Mobile
Friday, January 22, 2010
Film / Film Reviews / News Extraordinary Measures: Ordinary results
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 2:38 PM
By Matt Brunson
EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES
*1/2
DIRECTED BY Tom Vaughan
STARS Brendan Fraser, Harrison Ford
Had Harrison Ford spent as much time playing risk-taking actor as action hero, would he now have a mantel of awards to call his own? There was a time when the former box office behemoth would occasionally tackle a quirky character (e.g. The Mosquito Coast, Working Girl) amidst all those larger-than-life super-studs in guaranteed blockbusters, but that time is long gone, and the past decade-plus has mostly seen him wheezing away in ill-advised bombs like Firewall and K-19: The Widowmaker (the latter directed by current critical darling Kathryn Bigelow). Ford did have the opportunity to stretch when Steven Soderbergh offered him a key role in Traffic, but he inexplicably backed out and the part went to Michael Douglas instead.
Now Ford turns up in a supporting role in Extraordinary Measures, and it's a good fit, probably the reason he also signed on as an executive producer. As a grumpy, antisocial scientist who agrees to help a grieving couple (Brendan Fraser and Keri Russell) by developing a drug that will save the lives of two of their children (both inflicted with the rare Pompe disease), the aged matinee idol demonstrates that there's plenty of thespian talent left in the tank. But did he have to choose such a lame project on which to expend his energies? Extraordinary Measures is merely ordinary in every way, an earnest but plodding and unimaginative melodrama so flatly realized that it's hard to imagine there will be anything in the theater except dry eyes. Even its potential worth as a tool for universal health care coverage is compromised by the fact that it's even more likely to bore politicians than a stodgy slide show presentation on the subject.
Speaking of...
-
Computer Science And Photography – Matthew Mills a Photographer in NYC Explains This Unlikely Pairing
Nov 22, 2020 -
Imagicomm Entertainment to Make Blue Ridge Available on Multiple Platforms
Oct 15, 2020 -
The Moffett Restaurant Group Celebrates the 20th Anniversary of Barrington’s Restaurant
Oct 12, 2020 - More »
Latest in The CLog
More by Matt Brunson
-
Fanning flames of expectation
Apr 26, 2019 -
That burning sensation
Apr 19, 2019 -
Gentle giant
Apr 19, 2019 - More »
-
Why do people hate Dave Matthews? 82
I can't seem to find a reasonable answer for why DMB draws so much ire.
-
Theater review: Pinkalicious the Musical
-
Education budget slasher Thom Tillis: Teachers 'don't care about kids' 5
House Speaker Tillis, fresh from gutting the state’s education budget, took his contempt for education and voters’ intelligence even farther ...
