Actors: Lauren Ambrose, Steven Pasquale, Geena Davis, James Woods, Ellen Burstyn
Directed by: Mikael Salomon
Rated: Unrated
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Release Date: October 30, 2012
Run Time: 160 minutes
Our Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars
“Coma” is based on the bestselling novel by Robin Cook. This A&E Miniseries is also executive produced by Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. The miniseries originally aired on A&E over two days this past Labor Day weekend. “Cona” runs just shy of three hours and blends both suspense and sci-fi. The issue with this miniseries is that is it too short or too long and I will explain further. The story is explain well for the first half and then realizes that it is running out of time and crams in all the pay-off into the rushed ending. This would been a lot better if they cut out some of the middle and or extended the ending.
Official Synopsis: A healthy patient suddenly falls into a coma. It’s not an impossible event, but it is rare. So why does it keep happening at Peachtree Memorial? Lauren Ambrose stars as Dr. Susan Wheeler in this thriller about a medical student who discovers that something sinister is going on in her hospital after routine procedures send more than a few seemingly healthy patients into comas on the operating table.
For TV mini-series, this film has a terrific cast including Lauren Ambrose (“Six Feet Under”), Steven Pasquale (FX’s Rescue Me”), Geena Davis (“Beetlejuice”). Also there is a terrific supporting cast including James Woods (“Disney’s Hercules”), Richard Dreyfuss (“Jaws”) and Ellen Burstyn (“Requiem for a Dream”). The DVD does not come with any special features included, unfortunately. I would have like to see some featurettes on the whole sci-fi angle of the series. Since there is such a stunning cast would have loved to see some interviews etc.