more persistent, they tell him that going any further may hurt his career. When he tries to look for the body or any records of the patient, they've dissapeared into thin air.
He brings the same question to the famed Dr. Lawrence Myrick(Gene Hackman), a doctor who has just succeeded in reparing the damaged spinal cords of rats. While he does have a limited answer for the young doctor, his ways are certainly suspicious. Lutheran does not rest in his quest for the answer and as he goes forward, his life goes backwards; soon he finds himself on the run, with his only friend being a nurse from the ER (Sarah Jessica Parker). The moral questions that the answer to what he's looking for holds will have you pondering them long after the movie ends.
Again, Grant's performance is excellent. Intense and dramatic without doing his usual stuttering, he makes a very good hero in this picture. Gene Hackman is fine also, as usual. Sarah Jessica Parker and a couple of the supporting cast members do their best with limited roles. There are three other elements that also make the movie work well; the excellent cinematography of John Bailey, who composes fantastic images and adds an elegant gloom to the proceedings; the haunting score by Danny Elfman and the wonderful direction of Apted.
I didn't give away the main plot points in this review so not to ruin it for people who are thinking about seeing this movie now that its been released on DVD in a basic but enjoyable edition from Warner Brothers. At the very least, it's worth a rental.
The DVD
VIDEO:
Warner Brothers and a number of studios always do good work, but there are times when their efforts look even better than their usual efforts and "Extreme Measures" is one of them. The movie is presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio (there is also a full-frame edition on the flip side), and as usual from Warner, it's anamorphic. The picture is razor sharp and provides wonderful detail. Again, the cinematography is fantastic in this film and I was pleased to see that it has been presented so well on this DVD. The streets of New York look great and although the movie isn't vibrantly colorful, the color palette used looks natural and accurate.
There's really nothing in the way of problems except for a few minor marks on the print used, but certainly nothing distracting on an otherwise beautiful picture.
SOUND Although this is only in Dolby 2.0, it's still a pleasing soundtrack that presents the action well and the score clearly. It's not terribly dynamic or agressive, but it does present the movie adequately. Dialogue is clear and without problems. In other words, nothing impressive, but it gets the job done.
MENUS:: Non-animated main menus with the score in the background.
EXTRAS: The trailer.
Final Thoughts At the retail price ($19.99 and less at most places) I'll recommend it. It's a very good movie and a nicely done DVD. Although the price is nice, I wish that the director and Warner Brothers had been involved in marking a special edition of this film. Although it didn't do well at the box office, I think the picture has its share of fans.
Lutheran is a quickly rising doctor in the medical community and has a promising career ahead of him when a man comes into the ER and dies on his table of completely mysterious symptoms. At first shaken by the event, he questions his superiors, who tell him that "things like this happen." After he becomes more persistent, they tell him that going any further may hurt his career. When he tries to look for the body or any records of the patient, they've dissapeared into thin air.
He brings the same question to the famed Dr. Lawrence Myrick(Gene Hackman), a doctor who has just succeeded in reparing the damaged spinal cords of rats. While he does have a limited answer for the young doctor, his ways are certainly suspicious. Lutheran does not rest in his quest for the answer and as he goes forward, his life goes backwards; soon he finds himself on the run, with his only friend being a nurse from the ER (Sarah Jessica Parker). The moral questions that the answer to what he's looking for holds will have you pondering them long after the movie ends.
Again, Grant's performance is excellent. Intense and dramatic without doing his usual stuttering, he makes a very good hero in this picture. Gene Hackman is fine also, as usual. Sarah Jessica Parker and a couple of the supporting cast members do their best with limited roles. There are three other elements that also make the movie work well; the excellent cinematography of John Bailey, who composes fantastic images and adds an elegant gloom to the proceedings; the haunting score by Danny Elfman and the wonderful direction of Apted.
I didn't give away the main plot points in this review so not to ruin it for people who are thinking about seeing this movie now that its been released on DVD in a basic but enjoyable edition from Warner Brothers. At the very least, it's worth a rental.
The DVD
VIDEO:
Warner Brothers and a number of studios always do good work, but there are times when their efforts look even better than their usual efforts and "Extreme Measures" is one of them. The movie is presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio (there is also a full-frame edition on the flip side), and as usual from Warner, it's anamorphic. The picture is razor sharp and provides wonderful detail. Again, the cinematography is fantastic in this film and I was pleased to see that it has been presented so well on this DVD. The streets of New York look great and although the movie isn't vibrantly colorful, the color palette used looks natural and accurate.
There's really nothing in the way of problems except for a few minor marks on the print used, but certainly nothing distracting on an otherwise beautiful picture.
SOUND Although this is only in Dolby 2.0, it's still a pleasing soundtrack that presents the action well and the score clearly. It's not terribly dynamic or agressive, but it does present the movie adequately. Dialogue is clear and without problems. In other words, nothing impressive, but it gets the job done.
MENUS:: Non-animated main menus with the score in the background.
EXTRAS: The trailer.
Final Thoughts At the retail price ($19.99 and less at most places) I'll recommend it. It's a very good movie and a nicely done DVD. Although the price is nice, I wish that the director and Warner Brothers had been involved in marking a special edition of this film. Although it didn't do well at the box office, I think the picture has its share of fans.
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