Desperate Measures (1998)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Many reviewers have mentioned "cat and mouse games." I think what they mean is that everybody seems to be pursuing everybody else and nobody ever stops to take a breath, including the viewer.Garcia's nine-year-old boy has leukemia and his life can be saved only by a bone marrow transplant from a compatible donor. Only one such donor is available and he's a lifelong murderer with an IQ of 150. That means he's eligible for MENSA but I doubt they have a chapter in the San Francisco prison system.San Francisco doesn't have a hospital like this one either. It's the emptiest, darkest hospital you've ever imagined, and it's full of laundry chutes, steam pipes, cross-highway walkways, underground tunnels, and varied niches. If you had to characterize the movie with one still shot, there would be a man pressed against a brick wall, next to a corner, forearm cocked upward, pistol in hand. After evacuation the hospital is nothing more than a gray gaunt shell.There's that kid, too. Kids are usually a big nuisance in a movie, but this one manages to get by -- no more than that. The kid, Garcia's son, is kidnapped by escaped killer Michael Keaton. He's a strong, brave kid despite his leukemia and we can see the bond between him and Keaton in the offing.Andy Garcia's character is the most complex because he's torn between two allegiances -- his son and the values of the society that both he and his son are members of. Would you let your child die or would you rather save his life by loosing a killer on the city street? You see what I mean? Keaton's not bad, by the way. I mean, his character is pure evil until his redemption but Keaton's performance is pretty good. He plays the villain as mean, not suave. He's not given any unique traits but that's the writers' problem, not the actors. It's a curious coincidence but when Keaton first begins to make demands on the corrections officers in return for agreeing to the transplant, he complains that the cigarettes he's given are stale. He and I worked in a movie together, the unforgettable Whatever It Was. I was a bar tender and Keaton was a customer and when the cameras weren't rolling he examined a pack of Property Department cigarettes on the bar and asked if they were stale. "Only if you call a year old 'stale,'" I said.Little use is made of the Bay Area locations. Nobody hangs by a thread from the Golden Gate bridge or races through Chinatown. Not until the end, anyway, when there is an explosion of action on highways and bridges.Very little of the story is actually plausible and if constant tension is your thing then your thing is congruent with this movie.

This movie is seriously UNDERRATED/OVERLOOKED by people. I've always liked/enjoyed this movie as an Action/Thriller. I thought the action,cast,story was good. Giving this movie crap is a reason why I cant stand Movie Critics who just waste time over Box Office Numbers and Reviewing movies then just watching it and enjoying the movie like I do as Movie lover. I can name a lot of movies over the past 2/3 decades that are underrated that don't get enough credit. Andy Garcia,Michael K/Joseph Cross from Jack Frost as well I thought they all did well in their scene's including the finale. Thats why I hate movies Like the Dark Knight,Twilight many others that are so overrated in terms of reviews,awards,box office

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.

I really wanted to see this film - I thought the plot was really unique and intriguing. A cop (Andy Garcia) has a son who is dying and needs bone marrow replacement in order to live. The only match is a convicted serial killer, who escapes from jail. To save his son he has to track down the killer.Michael Keaton plays the convict in one of many disappointing aspects of the film. Keaton is a great actor at times but here he is pretty much boring. It's over-the-top to the point where you just stop caring.Garcia is better but tries too hard for a film that isn't up to par. Barbet Schroeder (at one time such a promising director with films like "Barfly" that amounted to pretty much nothing in the American market) directs well enough - I honestly thought the script was the culprit here...it's just a big mess.The film ultimately wastes a lot of good material, good actors and a good director - all because of a faulty script. What should have been a tense and thought-provoking film is just a Hollywood action dud.