desperate measures ( 1998 ) reviewed by chuck dowling copyright 1998 - the jacksonville film journal url : <a href= " http : //users . southeast . net/~chuckd21/ " >http : //users . southeast . net/~chuckd21/</a> " desperate measures " was something i was excited about seeing back when it was originally scheduled to be released : summer '97 . for some reason , it was delayed until hollywood's traditional dumping ground : january . now that it's out , i see no real reason for that delay , as it's a simple yet highly entertaining film . michael keaton stars as a maniacial murderer who's bone marrow can save the life of the dying son of a san francisco police detective ( garcia ) . keaton agrees to the transplant , only so he can attempt escape . he succeeds , in a plan that of course could only work in the movies . the police force is now trying to kill keaton , while garcia is working against them trying to keep keaton alive in order to save his son . the film definately has it's flaws . the plot is strictly tv movie of the week fare , but the acting and direction certainly boost it far above that status . also , after keaton's escape , garcia's captain barks at him " how many men have to die to save your kid's life ? " which the film treats as such an evil and insignificant remark . the thing is , it's a vaild point . how many people have to be needlessly crippled , burned , and killed just to save this one child ? what's the greater good here ? many lives or one life ? if movies really had guts nowadays , i would have loved to have seen this movie come down to a final choice for garcia's character . place him in a situation where he knows that he has to kill keaton because keaton is about to kill someone else . alas , movies these days generally have no such ambition to pull the audience's strings in ways which might make the uncomfortable . despite a few silly moments ( and one or two really stupid ones ) , the good things about " desperate measures " outnumber the bad . the main highlight would be keaton's performance . the character could have easily been an overacting , scene chewing freak , but keaton underplays it nicely . he's not as menacing as he was in " pacific heights " or even as menacing as he was in " batman " ( yes kids , batman used to be a dark character ) , but you certainly get the idea that he's evil . even the final scene of the film , which normally i would just hate , seems strangely appropriate for this film . so much so that i didn't mind it in the slightest . and another bonus : the film takes place in san francisco , which usually means a car chase on those hills that you've seen a billion times before . and for a moment , it looked as though it was about to happen . but it doesn't , and that's creative . [r]<hr> the jacksonville film journal -- film reviews by chuck dowling url :  <a href= " http : //users . southeast . net/~chuckd21/   " >http : //users . southeast . net/~chuckd21/  </a> <a href= " mailto : email :  chuckd21@leading . net " >email :  chuckd21@leading . net</a>   © 1995-1998 of the jacksonville film journal .   no reviews may be reprinted without permission . 
