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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"Extreme Measures" is the
story of Dr. Guy Luthan (Hugh Grant), a physician
working out his residency at Gramercy Hospital.
Guy's personal life and profession seem to be
right on track until one of his patients
unexpectedly dies of mysterious circumstances. Was
it medical malpractice, an accident or something
much more sinister?
Not since Michael Crichton's "Coma" have we seen a
medical suspense thriller told with such skill and
timely shock value. Nothing is what it appears to
be and no one is who they report themselves to be.
Sarah Jessica Parker costars as Jodie Trammel, a
nurse and Guy's most trusted friend. She is
distraught when Guy is arrested for drug
possession but it is her apprehension at
testifying on his behalf a byproduct of her own
disappointment, or is she cloaking a more guarded
secret? Gene Hackman is simply marvelous as Dr.
Lawrence Myrick, a benevolent crusader in stem
cell research who is actually using his
connections and considerable clout to fund a
clinic that's using human test subjects.
Originally released under the Castlerock label,
which used to belong to Columbia Tristar, this
movie is now the property of Warner Brothers Home
Entertainment and it looks marvelous on DVD.
Colors are well balanced, bold and rich. Flesh
tones are infinitely more accurate on the DVD than
on the previously released laserdisc or VHS
versions from Columbia. Contrast and shadow
delineation are superb with fine detail visible
even during the darkest scenes. The disc is
correctly framed in its 2:35:1 ratio and
anamorphically enhanced.
The audio is a 5.1 mix and nicely balanced with a
very aggressive bass that will give your speakers
a workout. There are no extras. I suppose I could
fault Warner for not giving us a featurette but
with a transfer this good -- who cares? |
