"Desperate Measures" plays like one of those movies that might appear on television one Sunday afternoon. It is good enough to be entertaining for two hours, but easily forgotten when it is over.
Directed by the talented Barbet Schroeder ("Reversal of Fortune"), the film follows the cat-and-mouse pursuits of Frank Connor (Andy Garcia) and Peter McCabe (Michael Keaton) in a San Francisco hospital. As luck would have it, Connor's son is suffering from Leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant from McCabe who is, incidentally, a serial killer.
This is one of those high concept premises which really ought to work very well. Aside from suggesting an interesting plot, this premise should allow for an intriguing relationship between Connor and McCabe. At the core of this film should be the harsh inner conflict of Connor who desperately needs the help of the one man he wants to kill. However, the film eschews these issues in fear that the suspense of the chase might die out.
This film is an instant reminder of another pursuit flick from last year: "Face/Off." Of course, "Desperate Measures" pales completely next to John Woo's action masterpiece. In that film, time is spent on the individual characters. We are allowed inside those characters' lives and see what is driving them.
"Desperate Measures" never really affords any of the characters any development. A few stagnant scenes thrown at us in the beginning of the film are supposed to give us some reasons as to why the people act the way they do. McCabe had a father who did not care much about him. Connor lost his wife to a car crash and his son is all he has left. This is all fine background material, but we never see how it really effects the two men.
As the film progresses and more and more people wind up dead and injured because of McCabe, who has escaped police custody, Connor continues his pursuit. Never mind the fact that dozens of citizens are now corpses and a hospital has undergone serious damage, Frank's son must live.
Of course, I am sure any good father would want to go through hell so that his child could live, but at what expense? It takes a certain type of person to be so devoted to a cause. Maybe Connor is trying to save something else here. His family line? His pride? His inability to deal with reality? But all the film is satisfied to suggest that he just really loves his son.
Connor becomes slightly annoying by the halfway mark of this picture. After all, the high amounts of destruction and death are the results of his insistence to save one person.
Oddly enough, McCabe is much more identifiable. His needs are simple: freedom. True, he might be the bad guy, but he is just as psychotic as Connor, who will break into FBI buildings and shoot at fellow officers for the sake of his personal problems.
Still, for all the weak character development, the film has a surprising amount of strong points. The direction is swift and loaded with great visuals. Schroeder has a knack for capturing bold diagonal lines in the frame and using shadowy, blue lighting to very atmospheric results.
The plot also moves along nicely after a few expository scenes at the start. Although the story is not as great as it could be, it still keeps enough interest to never be boring.
Plus we have the added bonus of a somewhat random car chase that seems to be taken directly out of the late 1970s cop show "CHiPS" and "Dukes of Hazard." Here, Connor's desire to save his son pushes him to drive in reverse on a crowded highway, resulting in multiple car crashes and general chaos. Still, as car chases go, this one is pretty good, if not unnecessary.
Garcia doesn't do much to make his character have any vibrancy -- although that could be credited to screenwriter David Klass. However, Keaton is clearly having fun with his role, even if he never quite reaches a level of lunacy that his character deserves. He has a few maniacal lines here and there, most notably "It's good to be the king," which is uncannily similar to John Travolta saying "I am the king" in "Face/Off."
The best performance, however, comes from Marcia Gay Harding who is an understandably frustrated doctor trying to maintain a professional level of calmness despite the craziness around her.
The best part of the film comes from a wonderful title sequence which is reminiscent of Saul Bass' work on such classic films as "North by Northwest." Here the opening credits attract more attention than the action happening in the scene.
"Desperate Measures" is a flawed film, but it still works in a basic, action sort of way. It does wring out a few suspenseful moments and has some unique images. However, the film as a whole does not utilize all that the premise has to offer.
