Desperate Measures

Directed by Barbet Schroeder
Running Time: 1:40

What had the potential to be a decent movie, turned out to be somewhat of a snore. Desperate Measures deals with a cop (Andy Garcia) whose son is in need of a bone marrow transplant. As luck would have it, the only person, seemingly in existence, who has the same blood type, is a murder convict named Peter McCabe (Michael Keaton). So you know what's going to happen. McCabe agrees to do it, but only so he can escape. The movie tries to be an ethical drama, should Andy Garcia capture the criminal, who could kill the entire city, or save the man's life, so he can save his son. But it comes out really lame. I understand how a man can love his son enough to let an entire city burn, but come on. McCabe is simply nuts. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. He blows up buildings, burns cops, and kills people for no reason, but Garcia wants to keep him alive to save his son. He's a cop, but he has no regard for the life of his citizens.

The dialogue is lame, the action is few and far between. It just didn't have a good feel to it. There were a lot of scenes that didn't have any background noise, which didn't seem right. And for what is possibly the first time in my movie going experience, I noticed the lighting, which I thought was horrible. Andy Garcia does his usual, 'I'm a pissed off cop, but I'm in control' routine, and he does a reasonably good job, but he's not leading man quality. He's good as a supporting actor (like in Hoodlum), but when he needs to carry the movie, he doesn't have the presence an actor needs to pull it off. Keaton is set against cast by playing a criminal, with no redeeming qualities. He can't use his wise cracking personality, which I think would have made his criminal a little better. A criminal who is pure evil is scary, but one who is funny as well as pure evil, is always a little scarier, because you actually start to like him a little, then when he kills, you're more horrified by it.

Overall, I didn't like this movie very much. It's got some good scenes, but for the most part, it's worth skipping.