OK,So the I finally sat down to watch this 3 hour epic on DVD. Saw the billboards and stuff all around town and I love me some Tony and Ridley Scott. I also like medical thrillers, like Anatomy, Antiviral, Nightwatch and more. To Coma - What I liked - I loved the cinematography, the performances were great, the suspense was well built and the FEW twists within it were well done. All the technical aspects of this show ere top notch, I would expect nothing less from the Scott brothers. (Tony - RIP) A HUGE problem with the film, the pace and knowledge of the main character - Speaking from EXP as I spent 14 years in the military in the medical field, the pace of how this STUDENT uncovered the issue at hand is astounding and really, NOT STUDENT LIKE. So logistically there are TONS of problems with the film. All the evidence she found was so easy and yet they could not contain or remove her before it got out of hand yet they can put JAMES WOODS in an elaborate car accident? James Woods, who was apart of the whole thing (or was he, this is never revealed) Just because the main girls father was a doctor and supposed starter of this project does not mean the granddaughter will suddenly be smarter than all the other students and catch on. Geena Davis who looks like BOTOX on steroids in this film has a mental, killer patient who kinda makes no sense and his character is never truly explained. So he killed a young girl, so he is on meds now and does her bidding. Yet can't kill a female medical student? uhhh OK! I could go on with a lot of the logistics of the show. Now - to the overall story. I get that they are putting specific people in Comas. I get that there are experiments on those in the coma. trying to cure disease or find better ways to treat them. I get it. What I don't get is why take NORMAL HEALTHY FOLKS coming in for cyst removals and have them suddenly go into a coma? That only draws attention which with the amount mentioned in the film in such a short span not even the facilitates ethics committee could hide from HIPPA and the federal government which requires you to report such anomalies. You could not keep this contained to the hospital alone. Richard Dryfeuss character is never fully realized. What exactly they were doing in the facility was never fully explained. Kind of a round about answer. and FINALLYWhat was with the pregnancies that the old lady was doing. How the heck was she getting female coma patients pregnant and WHY? In the end - A good looking medical thriller that had wonderful performances but lacked any explanation as to WHY its all happening. Not to mention she had friends at the beginning of the show that mysteriously didn't materialize during the last hour. Odd.

Susan Wheeler (Lauren Ambrose) is a medical student starting at her late grandfather's Peach Tree Memorial Hospital. Dr. Mark Bellows (Steven Pasquale), Dr. Theodore Stark (James Woods), and Dr. Agnetta Lindquist (Geena Davis) are some of the senior faculty. Mrs. Emerson (Ellen Burstyn) cares for the coma patients.A&E remade the 1978 movie based on the 1977 novel into a 4 hour TV mini-series. It's important to note that the paranoia of the era worked great to infuse the original with atmosphere. However this one is much more of a thriller. The biggest logic problem in this one is that it's no longer the '70s. It just seems that somebody would just sue in today's world. But if you're willing to accept that, there is some good thrills to be had here.

--SPOILERS! -- I loved the original "Coma" with Bujold and Douglas, and I liked this version, too. Or would have liked it. It was a bit slow-paced, and could have done without the bizarrerie associated with the obviously mental guy who was chasing Susan around, but other than that, it was well-acted and great fun to watch -- that is, until the character of the evil head of the Jefferson Institute was shown praying the Rosary. I mean, really?! Any Catholic who's Catholic enough to pray the Rosary would know that Church teaching prohibits doing evil so that good can come from it, would know that murder is a sin, would understand very well that one doesn't put people into comas in order to conduct medical experiments on them, and so forth, so why, WHY, did the powers-that-be just have to make that character a "Catholic"? Haven't we had enough of this sort of nonsense? Why does Hollywood have to constantly poke at Christians -- Catholics in particular? Would the director have gone out of his way to depict that character wearing a Star of David or as an obvious practitioner of Islam? Why is it not OK to do that to folks of religions other than Christianity? Why is Christianity singled out for this sort of treatment?I am sick of this sort of thing. It really is disgusting. And it's too bad, too, with regard to this particular movie because, as I said, it was otherwise enjoyable. Sigh.

What a shame: all but the last 30mins or so of this drama are classic TV movie: badly scripted & fundamentally disjointed.The trailer promised cameos by a range of superb actors. This boded well . . . but the performers were then completely wasted. A few key phrases and 'masterful' TV-drama looks, and they were gone. What a shameful squandering of the talents of James Woods, Richard Dreyfus, etc. I can't say I was surprised. Few TV movies make 'the grade' in storytelling. And few remakes (big-screen or otherwise) ever match the quality of the original. So a drama that fits into both categories has much to fight against to attain any form of success; which this TV remake does not.The one redeeming feature of this version of 'Coma' may be for those viewers who haven't seen the excellent 1978 film original. The Genevieve Bujold version sticks in my mind over 25 years since I first saw it! For those new to the story this drama may hold its own. After all, it will have no alternative against which to be measured.But I still feel that, whereas in the 1970s the concept of this kind of scientific experimentation was unknown & shocking to the layman, to a modern audience it is all too familiar & newsworthy. So the shock level of the story is lost; which is after all the mainstay of the plot.The usual mistakes of cheap movie-making occur: story threads are left incomplete, the plot continuity has gaping holes in it, and the character development is threadbare. One character {I will leave the name left blank here: to avoid spoilers!} is in one scene adamant that they want to continue their affair with their lover, then in the very next scene are suddenly keen to throw that affair over: with no real explanation to the observer for such a key change of heart. More 'jumping' occurs when the role of at least two of the 'baddies' is left unclear. Overall there is too much left unexplained. Another character turns 'tail' in loyalties at the end with – again – no in-depth explanation to the viewer as to the reason for his change of heart. This film is simply a case of too many characters & not enough characterisation.Yet another example of a poorly put together TV film for which one cannot blame the actors. It is the material they are working with that is at fault, not their acting performance.There is also a signature of TV movie 'dross': an extended stalking scene. It is ridiculously long, and is neither necessary nor well made. In the same scene there is even a long-winded monologue – over an intercom! – by one of the 'baddies'. It made me think of a plagiarised Jack Nicholson in 'The Shining', without being anywhere near as riveting or chilling.Geena Davis is given a lot of screen time, but the camera seems to just dwell on her pretty face rather than let her get to grips with what could have been a more in-depth role. Another wasted talent.The script is patchy; not as bad as it might be perhaps – and it may well be another skill area in the production process that causes this problem in the end product – but the screen play is not good enough to link the scenes together and make a substantial movie of this.In the last hour or so we finally get to see what is going on 'behind the scenes'. And the pace becomes more appropriate, with the scenes finally beginning to connect a little more. But it is too little, too late. And, being a TV movie, of course we get to see too much blood & guts in the final moments; in place of the necessary development of the back plot. Lots of gory: not enough story.We never get to hear more than a few words of explanation of the ethics of the experiments, or the motivation for it. This is crucial to the whole storyline. We need to hear the psychology & drive behind what is going on. But there is none told to the viewer. Sadly, there seems little if no thought behind this film. It is, frankly, just superficial popcorn drivel.Bizarrely, the credit sequence at the end is the best part of the whole production!: original & stylish.The 1978 film was quietly intelligent. This remake, sadly, is empty of any style or substance – and 'loudly' so. What a shame that those two greats – the Scott Brothers – couldn't leave well alone. After all, if it ain't broke, don't mend it! I only assume, being producers, that they had little to do with the creative process. So I shall leave 'Blade Runner' & 'Top Gun' as happy memories to remind me what skilled film-makers they can be.