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Movies / On DVD / Coma
Coma

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Coma (1978)

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Reviews Counted:21

Fresh:16

Rotten:5

Average Rating:6.6/10

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Based on the best-selling novel by Robin Cook, COMA is a taught paranoid thriller and a dramatically apt metaphor for the corruption and fraud in the modern American health-care industry. Dr. Susan... Based on the best-selling novel by Robin Cook, COMA is a taught paranoid thriller and a dramatically apt metaphor for the corruption and fraud in the modern American health-care industry. Dr. Susan Wheeler (Genevieve Bujold) suspects her colleagues of foul play when her closest friend lapses into a coma following a routine operation. When Wheeler discovers a suspiciously frequent pattern of unexplained comas in her hospital, she becomes obsessed with finding an answer, even when it puts her own career and life in danger. Her lover, Dr. Bellows (Michael Douglas), admits there is a mystery but doubts there is a conspiracy and even suspects Wheeler of suffering from a nervous breakdown. The tension builds as Wheeler's investigation leads her to a secret corporation specializing in organ transplant experimentation and sale for profit, and she soon witnesses the defining image of the film: comatose bodies suspended on wires in a computer-controlled environment. With its suspensful plot, dramatic editing, and conspiratorial terror, COMA is a precursor to many paranoid dramas such as THE FIRM and THE PELICAN BRIEF, establishing a defined style that may yet become a genre unto itself. [More]

Starring: Geneviève Bujold, Michael Douglas, Richard Widmark, Elizabeth Ashley

Starring: Geneviève Bujold, Michael Douglas, Richard Widmark, Elizabeth Ashley, Rip Torn, Tom Selleck, Lois Chiles, Hari Rhodes, Gary Barton, Frank Downing, Richard Doyle

Director: Michael Crichton

Director: Michael Crichton
Screenwriter: Michael Crichton
Producer: Martin Erlichman
Composer: Jerry Goldsmith

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Coma

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

A suspense-filled nailbiter that plays on a fear no weapon weidling psycho can top.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
11/27/07
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is a tidy conspiracy-theory thriller from Crichton, who accentuates the tension by packing it into a wholly believable, human framework.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
11/27/07
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

See it and worry.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
09/30/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

corny classic thriller

comment Comment
02/26/05
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

More entertaining than credible.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
08/27/08
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Coma wastes a superb performance by Bujold on a simplistic, predictable series of cliched suspense scenes, seasoned with some last-minute moralizing about contemporary medicine.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
11/27/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Coma is an extremely entertaining suspense drama in the Hitchcock tradition.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
11/27/07
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A superb suspense-thriller.

comment Comment
10/15/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

No review available.

comment Comment
07/01/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

comment Comment
06/30/05
Randy Shulman
Randy Shulman
Metro Weekly (Washington, DC)

Pretty creepy stuff hanging around here.

comment Comment
05/31/05
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Video-Reviewmaster.com

The aftereffect of Coma is a catlike yawn, benign and bored.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/09/05
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Micheal Crichton in his heyday

comment Comment
01/28/05
Staci Layne Wilson
Staci Layne Wilson
Fantastica Daily

No review available.

comment Comment
01/17/05
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

No review available.

comment Comment
06/04/04
Sarah Chauncey
Sarah Chauncey
Reel.com

No review available.

comment Comment
04/08/04
Rebecca Murray
Rebecca Murray
About.com

Genevieve Bujold puts in one of the strongest performances of her career in this well-done thriller.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
01/24/04
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Adequate Michael Crichton thriller.

comment Comment
05/20/03
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Crichton does Cook in this engaging (if dated) medical thriller.

comment Comment
07/25/02
Scott Weinberg
Scott Weinberg
eFilmCritic.com

Michael Crichton's slow-paced thriller must have begun with something to say about the morality of the medical profession, but whatever it was is lost in the shuffle of unnecessary narrative detail.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
01/01/00
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
all

Latest News for Coma

November 05, 2008: Michael Crichton Passes Away (1942-2008)
Best-selling author, screenwriter, and director Michael Crichton has passed away at the age of 66. The medical doctor-turned-filmmaker was best known for writing... More...

November 28, 2007: Total Recall: Malice and Medicine
Imagine what it might be like if you needed surgery.  You're more than a little nervous about the whole idea.  In fact when you think about it, you'll admit you're... More...

See All

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