DVD
REVIEW: EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES
05/16/10
OVERVIEW: Extraordinary Measures, the remarkable film
inspired by a true story, arrives on Blu-ray and DVD May 18 from Sony Pictures Home
Entertainment. Brendan Fraser (The Mummy films, Journey to the Center of the Earth),
Academy Award®-nominee Harrison Ford (1985, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Witness) and
Golden Globe® winner Keri Russell (1998, Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series -
Drama for “Felicity”) star in the inspiring, touching drama about a man who defied conventional
wisdom and great odds to pursue a cure for his children’s life-threatening disease. It’s a race
against time as John Crowley (Fraser), an idealistic father, and Dr. Robert Stonehill (Ford), a
reclusive medical researcher, battle the medical establishment to find a cure for John’s children
before it’s too late. Tom Vaughan (What Happens in Vegas, Starter For 10) directed the
screenplay by Academy Award®-nominee Robert Nelson Jacobs (2000, Best Writing, Screenplay
Based on Material Previously Produced or Published for Chocolat), based on the book The Cure,
by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Geeta Anand.
SYNOPSIS: Fate and determination push idealistic father John Crowley (Fraser) into joining forces with
reclusive medical researcher Dr. Robert Stonehill (Ford). Together, this unlikely pair faces
impossible odds as they battle the entire medical establishment and time itself to find a cure
before it’s too late. Also starring is Keri Russell as Crowley’s wife Aileen. Extraordinary
Measures is inspired by the true story about the power of love and faith against impossible odds.
DVD: The film is presented in widescreen with a
1.85:1 aspect ration preserving its theatrical
format. Looks clean, images without any types of color
saturation. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has done pretty
good job with this transfer. Not only the picture looks
good in this version of the film, also the sound it is
good. A Dolby Digital English providing a nice complement to the picture. It also includes
English subtitles. Unfortunately the DVD doesn't include
French and Spanish subtitles, which I found to be
considering the big Hispanic population in the USA.
In terms of special features
the DVD includes a few deleted scenes and couple of decent
featurettes. The first featurette is "Extraordinary Measures: The Power to Overcome Featurette "
which is a little behind the scenes of the film. The other
featurette is called "Meet John Crowley Featurette"
,in which we get to meet the kid that was the inspiration of the
film.
Tom Vaughan managed to deliver a strong and inspirational drama that at times makes deep connections with its audience, but unfortunately
is only able to be considered an above average, made for television movie. All mainly because of the performance of Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser, who allowed the film to be a decent theatrical release back in January. The main problem with this film is that we have been exposed to similar scripts in numerous times in the past. This is the case of the film John Q starring Denzel Washington and the 1992's Lorenzo's Oil starring Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte, films that similar to Extraordinary Measures expose the desperation and determination of what parent is able to do for the well being of his children.
Overall Extraordinary Measures make for a decent rental
nothing if you are in the mood of a well acted drama. This is in the case that you have seeing any of the films that I
mention before, however if you are not familiar with the subject matter you will find this film totally inspirational.
VIDEO:
Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
AUDIO:
Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround English
Subtitles - English
BONUS FEATURES:
Extraordinary Measures: The Power to Overcome Featurette
Meet John Crowley Featurette
Deleted Scenes
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