Movie Review: Desperate Measures (1998)

Genre: Action Thriller  

Director: Barbet Schroeder  
Starring: Andy Garcia, Michael Keaton, Marcia Gay Harden, Brian Cox  
Running Time: 100 minutes  

Synopsis: Desperate to find a bone marrow donor for his sick son, San Francisco-based FBI Agent Frank Conner (Andy Garcia) breaks into a governmental database and identifies prison inmate Peter McCabe (Michael Keaton) as a match. A multiple murderer serving a life sentence, McCabe eventually agrees to be a donor, but only because he has an escape plan in mind. Connor has to recapture McCabe and keep him alive, with help from Dr. Samantha Hawkins (Marcia Gay Harden).

What Works Well: Andy Garcia and especially Michael Keaton bring substantial levels of commitment to their roles, in performances that well exceed the strength of the material. The scenes of mental dueling between Connor and McCabe carry a buzz sorely lacking from the rest of the film.

What Does Not Work As Well: An outlandish but interesting-enough premise is wasted on generic chases and tired close calls, with most of the action set within a prison/hospital complex. One criminal is repeatedly able to outsmart an army of law enforcement officials, and only Connor as the scrappy agent-with-a-personal-cause can save the day. Opportunities to explore character backgrounds and moral dilemmas are diligently ignored in favour of sappy servings of father-son dialogue.

Key Quote:

Peter McCabe: You have to appreciate the irony. After all these years of being locked up, I'm given the opportunity to kill again. A cop's kid, too, and all I have to do is sit right here.



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