Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This well-executed hospital thriller is only marred by trying to make Hugh Grant into an action hero when quite obviously he isn't cut out for that type of role. Thus, amid the fairly interesting conspiracy parts of the film, we get some generic action components like a fight in a lift and a shootout on an underground train track. If the makers had dropped these and concentrated on more subtle methods to get Grant - like the great scene where he finds cocaine planted in his apartment - then this would have been a better film altogether.As it stands, EXTREME MEASURES is a competent film, very good in places but as a whole just about average. The whole "conspiracy" aspect of the film is a clichéd one by now, but its kept realistic and never fails to be suspenseful. The film successfully engages the viewer into wanting to find out the truth behind all of the mystery at the beginning. The cast is packed with familiar faces and the performances are generally all on the good side. I'll make no apology that I personally dislike Hugh Grant; but I'll grudgingly admit that he's not bad here in one of his rare non-comedy roles. Gene Hackman is second-billed as the chief villain, but he only gets about twenty minutes screen time so doesn't get to make much of an impact, but hey, he's Gene Hackman. David Morse (THE LANGOLIERS) does his stony-faced villain role again (I prefer him as a good guy) while Sarah Jessica Parker is pretty much wasted as a fellow doctor, with absolutely nothing to do.This film's real problem is that the bad guys are actually doing their surgery for the good of mankind; they're just going about it unethically. This means that Hackman can't be made out to be too much of a villain; as basically his heart and spirit are in the right place. This aspect of his character goes at odds with the action-thriller's demand for violence and murder, so on one hand we watch him carry out beneficial surgery, and on the other he's barking out orders to have Grant killed. It doesn't make much sense and so makes the last half hour of the film a very uneasy one, where we're asked to sympathise with murderers after all. I get the feeling that the scriptwriter had dug himself into a hole and wasn't sure how to get out at this point.However, there is an excellent interlude about halfway through where Grant ventures down below the subway system into a spooky world where all the homeless live. This echoes the likes of DEATH LINE, C.H.U.D., and THE NIGHT STRANGLER in its depiction of a frightening world hidden from our own, and is one of my favourite themes in film. There are also plenty of suspenseful bits too, which keep this flawed film from ever getting boring. EXTREME MEASURES is watchable and for the most part intelligent but, due to the story's indecisiveness about its villains, not brilliant.

With an Above Average Script from Tony Gilroy and a Surprisingly Effective Against Type Performance from Hugh Grant, this is an Intense Thriller with Ethical Questions and Moral Dilemmas that have No Easy Answers. It's those Difficult Questions the Movie Asks that makes this the kind of Movie that isn't made often. The Thriller Format is much more Popular and Easily Digested when this Type of Thinking is Not Required. Taxing the Brain is Not Formulaic for the Popcorn Crowd and it doesn't Sell Tickets.This one is Noble in its Efforts and some Suspension of Disbelief is Required. There are a Few Scenes, most Notably when Grant's Doctor Submerges to the Bowels of the City, that Strain for Realism and one of the Few Times when the Film seems a bit too Hollywood.But Most of the Movie Plays out some Twists and Turns that are Surprising and the quick Pacing Helps the Film Deal with the Malpractice Elements and the "God Complex" more Easily. Overall, it is a Thinking Man's Thriller with Good Performances and Good Writing and is only Brought Down a Bit by the Contrived Situations Necessary to make it all Fit into a Two Hour Running Time.

"Extreme Measures" is virtually an unacknowledged remake of the 1978 film "Coma". Guy Luthan is a young British doctor working at a major hospital in New York. When one of his patients dies with baffling symptoms, Luthan tries to investigate. His efforts, however, are not successful. The man's body mysteriously disappears and his colleagues prove uncooperative. This only fuels his suspicions that something underhand is going on and he makes further enquiries. He warned that if he persists he could be putting his career in jeopardy, and when he ignores this warning he is framed for possession of cocaine. He is forced to go on the run in an effort to clear his name, and discovers that a number of leading doctors, including the eminent neurosurgeon Dr Myrick, are carrying out unethical experiments on the city's vagrants and derelicts in an attempt to find a cure for spinal injuries. Luthan's dead patient was the victim of one of these experiments.As others have pointed out, this theme of a man trying to clear himself of an unjust accusation of crime is a common one in the thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock. (One difference between this film and most of Hitchcock's is that there is no romantic interest for the hero). By moving out of his normal territory of comedies, especially romantic comedies, Hugh Grant was clearly trying to extend his range. He is not an actor one would normally associate with thrillers, but his casting here makes sense. In some thrillers, the hero is a man- a soldier, spy, police officer or private eye- who is used to facing danger and risk as part of his job description. In others- and this is the more common pattern in Hitchcock films- he is an ordinary guy who suddenly and unexpectedly finds himself in danger. (Or, one might say, an ordinary Guy- Luthan shares this Christian name with the hero of Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train"). "Extreme Measures" is an example of this second type of thriller, and we can accept Grant as the Everyman character out of his depth because we are so used to seeing him play Joe Average in films like "Four Weddings and a Funeral". Had the role gone to an actor better known for playing "tough guy" roles in thrillers, say Bruce Willis, Pierce Brosnan or Mel Gibson, he might not have seemed so convincing.Gene Hackman generally makes a reliable villain, and he is reasonably good here as Myrick, but this is not one of his really great bad-guy roles such as Sheriff Daggett in "Unforgiven", Captain Ramsey in "Crimson Tide" or Rankin Fitch, the monstrously cynical lawyer in "Runaway Jury". Myrick attempts to defend his actions as being necessary in the interests of medical science, with a few having to be sacrificed in order to benefit the many, but these attempts at self-justification do not really succeed in making this a serious drama about medical ethics. Certainly, Luthan is not tempted for one minute to sympathise with Myrick's viewpoint- he retorts "I don't care if you find a cure for every disease on the planet! You tortured and murdered those men upstairs, and that makes you a disgrace to your profession!". I doubt if many of the audience will be won over by Myrick either.Michael Apted's career as a film director (in Britain he is equally well known as a television director) has been rather mixed in terms of quality. He has made one great film ("Nell") and some very good ones (such as "Gorillas in the Mist"), but much of his output consists of competent but routine thrillers such as "Gorky Park", "Thunderheart" and the Bond vehicle "The World is Not Enough". "Extreme Measures" falls into this category- it is exciting enough while it lasts, but contains nothing of any deeper significance. 6/10

Despite lead actor Hugh Grant still riding high from his sleeper hit FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL and a well publicized arrest for curb crawling in Hollywood the previous year, this was not received well in the theaters. Even with the support from the ever versatile Gene Hackman the movie was a box office flop! It's important to state from the outset that the film itself is pretty good and deserved better than it got, not just from the standard of movies that were around but also because it was well acted and raised some very important moral and medical questions that to some extent are more relative today with the controversy over stem cells than it was ten years ago! As for why the movie bombed I cant really say, perhaps not enough guns, sex and violence or maybe the theme or scenario was very depressing to many people. Also I think that being a thriller, actor George Cloony who was a lead in the popular medical soap ER would have been a better box office draw than Grant. Clooney who was struggling to break into the "A– list" of movie stars at the time would have been believable as a doctor and the movie it self would have elevated him faster up to stardom than the duffers he did at around that time! However, it has to be said this is only as far as being a better box office draw, Cloony of course being American. It has to be said Hugh Grant was very good in this part and I think it was one of his best films. Grant was and still is better known for comedy or a romantic lead not a tough guy roles or action films, so perhaps this is why many in his fan base did not take to his character because it was a thriller not a comedy.Having said that he was very well cast for the part and on many occasions was able to display his dead pan dry wit and came across quite believable as the out of towner Dr. from the UK who didn't know what he was getting into. His character was typical Grant in the USA not aloof and pompous, but just a little awkward, slightly eccentric maybe and disorganized! I think that coming from England only made the character come across as more vulnerable and isolated as events unraveled and things seemed to conspire against him. When the well respected Dr. Myrick (Gene Hackman) decided that Dr. Luthan's (Hugh Grant) meddling was proving to be problematic as well as inconvenient, Luthan's feeling of paranoia towards his colleagues was more believable. No tough guy or macho part was needed here!Grant played Guy Luthan who was deemed for great things in the medical profession is a physician who encounters a distraught and frightened patient who had been found wandering the streets. He is extremely agitated, suffering convulsions and has strange legations at the base of his spine. Despite desperate attempts to save his life the mysterious patent dies. Luthan who is shocked over what he has witnessed is puzzled by a silver bracelet on the wrist which indicates that the patient (Claude Minkins) was probably a hospital patient somewhere and starts to make inquires. He orders blood work and lab analysis despite the fact that patient has no medical insurance (much to the annoyance of his superiors). When he can not find the hospital that used silver a bracelet and is concerned about the bizzar results in the lab report, he then delves further into this case much to the disdain of colleges and top faculty administrators. It appears that the patient was homeless and his medical records wiped and put in storage where he is unable to track them.Then the body mysteriously disappears, the chief residence is very nonchalant about it and berates and scolds Luthan in very dismissive and casual manner over his concern, this only leads him to become more suspicious. Soon he feels that he can't trust anybody as it appears that some are trying to thwart his own investigations. He is correct, ------ some within the hospital as well as outside are trying to frustrate his efforts in unraveling this mystery. Rather than back off, he let's his curiosity get the better off him, puts his professional reputation on the line which only results in disastrous consequences for him personally. Realizing that he is really on to something and now with nothing to lose he becomes even more determined to track down who is responsible for trying to ruin him, ------ but more importantly why?This movie raises medical and moral issues over the balance of patient care and medical advancement. This is not a new topic, the earlier movie COMA and many or medial shows since have dabbled with this dilemma but the ending in this movie leaves that question strangely unanswered? (Interestingly, at the beginning of the movie Luthan has an ethical dilemma of his own. While working in the ER he has to decide who gets the priority for the only OR room available at the time. It's a choice between a wounded Cop and the and the 'perp' who shot him, who incidentally is in a more serious condition. He decides that the cop should get priority)!Hugh Grant was good, so was Hackman and fine support from Sara Jessica -Parker, David Morse and Paul Guilfoyle. I would highly recommend this movie!