Amazon.com: Something is awry at Boston General Hospital. Dr. Wheeler's (Genevieve Bujold) friend Nancy goes in for a routine procedure, but never comes out of the anesthesia and slips into a coma. Wheeler learns that a tissue sample from the young woman went to the lab, then soon finds out that a high number of patients have become comatose recently. She digs a little deeper and finds a conspiracy mired in hospital politics, running afoul of the head of anesthesia, Dr. George (Rip Torn) and the head of surgery, Dr. Harris (Richard Widmark). Nobody believes the young MD, not even her boyfriend Dr. Bellows (Michael Douglas), but she soon uncovers a black-market trade in body parts, conducted offsite at the Jefferson Institute, a state-of-the-art coma-care facility. As a thriller, Coma certainly has its moments (the scene where a hit man is buried under a pile of frozen-stiff cadavers is an inspired touch), but it's not without its problems. Director Michael Crichton is an MD himself, and the film has a seamless, almost mechanical structure and plotline (taken from the Robin Cook novel). However, the movie's cold, detached feel works against it at times, making the suspense scenes oddly more effective but rendering the emotional content of the characters rather flat. Douglas in particular seems to not put much into his performance; Bujold, on the other hand, is strong and resourceful as the movie's protagonist. More telling, perhaps, is the way that the story shows its age in a time when medical ethics have changed and the phrase "organ harvesting" has made its way into our lexicon. --Jerry Renshaw
Has its moments, but undermined by a weak ending...possible spoilers... For years and years, I've always wanted to see this film, but just never got around to it. Finally, after having it in the Netflix queue for years, I just moved it up and finally saw it. It's a good thriller, though a bit flat and predictable.
Coma has its moments. It starts out rather slowly (or leisurely), building up the situation of the setting, a hospital that houses Genevieve Bujold, Michael Douglas, Rip Torn, and Richard Widmark. You don't see that in many films nowadays, where it's just a little expository dialogue to explain the situation, then rush into the plot. Despite the fact that writer/director Michael Crichton created ER with its incessant moving, hand held camera moves, here he uses more traditional and effective framing. The build up is nicely done, and there's a ton of medical information thrown at you, so pay attention.
There are effective scenes, such as when Bujold is chased by a man set out to kill her, her climbing through shafts to get at the mystery, a funny scene in the morgue (with Ed Harris in one of his first roles), and the eerily effective, surreal Jefferson Institute scenes, which are still unsettling today (this is the scene where you see the bodies hanging from the wires). Bujold's escape from this facility is very well done. The ending, however, is very flat and rather predictable. It undermines a credible (and still plausible) suspense thriller.
Coma is a good film, not a great one, but one that has dated little (except for a really cheesy romantic montage sequence in the middle of the film, which is unintentionally hilarious), and still poses disturbing questions. It's not a particulary deep film, but a good one.
Still good viewing The movie has managed to stand its time quite well and does not seem overly aged when presented today. Michael Douglas role and his interpretation is not something to write home about but there are quite a few interesting performances in smaller parts by actors later becoming quite known (see how many you can spot)
The topic is ever more relevant these days and thus keeping the movie relevant to todays audiences despite its flaws.
Coma I remember this movie from TV. It would have been nice to see this one in a theater, but I never got to it. Genevieve Bujold made a good Doctor. But in watching the movie she is not a full fledged doctor. she is an intern or what ever doctors are before they become full fledged doctors and she is trying to get someone to listen to her, that there are illegal practicing of medicine in operating room 8 but no one listens until finally she is scheduled for surgery in OR 8 then her boy friend reluctantly steps in and starts looking into matters and finds out she was right and calls the police and has the administrator of the hospital arrested for what he as done to ten cases at the hospital.
HOSPITAL THRILLER Coma BASED ON THE BOOK BY ROBIN COOK, THIS IS ONE OF THE LATE MICHAEL CRICHTON'S BEST FILM EFFORTS. GENEVIEVE BUJOLD PLAYS A RESIDENT DOCTOR WHO BECOMES CURIOUS ABOUT CERTAIN PATIENTS GOING INTO A STATE OF COMA, PARTICULARLY FROM O.R.8 (OPERATING THEATRE 8). MICHAEL DOUGLAS, ALSO A RESIDENT AT THE SAME HOSPITAL, DISBELIEVES HER AT FIRST BUT STEP BY STEP SLOWLY GETS CONVINCED THAT SHE IS RIGHT. BOND BEAUTY, LOIS CHILES, FROM MOONRAKER, PLAYS BUJOLD'S CLOSE FRIEND, WHO GOES INTO COMA, RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FILM. THE SUSPENCE IS TERRIFIC. YOU WILL CERTAINLY BE SCARED. THE DVD QUALITY IS SUPERB. YOU CAN SEE IT EITHER FULL SCREEN OR LETTERBOXED. YOU SIMPLY HAVE TO TURN THE DVD OVER. ELIZABETH ASHLEY IS THE SPOOKY HEAD-NURSE IN THE HUGE FACILITY FROM WHERE THE ORGANS REMOVED FROM THE COMATOSE PATIENTS ARE STORED AND SUPPLIED TO VARIOUS 'CLIENTS' THROUGH-OUT THE GLOBE. THE FACILITY IS SURROUNDED BY ARMED GUARDS AND FIERCE DOGS. VETERAN RICHARD WIDMARK, IS THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT(H.O.D)OF SURGERY. HE PLAYS HIS PART TO PERFECTION.
Do they show this film in hospital waiting rooms? Do you have any fears about going into the hospital? If so the movie ''Coma'' will probably scare the socks off you. This creepy 1978 medical horror film is based on a book by Robin Cook while the film version is directed by Michael Crichton.
The plot initially focuses on a young woman's mysterious lapse into a coma while in surgery. Dr. Susan Wheeler (played by Genevieve Bujold), friend of the affected woman, starts investigating the case, although the doctors involved discourage her. The more Wheeler digs around in hospital case records, the more cases of mysterious coma cases she finds. And all the affected patients ended-up being transferred to the secretive Jefferson Institute, where people exist in a vegetative state.
Michael Douglas plays Wheeler's boyfriend, who is baffled by her obsession with the coma cases. Wheeler also runs into trouble by crossing the path of hospital administrator Dr. Harris (Richard Widmark) and the cold-hearted Dr. George, played by actor Rip Torn. But eventually Bujold's character discovers a terrifying secret linking the coma cases and realizes her own life is in danger.
I liked many aspects of this film but overall think it's just average. The acting at time is wooden and the plot just plods along until the second half. There are some great sci-fi type scenes in ''Coma'' at the mysterious Jefferson Institute, and a horrific scene involving dozens of cadavers, but many scenes are unimaginative and clunky (especially Operating Room scenes). I also thought the ending was rather abrupt - it could have packed a lot more punch. But the film is still worth watching.
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