'Medicine Man' was poorly received when first released and often is considered John McTiernan's first misfire and one of his weaker films. Seeing it for myself with an open mind, it's no 'The Hunt for Red October', 'Predator' and 'Die Hard' but it is a much better film than the dreadful 'Rollerball' as far as other McTiernan films go.So while 'Medicine Man' to me wasn't a great film and had a good deal wrong with it, can see why it didn't connect with critics, it has a number of good things and is not that bad a film. Three things especially make it watchable. One is the scenery which is simply spectacular and the beautiful cinematography really makes the most of it. Two is the stirring music score from the always reliable Jerry Goldsmith, one of my favourite film composers, not one of my favourite scores from him perhaps but it uplifted and moved me and really adds to the film. Three and the best thing about it is, even with the bizarre pony-tail is an effortlessly charismatic Sean Connery.There are parts of 'Medicine Man' that are very intriguing, as well as inspirational and poignant. As said the cinematography is beautiful, and in a brave change of pace for him (which could be to do with why the film didn't fare so well) McTiernan does direct with passion, this is not the incompetent directing job seen in 'Rollerball'. The film is well-intended and the message is a pertinent and inspirational one.On the other hand, have to agree with those who found Lorraine Bracco miscast and insufferably irritating in a very poorly written role. The chemistry between the two leads never really gels, and it is more to do with Bracco and the writing than Connery who really does do a truly great job with what he has.When it comes to the script, there are moments where it shines but there are too many instances too of forced humour, saccharine melodrama, contrivances and heavy-handedness. The story is intriguing and moving with a good concept but over-engineers and under-develops some of its ideas (so they're more contrived than ringing true), a bit thin, some of what it tries to say veers on the preachy side and the ending is abrupt. A few instances of messy editing here and there and the support acting doesn't really register.All in all, not a misfire and not that bad but doesn't explore or amaze. Considering Connery's calibre and how good McTiernan's previous work is, it was natural for one to expect better. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Sean Connery and Lorraine Bracco lift this film out of the muck and mire to salvage it from drowning in it's own rain forest.Bracco is an award-winning biochemist turned field researcher who visits reclusive scientist Sean Connery to decide if his work warrants continued funding. The appeal of the stars is what saves an otherwise mundane film (honorable mention to the cinematography).The biggest problem here is a clumsy script which includes Bracco's terribly drawn character, plus director John McTiernan's strangely edited final product. He appears to have been smoking some really far out rain forest weed.Ultimately a good movie, well produced, with handsome Sean and beautiful Lorraine to get the audience through the film's rough edges.

All I could think about while watching this hot mess was the review I was going to write about it. In no particular order, you've got: Lorraine Bracco running around the Amazon in mom jeans, screaming like a banshee (of course she and Sean Connery scream at each other from the first time they meet; that's how we know they will fall in love and get married at the end of the movie); Sean Connery is is eccentric--how do we know? He's got a ponytail. Cool! Weird lively Caribbean music playing in the background, to illustrate the movie is taking place in the Amazon rain forest, I guess. Well, heck, if there's a story beyond that it was lost on me. For every time a woman in a movie screams, "Whoa. . .whoa! Whoa!!!", I knock a star off. If that's the best dialogue the writers can come up with, I don't hold out a lot of hope that the movie is going to improve along the way.

"Life is so strange, but here it seems so precious". That's Bracco's last line (or one of them), a very "deep" and "touching" line - but it's in VERY stark contrast to what she thought about the Rainforest during the shooting of this film. Apparently, everyone in the cast and crew, including Connery, hated filming there. You know, the usual LESS romantic aspects of the Amazon, like mosquitoes, the incessant noise, the heat, bad food, crappy accommodations, various creepy-crawlies etc.Hollywood truly is a bull***t factory, and this movie is no exception. Don't get me wrong, Bracco and Connery are charismatic enough to ensure this to be quite pleasant viewing, but watching Connery fight against lumber-company bulldozers in the middle of the night like some aged James Bondian scientist, was too much even for Tinseltown. It just screamed "cheese" to me."BIG LUMBER CORPORATION NEARLY DESTROYS ALL HOPE FOR A CURE FOR CANCER".That's the kind of headline that the writers of this preachy nonsense would like to imagine, but they don't live in the real world so they can only put it on screen for gullible, uninformed viewers to hopefully (from their left-wing perspective) believe.Flowers... ants... you just need to bend down to tie your shoe-laces in the Amazon Rainforest and you'll stumble upon a cure for cancer, AIDS, leukemia, schizophrenia, the bubonic plague, you name it. Of course, even the Amazon doesn't have a cure for a liberals' naivety. And there's no cure for the stupidity of believing that a bunch of flowers, ants, frogs and trees all hold magical cures for most of mankind's physical ills.Yes, it's wrong and dangerous to cut down the Rainforest indiscriminately. However, let's not get all dramatic and weepy and exaggerate the relevance of the flora and fauna there.I'd like to know why various directors insisted on Connery wearing those god-awful long-hair wigs in his later movies. "The Rock" also comes to mind. What's the point? He just look silly.As for Bracco, she's gorgeous. Had the movie been made today, it would have stunk, because Cameron Diaz would have played Dr."Bronx", and Tom Hanks would have been the scientist. I think I wanna vomit...