Category: (DVD)
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From robin cook author of coma outbreak & vital signs comes a new thriller about a breakthrough cure that leads to a shocking conspiracy. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 02/18/2003 Starring: Doug Savant Michael Ironside Run time: 90 minutes
Based on the novel by bestselling author Robin Cook, this 1996 made-for-television feature is a competent yet thoroughly unremarkable medical thriller that should appeal mainly to non-discerning followers of the author's work. Melrose Place's Doug Savant is a young researcher at a hospital who learns that the facility has developed a cure for cancer. However, it appears that the only patients who are benefiting from the experiment are wealthy elderly men. In his search to discover the truth behind this miraculous new treatment, Savant puts his career and his life at risk.
Viewers familiar with other adaptations of Cook's novels (which include the vastly superior theatrical release Coma as well as TV movies like Virus and Acceptable Risk) will find the goings-on a comfortably familiar way to kill 90 minutes, while non-fans may dismiss this as a forgettable potboiler. Savant and costar Nia Peeples are serviceable as the leads, while their more experienced supporting cast (headed by Michael Ironside) does what it can to keep the plot moving. Artisan's DVD presentation is free of extras. --Paul Gaita
MEDICAL MAYHEMReviewed by Michael Butts, 2004-11-14
If you throw credibility to the wind and just enjoy the dark plot of this Robin Cook thriller, you may find TERMINAL an enjoyable little thriller. A high profile medical clinic is gaining attention as it has seemingly found a cure for brain cancer. Enter Doug Savant (Melrose Place) as a young medical student who comes to the clinic on a four month externship. He meets up with former girlfriend (the lovely Nia Peeples), and together they start wondering what is going on. Of course, in any Cook book, you know there's something devious going on. Seems like the cure works for elderly or middle aged rich men, and when a young nurse is killed, the plot thickens. Savant is a Keanu Reeves clone, making his wooden delivery work as part of the character, and Peeples provides a sharp, energetic contrast. Add Jenny O'Hara as the worst nurse since Ms. Ratched; Michael Ironside as the villainous pharmaceutical henchman; Gregg Henry as Savant's not so innocent brother; and Roy Thinnes as a concerned parent, and you have the ingredients for an above average made for t.v. thriller.
First - rate thriller.Reviewed by Anonymous, 2003-05-22
An exciting film of Robin Cook's novel which works due to the tremendous performances of the two leads, Doug Savant and Nia Peeples.