The_Film_Cricket There is nothing more grating to a movie fan than watching two good actors play two intriguing characters with heart and skill and then watch them trudged through the motions of a dimwitted action plot. 'Desperate Measures' plays one hour of good material and another hour of kinetic chases and noise.The set up in intriguing, Frank Conner (Andy Garcia) has a son that is dying and needs a bone marrow transplant. A computer search for a donor turns up only one match – Peter McCabe (Michael Keaton) a psychotic in who is locked away in prison for multiple murders. McCabe has to be a willing donor and refuses to cooperate, why shouldn't he, what's in it for him? After offering him privilege after privilege he relents possibly because he will get a better cell but mostly because he has figured out a blueprint that he has downloaded from the internet and has worked out a plan to escape from the hospital.That he does, and he goes on the run. Killing him might seem the alternative for the cops but it's not in the cards for Conner's son because McCabe has to be alive to be a donor. This puts into play an aggravating series of scenes in which Conner has to keep the police from shooting at McCabe, scene after scene of this.After having established Conner and McCabe and Conner's bright son up as intriguing, intelligent people and allowing us to care what happens to them it is disheartening to have to watch them turn off their brains and run through a series of kinetic action scenes and chase-capades. Michael Keaton and Andy Garcia have done good work in the past playing characters who use their brains instead of their brawn but watching their characters in action mode I kept clutching the arms of my seat.

bababear I recorded this last night on Encore Suspense, and it really looked promising. Great cast, great director, stylish opening titles (that's becoming a lost art), and an interesting premise.Tonight I watched it. My jaw dropped, but for all the wrong reasons. In essence, Michael Keaton plays the Roadrunner, and Andy Garcia plays Wile E. Coyote. The big switch is that the coyote wants to catch the roadrunner because the coyote's son needs a bone marrow transplant and the roadrunner is a perfect match.Garcia's character is a police officer who very improbably arranges for Keaton to be released from prison so that the transplant can be done in a San Francisco hospital. Of course, complications ensue. Unfortunately, so does hilarity.It is admirable that Garcia's character, a widower, wants his child to survive. But after Keaton escapes he kills or injures dozens of police officers and hospital staff, but Garcia continually subverts attempts to capture or kill Keaton. As the Police Captain asks Garcia, "How many people are going to have to die here tonight so that kid of yours can live?"At first the film is entertaining. Keaton rightly realizes that the script is an improbable dud, so he has fun with it. But when he makes his big escape and slides down a laundry chute with a shock paddle in each hand to slow his fall it's clear that we've left the Earth's gravitational pull far behind us.It's good to see Keaton working. He's a fine actor who makes a lot of films, they just don't get released. But, good Lord, this was his next film after JACKIE BROWN. Is he that hard up for work?The much discussed in these pages ending, which I will not reveal, is predictable and even more unbelievable than anything else in the film. It's a perfect example of OK, smooth move, but what are you going to do now? What does NOT happen in the ending was that Garcia's son coming out from under sedation and speaking to his Dad in Keaton's voice. That's where the second star came from.Parents' note: Violence, profanity, gore, and an unforgivable scene in which a gun is aimed at a child's head.Trivia note: Later on Keaton starred in JACK FROST as a musician who neglects his family, dies, and comes back as a snowman. No, really, that's what happens. It's bad enough to count as a crime against humanity. The little boy who plays Garcia's son in DESPERATE MEASURES plays Keatons' son in JACK FROST.

Karen Dallas Hartig michael keaton proved how good he is when he has the role of a bad guy, a criminal, a tough guy, when he starred in Pacific Heights. he's a very strong and believable character. i think that in this movie, he did better acting than andy garcia (but he was good too). i wish that michael keaton would do more bad-guy roles as well as something entirely different: a drama or comedy perhaps, so that he could expand the roles that he is good at doing. well, about this movie:i do not mind one iota that the F word is used so prolifically in Casino that it is like you hear it 100 times. it is the perfect word for the characters to use in THAT movie. but i dislike swearing used in dialogue just to get the audience charged up. it's like when violence or sex scenes do not seem to have a place: they are just used to keep us interested. but this movie, Desperate Measures, is just filled with the F word, and you notice it like a broken thumb because it doesn't belong in the sentences. in fact, the dialogue as a whole would have been more powerful without that word. therefore, although this movie is somewhat tense, i've seen tenser thrillers/crime movies that have no swearing whatsoever in them. is this sort of screenplay writing simply another indication of the decline of the once wealthy, respected, and powerful status of the USA? because, that is what it sounds like. the story in this movie is good. *** SPOILER: the plot is similar to John Q with denzel washington. *** END OF SPOILER.the actors are good. there are holes in the story, but the excitement gets you going so that you do not notice them until your hour after watching it, pondering over the plot. it is not that bad and it is not that good. i would not recommend your spending the amount of a theater ticket on this movie, but to watch it on cable, free of charge (with no other interesting movie to take up your time), is not ALL THAT BAD. it's a fair experience.

MrPlumberman Exceptionally bad! I don't expect much from Garcia since he is one of the most overrated actors today but Keaton really should have known this movie would suck and gotten out while he could (not that I'm especially fond of him but hey, he did batman).In one scene Keaton is transported to a hospital chained down and wearing a Hannibal Lecter kind of face mask when two attack dogs bark at him (dogs can sense evil you know (puke)) and Keaton growls back at them making them back off and whine with their tails between their legs. Did the movie turn comedy right there? Garcia makes a fool out of himself in an interrogation scene with dialogue only a complete retard could find plausible and the kid is too annoying to feel sorry for..If you are gonna make a movie with as poor a plot as this you need some charm, humour, some solid action. Take Die Hard for example which is great despite its rather crappy plot.Even though Keatons character was a joke i routed for him all the way. I wanted to see Garcia cry over his dead kid and Keaton sipping martinis on some paradise island, however! This movie makes for a good laugh.. Watch it with a witty friend and you can have some fun as this movie begs for wisecracks in almost every scene. All in all its an insult to one's intelligence and a huge waste of money. Greed made this movie and thank god it bit its own ass.