While it hardly offers any twists that we haven't seen before, "Extreme Measures" is a well-made, well-acted thriller that has an unusual air of believability. The most effective set piece, which doesn't have all that much to do with the main plot, is the hero's descent into the underground lairs beneath the Grand Central Station. Hugh Grant is very convincing and unaffected in one of his most serious roles, and the ending is not as cut-and-dried as you might expect it to be. But the most memorable moment, for me at least, occurs early on, when a very ill and frightened man, barely able to speak, looks straight into Grant's eyes, pleading for help. (**1/2)

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.

Dr. Guy Luthan (Hugh Grant) works at Gramercy Hospital ER in NYC. He gets a patient with an unknown hospital's wristband and tells him about something called tri-phase. His patient body goes missing. He discovers records are missing and he is framed with drugs. After getting suspended, he asks nurse Jodie Trammel (Sarah Jessica Parker) for help. He follows the homeless to their underground world and secret experiments done by neurosurgeon Dr. Lawrence Myrick (Gene Hackman). FBI agent Frank Hare (David Morse) and NYPD detective Bob Burke (Bill Nunn) are also investigating a missing person.

This reveals too much too early. Myrick shows his hand so quickly that the story has only one or two surprises. This could have been great paranoid thriller action for the first half but I'm simply waiting for Gene Hackman to connect the two dots. I'm not sure Hare and Burke make sense. They need to act heavier as the threatening muscle. I also don't understand how these patients keep walking away. They have terrible security. They could buy a bunch of handcuffs. This movie feels manufactured and should be more thrilling.