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Extraordinary Measures
ntin Clarke
Extraordinary Measures, like Milk, is about trying to change the world from within the system. But where Milk managed, incredibly, to make local elections interesting, this sickness industry saga never works the same magic on the funding meetings which punctuate it.
It's the true story of a couple, John and Aileen Crowley (Fraser and Russell), whose children have a rare terminal illness, Pompe syndrome. They sign up to pitch the work of a Nebraska-based research scientist, Dr Stonehill (Ford), to pharmaceutical companies. From then on, it's a story of tussles with a chemical giant and the uneasy marriage of commerce and ethics, though much less political than that sounds.
The film never falls hard into cliche but is all the more unsatisfying for it. An emotive family drama in which the family are sidelined early on; the story of an unlikely partnership that stays distant; there's an undertone about leaving the East Coast to find the heart of America that never quite develops; and as the children have little screen time, it's never a tear-jerker. It's not even a crusade against big pharmaceuticals. The odd mercenary muttering from a businessman aside, criticism is at best implicit, and the industry surprisingly accommodating. This is a corporate drama without a conspiracy, or at least where the conspiracy's so far above the parapet it hardly merits comment.
The two leads, better associated with action capers, give muted performances. Harrison Ford does his gruff, detached persona in a by no means show-stopping turn. Moderate beer intake and a love of 70s rock do not a maverick make. Fraser and Russell's characters lack any personality traits whatsoever - all we ever learn about them is that they'll do whatever it takes to save their children. Their 8-year-old daughter is one of those violently precocious kids only a US audience could love. And there's a corporate villain who's not all bad. It's all very... responsible.
Extraordinary Measures is a mature, well-meaning film, with sober editing and a soundtrack that sings corporate video. The opening titles state this is a true story, but not a real version of events, so why not take some liberties? As with A Mighty Heart, this film suffers from its proximity to its subjects. Hats off to the real-life Crowleys, but less reverence for them and the pharmaceutical establishment could have made for some much-needed dramatic zing.
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