Coma (2012)

A medical student (Lauren Ambrose) becomes concerned when she notices a pattern of seemingly healthy patients falling into comas during routine surgeries. Based on the novel by Robin Cook and directed by Mikael Salomon. Cook's book had previously been filmed in 1978. The 1978 film was a brisk thriller with a strong central performance by Genevieve Bujold and ran under two hours. This version has been padded out by more than a half hour and added characters and a more convoluted plot and the result is a mess. There's less tension and a perfectly ridiculous hit man (Michael Weston) who is given too much attention. His counterpart in the 1978 film had minimal dialog and was much more frightening. Ambrose and the male lead (Steven Pasquale) have zero chemistry and aren't strong enough actors to overcome the tedium. There are two very good performances though, both by women. Ellen Burstyn as the Jefferson institute manager which has been expanded from the 1978 film and in this case, it works. The other performance is an unscrupulous psychiatrist played by Geena Davis, a character not in the 1978 film. Every time they show up, the film is elevated by their performances. With Richard Dreyfuss, James Woods, Joseph Mazzello, Joe Morton and James Rebhorn.