Review of Desperate Measures (2011) by Alex P — 07 Aug 2007

Okay, first off, the whole plot is completely ridiculous. There's nobody else in the world with matching Bone Marrow? REALLY? But if you can forgive that, this film has some great points. Tight direction by Barbet Schroeder, some well-staged action sequences, a nicely believable performance by Andy Garcia as a father who will do anything to save his son. But everything in this movie hinges on the buh-RILLIANT work of Michael Keaton as one of the better villains of the last twenty years. His performance is simply magnetic. He makes fantastic inspired character choices, speaking with a specifically localized Upper Southern Dialect, and got his body into amazing shape for the role.

The film knows what kind of character he's creating and allows gives him scenes that are just priceless, like the one where he's driving through a residential San Francisco neighborhood, smoking and singing along to the radio playing CCR's "Proud Mary". The film gives him great speeches and one-liners.

"You tell that cop and his dead kid I won't stand for stale cigarettes.".

"You wanna test my resolve, Frank? My willingness to go the limit? You want to find out where you stop and I begin? Do you?".

Fucking GOLD.

Then the film gives us one of the top 5 endings in cinema history.

"What kinda car do you have?".

I'm still waiting for the sequel.