Mike Legeros Movie Review - Extreme Measures (1996)

This under-cooked, over-portioned medical thriller stars Hugh Grant 
as an emergency room doctor at a busy New York City hospital-- or 
is it a police station with operating rooms?-- who stumbles upon a 
conspiracy involving some very unethical research into spinal nerve 
regeneration.  With tighter editing and better casting, E.M. might 
have been quite the study in medical ethics.  Most glaring is the 
miscasting of Mr. Grant and co-star Sarah Jessica Parker.  They're 
lightweights, here, even if they do yell "stat" with wholehearted 
conviction.  (Did I mention that we're spared a love scene?  Let us 
be thankful for small favors.)  The patient's condition, however, 
does improve toward the end.  Grant going underground to confront a 
band of Morlocks is an intriguing twist.  And you'll sit up in your 
seat when director Michael Apted (NELL, BLINK) starts cross-cutting 
between the hero descending in an elevator and the villain (Gene 
Hackman) waiting at the ground level and about to be interrogated 
by a pair of unsuspecting police officers.  It's a great moment in 
yet another mediocre movie.  Produced by Elizabeth Hurley, if you 
can believe it.  (Rated "R"/118 min.)

Grade: C+

Copyright 1996 by Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies in MOVIE HELL: September 29, 1996