Coma

One would have thought that something produced by Ridley Scott, who directed Alien and Blade Runner, would have been tightly knit. It wasn't. The movie totally drags during the first half and the first hour of the second half. This, like the original, should have been a two-hour film. I was bothered from the start when during the first commercial break, there were cast interviews revealing what was going to happen. The only thing really interesting were the special effects towards the end. Fortunately, I recorded it and was able to use fast forward or I, too, might have lapsed into a coma from having to sit through all of the initial tedium.

The fist ten minutes is swirl of atmospheric nonsense. If you've read the book, or seen the original, you sit there mouthing 'what?' ; and if you haven't you'll still be mouthing 'What?', and not knowing why!! Next the alleged protagonist puts it all together within five minutes of working her first day, Amazing! This is a real mess. I am feeling very underwhelmed, and dancing on the cusp of a vegative state. Come on Ridley!!

Susan Wheeler (Lauren Ambrose) is a medical student starting at her late grandfather's Peach Tree Memorial Hospital. Dr. Mark Bellows (Steven Pasquale), Dr. Theodore Stark (James Woods), and Dr. Agnetta Lindquist (Geena Davis) are some of the senior faculty. Mrs. Emerson (Ellen Burstyn) cares for the coma patients.

A&E remade the 1978 movie based on the 1977 novel into a 4 hour TV mini-series. It's important to note that the paranoia of the era worked great to infuse the original with atmosphere. However this one is much more of a thriller. The biggest logic problem in this one is that it's no longer the '70s. It just seems that somebody would just sue in today's world. But if you're willing to accept that, there is some good thrills to be had here.

Sometimes it is wise just to let a dead dog lay. As I remember, the first version of Coma wasn't very good. This one is about the same. Overblown to distraction by the Scott Brothers, the TV "mini-series" version features good actors going to waste and almost nothing new.

Yeah, there is a big super tech conspiracy tacked on to the original plot, but even that was tame next to 21st century TV series like Dr. Who or Fringe. Lauren Ambrose was excellent in the lead, but deserves better, and it was a joy to see Ellen Burstyn working, even in a sort of Boris Karloff role. James Woods was good. Geena Davis, Joe Morton and Richard Dreyfuss - what were you thinking?

I watched it On Demand and, like another reviewer here, was grateful that Fast Forward was not disabled.

Well, talk about disappointing.

"Coma" is a two-part miniseries from A&E directed by Ridley Scott and starring Lauren Ambrose, Steven Pasquale, Richard Dreyfuss, James Woods, Joe Morton, Geena Davis, and Ellen Burstyn. Great cast, great director, bad script.

The original coma in 1978 starring Michael Douglas and Genevieve Bujold was more compelling. The story concerns a medical student (Ambrose) who discovers an inordinate number of people at her hospital are going into comas after surgery. Her investigation leads her to the Jefferson Institute, where all the comatose patients live out their lives. Her investigation puts her in a great deal of danger.

In this version, the action in the finale is moved to the Jefferson Institute and takes on horror movie aspects.

Lauren Ambrose has a real workhorse role and does it well as the curious and ultimately terrified Susan Wheeler. In this version, Wheeler comes from a prominent family in medicine, so even though she makes more trouble than Dracula loose in a blood bank, she isn't thrown out, though she manages to get her roommate expelled, someone else fired, and the senior resident set up on a drug charge.

Where Susan in the original was seen as unstable, this Susan is seen as a royal troublemaker. Also, in the original, there was an excellent reason why Susan looks into the comas - her best friend goes into a coma after a D&C. Here, it's someone she used to see at the pool. Frankly, I would have been upset but I don't know if I then would have been borrowing people's IDs so I could violate HIPAA regulations and search patient charts.

What this Coma does give us is a realistic look at the way people are treated in hospitals, including ignoring dying people in the emergency room, neglecting the elderly, and being disrespectful to the dead. These things do go on, which is why it is important to have a family member or friend looking out for you when you are hospitalized.

Coma dragged on and because we never got to know these characters, did not hold interest despite this stellar group of actors, many of whom had very little to do. Steven Pasquale is no Michael Douglas, and his added May-December romance with the psychiatrist played by Geena Davis seemed unnecessary.

As it turned out, watching it was unnecessary too. See the original, which gives us a love story, characters we can relate to, and some good suspense.