Extreme Measures
1996
A film by Michael Apted with Hugh Grant and Gene
Hackman Sarah Jessica Parker, David Morse, Bill Nunn. Get the film on DVD from
Amazon.de,
Amazon.co.uk,
Amazon.com,
citydisc
Schweiz.
Based on the book by Michael Palmer, director Michael Apted
(007 - The World Is Not Enough) has shot an underrated movie. In Extreme
Measures, the English doctor Guy Luthan (Hugh Grant) works in the
emergency room (ER) of an American hospital where he discovers that a group of
scientists around Dr. Lawrence Myrick (Gene Hackman) kidnap homeless people in
order to use them for medical experiments.
Two homeless people manage to escape. One of them ends up in
Luthan's ER. He is in a serious condition and shows post-operation scars.
After convulsions, the team manages to stabilize him. He tells Luthan that his
name is Claude Minkins and that he has been here before. "Triphase"
is the keyword he spells. Dr. Luthan does not know what "triphase"
is. A new type of medication? Nor does Jeff, who works with Luthan, know
what it is. Minkins mentions another name, Teddy Dolson. After new
convulsions, he dies. The other homeless person, Teddy
Dolson, manages to get to NYC's Grand Central Terminal Station. He is in bad shape,
too. He wears only a raincoat and sweats badly.
At a party, the daughter of Dr. Myrick (Gene Hackman) reads
a telegram from the White House congratulating him to his groundbreaking work
in the field of neurological medicine. At the same time, FBI-agent Hare (David
Morse) is looking for Teddy Dolson; and Dr. Luthan still wonders why his
patient Minkins died. The lab results he gets are very bizarre. He starts
investigating the case and finds out that Minkins never got to the hospital's
morgue. Luthan's boss thinks that the lab report just shows that the lab is
even more ineffective than they thought and he asks Luthan to "drop this
thing!". But Luthan digs deeper and finds out the both Minkins and Dolson
were homeless. At his request, a secretary does some research on the two
men on the computer: Error 781 for both.
Luthan goes to the archives in order to have a look at the
paperwork on the two patients. His boss comes in and asks him to stop it
again. Then, Luthan's apartment gets burgled. The police arrive and find 1/2
once of cocaine; they arrest Luthan right away. He loses his job at the
hospital. But this does not stop him. On the contrary: now, he has nothing to
lose anymore since he won't be working as a doctor any longer. He asks his
assistant Jodie Trammel (Sarah Jessica Parker) to help him. But it turns out
that, for a special reason, she works together with Dr. Myrick (for the same
reason agent Hare and others do the same).
Extreme Measures may have a politically and morally
correct ending, but it is a powerful movie with a convincing story - a high
tension thriller that captures the viewer's attention from the beginning to the
end. Get the film on DVD from Amazon.de,
Amazon.co.uk,
Amazon.com,
citydisc
Schweiz.
