DIRECTOR
Michael Apted
SCREENWRITER
Tony Gilroy
based
on the book by
Michael Palmer
PRODUCER
Elizabeth Hurley
CINEMATOGRAPHER
John Bailey
MUSIC
Danny Elfman
EDITOR
Rick Shaine
CAST
Hugh Grant (Dr. Guy Luthan)
Gene Hackman (Dr. Lawrence Myrick)
Sarah Jessica Parker (Jodie Trammel)
David Morse (Frank Hare)
Bill Nunn (Det. Burke)
John Toles-Bey (Bobby)
Paul Guilfoyle (Dr. Jeffrey Manko)
Debra Monk (Dr. Judith Gruszynski)
J.K. Simmons (Dr. Mingus)
David Cronenberg (Hospital Lawyer)
MPAA rating: R
Running
time: 118m
U.S. release: September 27, 1996
Video availability: VHS - DVD
Other Michael
Apted movies
reviewed on this website:
- Nell
- The
World Is Not Enough
|
The
new medical thriller Extreme Measures concerns itself
with a neurologist who kidnaps homeless men and conducts experiments
on their spinal cords. Ah, the stark realism of these
thrillers! The movie is borderline preposterous, but it's sturdy
and professional, and I surprised myself by having a pretty good
time with it. It's tightly constructed, and it takes time to
unfold smoothly; if it's never as scary or provocative as it
means to be, at least it's straightforward and satisfying.
Hugh Grant, as the doctor hero Guy Luthan, provides one of the
movie's more pleasurable surprises by proving he has the chops
for a Hollywood thriller. Intelligent yet never arrogant (he's
a model of British self-deprecation), Grant is easily the politest
thriller hero in years; when he isn't saying "Please"
and "Thank you ever so much," he's apologizing profusely
for taking people's time. Grant's hesitant persona, sometimes
annoying in other roles, works here as a '90s-guy tribute to
James Stewart's uncertain heroes in Hitchcock's films.
The script, adapted by Tony Gilroy (Dolores Claiborne)
from a Michael Palmer novel, follows Guy as he hunts for information
about a homeless man who turned up in Guy's hospital with mysterious
symptoms. The man dies and then vanishes; it becomes clear that
someone powerful wants Guy discredited and, if necessary, dead.
You've seen a lot of this before. But then Extreme Measures
turns into an ethical thriller. An ambitious (i.e., mad) neurologist,
Dr. Lawrence Myrick (Gene Hackman), has been swiping homeless
people and tinkering with them in his secret lab. His goal is
to cure paralysis by regenerating damaged nerves, and he believes
he's on the brink of a breakthrough. Your take on Myrick's mission
depends on which description you prefer: "His methods are
barbaric, but his motives are good" or "His motives
are good, but his methods are barbaric."
There is a difference. And there is no better actor than
Gene Hackman at suggesting the shifting gray tones of morality.
When Hackman delivered a long and quite persuasive speech defending
his actions, I found myself nodding in agreement with some of
it. That's the mark of a great actor. But then Grant counters
with his own speech denouncing the experiments, and I could hear
people in the audience agreeing with Grant out loud. I wonder
if they'd have done the same if Hackman, not Grant, had been
allowed the last word.
But this isn't a philosophy film; it's a Hollywood thriller,
and it comes down firmly on the side of decency. That's fine
-- we know early on that we're not in Vertigo territory.
The ethical questions are there, quite frankly, to restore Hugh
Grant's moral glow after his unfortunate 1995 comedy What
Do I Get for Fifty Dollars? Devotees of Freudian symbology
will notice that director Michael Apted stages a prolonged and
spooky odyssey for Grant inside a dark, wet tunnel. Elizabeth
Hurley, the film's producer, may have appreciated the irony. |
