Medidas extraordinarias

Pretty much what I expected it to be, a well told and heart-warming story about dedication, love and endurance. What I did doubt about this film was the casting. All doubts were quickly dispelled because everyone was PERFECT in their roles. You knew Harrison Ford would deliver but both Brendan Fraser and Keri Russell were amazing as desperate parents determined to save their kids. The film is predictable, maybe to a fault and really didn't go for the deep emotional impact that I was expecting but it still hits home hard enough. The ending seemed also to be somewhat abrupt but still, I enjoyed this movie very much.

I went to see this film with some personal trepidation, but the lure of a possibly good story drew me in. I can say I wasn't disappointed. It's often difficult to objectively assess the work in a contemporary film because much of the surroundings seem common place. I can say that the sets, art direction and costuming seemed to be a comfortable fit and lent it a sense of realism that I appreciated and that also happened to add to the fine production quality of the film.

But as must be the case in a film of this nature, the quality ultimately comes down to the efforts invested by the director and his cadre of accomplished actors. Their efforts certainly didn't disappoint me. The lion's share of the load was placed squarely on the shoulders of Brendan Fraser as John Crowley. I had a personal sense of justice on the line with how well he might do. There were several scenes that rang true to life for me; his portrayal of the internally tortured, desperate and determined father of two terminally ill children made me feel he did such real fathers justice. I think I can say that because I once was one myself.

The other performances were excellent as well. I would have a tough time in faulting Harrison Ford as Dr. Robert Stonehill. He gave a great performance as an overworked, frustrated scientist - something I can also relate to as I've been something of a scientist in my past myself. He felt real to me; I've known men just like him, maybe including me - I guess you'd have to ask my former colleagues how close it was.

But the other performance that I was particularly taken with was that of Courtney B. Vance as Marcus Temple. His tight emotional presentation went right to my heart and hung there heavily. It felt like me, I wanted to hug the man; maybe cry with him. I'd love to see him receive a nomination for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Not to be left out is Keri Russell as Aileen Crowley. She gave a good performance, but to me it seemed a little less emotional than mothers like this I've personally known; especially my own wife. I also think they could have given her more space to reveal a character that would be more in depth but that's not her fault - maybe the screen writers? So, in the final analysis I think she did a great job and certainly did nothing to diminish real mothers like her character.

As one may have surmised from what I've written, I may be too personally prejudiced to look at any film like this with artistic fairness. So judge me if you like; you can go to a web site at http://webpages.charter.net/bruce.jones1/ and click on the button labeled "Belinda" on the left; it gives a personally biased but true story of my daughter's struggle for life. Let me know what you think ... you can also be treated to photos of the world's largest Lady Bug collection as a reward for your trip - a collection she started.

The bottom line is this - by all means go see this film; especially if you've been so fortunate as to never have experienced this kind of tragedy yourself. And when you do see it, give some thought in the future to the fact that, in this country, we spend more money advertising beer than we do fighting lethal childhood diseases.

The faceplate reviewer goes out of his way to pan the leads, Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser as being too old, curmudgeonly and too fat and weepy. OK. Thanks for expressing those opinions, which, BTW, I don't share. Yes. There's no doubt this is a sentimental flick with great emotional overtones and certainly qualifies as a three hanky job. Seeing children suffer, whether they're cute, charming, cuddly or not, is not pleasant. But, the fact that there are these kinds of kids who endure the ravages of disease stemming from their own bodies is a sad reality and I would argue it takes a pretty stern person to consider these conditions unemotionally. The movie is based on a book and like any biopic, a certain amount of license is taken in bringing the story to the screen. However, the story is never maudlin. The script is full of sentiment but never slips down to the level of being overly sentimental. In effect, it's a tale of people with various agendas driven by the desperation of a father trying to help his children from dying an early death. There is no deus ex machina, here. The conflicts which impede the goal largely stem from the personal agendas of the players in the drama. Sound familiar? You bet. That's what good writing is all about and when life imitates myth, it's even better. This is a good movie. Go see it. And, if you do so without puddling up at the eyeballs, you're made of sterner stuff than me.

Based on Geeta Anand's book, Tom Vaughan's 'Extraordinary Measures' starts off like the typical Hollywood film. With the formulaic score and introduction of the protagonist as a successful executive with a happy family..until one sees that the two youngest children of the protagonists are suffering from Pompe's disease, an illness that atrophies the muscle and nerve cells and leads to death. The doctors aren't optimistic about the prognosis of the disease for which there's no found cure. However, John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) isn't giving up and he pursues researcher Dr. Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford) who may have the answer to the solution.

The film does tend to be sentimental at times and it does occasionally resemble the 'TV film of the week' but what drives it are the performances. Fraser's performance has been criticized for being too emotional while Russell was criticized for the opposite. But I don't see why characters have to be gender-stereotyped to be realistic. Why is it impossible for the mother to be more controlled and the father to be more vocal and demonstrative about feelings? That said, I did feel that Keri Russell's role was underdeveloped even though the actress does a brilliant job with what she's given. I also would have liked to see more of Harrison Ford who was simply terrific as the stubborn and fiercely independent Stonehill. Brendan Fraser is great as the father and husband who won't give up at any cost. Of the supporting cast, Courtney B. Vance stands out.

Flawed it may be...the pacing is uneven and at times the film loses track. The execution is fairly ordinary but not intrusive. The picture does provide some insight on an illness that isn't so commonly known but at times it confuses the viewer with half-baked explanations. However, the performances lift 'Extraordinary Measures' from being an average flick.

¨Scientists get all sensible & careful when they get old. Young ones like risk, not afraid of new ideas.¨ Director Tom Vaughan takes a much more serious approach in Extraordinary Measures then he did with the 2008 comedy What Happens in Vegas starring Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz. This movie which also stars two A-list actors, Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser, is a drama focusing on a father's effort to raise millions of dollars to help fund the research of a scientist who is trying to find a cure for Pompe disease, a rare genetic disorder that two of his children have. The film is based on the book written by Geeta Anand, ¨The Cure¨, which is based on the true story of the Crowley family. The screenplay was adapted by Oscar nominated writer Robert Nelson Jacobs (Chocolat). I think that Jacobs did a pretty decent job at enlightening us about the disease and covered the scientific research well enough so that we could understand what was going on without getting bored. Vaughan could have made this a tear-jerker and played with the viewers emotions, but he did a great job with trying to stay true to the material and not turning this into a melodrama like My Sister's Keeper was. The film works well with strong performances from the entire cast, but I still can't see why anyone would want to see this movie in the theaters because it felt more like a made for television movie, although I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. By the end of the movie I felt enlightened and respected the work of these scientists, but I am also glad I waited to watch this movie at home and didn't go see it at the movies.

John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) is a successful advertising businessman who lives with his wife Aileen (Keri Russell) and three children Megan (Meredith Droeger), Patrick (Diego Velasquez), and John Jr. (Sam M. Hall) in Portland. Megan and Patrick suffer from a genetic disorder known as the Pompe disease. The kids who suffer from this disease never make it past nine, and after Megan turns eight and almost losses her life to the disease, John decides it is time to take drastic and extraordinary measures. He has spent many years researching about the disease and discovers some interesting theories on enzyme treatment from a scientist located in Nebraska named Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford). After trying to contact him and not receiving any response from the Doctor, John decides to travel to Nebraska and convince him to pursue his research. Stonehill is not really person oriented; he has poor communication skills, and has had difficulty coming up with the funds to further his research. John tells Stonehill that he will help raise the money and after hosting several fund raisers and meeting other parents who have children with the same disease such as Marcus Temple (Courtney B. Vance) they raise about 90 thousand dollars which is a lot less than what they needed, but more than Stonehill expected him to raise. John decides to quit his job and work full time with Stonehill helping him raising the funds they need from capitalist groups. Their relationship isn't the best one and they have their disagreements, but John will do whatever it takes to find a cure for his children before running out of time.

The hardest decision for John was to quit his job and work full time for Stonehill away from home. The ethical dilemma was either to give up and enjoy as much time he could with his children or try to find a cure which meant he would have to spend a lot of time away from home and the results weren't guaranteed. John took the risk and decided he had to do what was in his power to try to find a cure for his children. The movie also deals with scientific objectivity and how sometimes emotions and feelings are not necessarily a bad mixture. The movie focuses on these issues and doesn't rely only on the family melodrama of dealing with the disease, it tries to remain objective but at the same time inform us of the reality of this genetic disorder in children. The movie isn't a highly entertaining film, but it does work as a serious drama and one you would enjoy seeing in the comfort of your home. Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser are decent in their roles although nothing we haven't seen from them in the past. Courtney B. Vance and Jared Harris have a couple of strong scenes in the supporting role. The kids are OK as well although they don't play a major role in this movie as one would expect. The movie is far from being extraordinary, but it still is a decent film which I would recommend only for home viewing.

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