Review of Extraordinary Measures (2010) by Michal S — 03 Jun 2010

2: Extraordinary Measures starts out making one think it's going to be extraordinarily awful, but it eventually manages to regain momentum and be moderately emotionally effective and entertaining. I was certainly drawn into the narrative and began to care about the outcome over the course of the picture, if not for most of the characters.

The characters I felt the most sympathy for were the children and the family from Atlanta, but I could have done without just about everyone else. Russell was disappointing. Fraser was quite lackluster.

Ford was a bit stiff and a bit of a cipher. Despite being described as "eccentric" early on in the picture, his character never really jumped out at me or grew to be fully formed. I'd say there was some serious miscasting.

The picture probably could be excellent with a minor rewrite, a better director, and an almost completely different cast. As it stands, the familiar genre conventions managed to tug on my heartstrings a little and the story arc caught my interest, but it is by no means a quality picture.

The premise is sound, but the execution was lacking. I find it very amusing that I was under the misapprehension that it was a cop movie going into it. This just goes to show you how little exposure I have to things like trailers, promotional campaigns, and movie gossip.