Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

lasttimeisaw American Science Fiction author Michael Crichton's second venture into filmmaking after dipping his toes in grinding out a futuristic WESTWORLD (1973) which is in dire urgency of a retrofit (here comes HBO's popular TV series), COMA is not from his own novels, but transposed from his friend Robin Cook's book (which also receives a TV re-interpretation in 2012), it cleverly taps into a paranoia-driven (our mortal fear about hospital and surgery), conspiracy theory routine that takes place in a major hospital in Boston and is headlined by our tenacious heroine Dr. Susan Wheeler (Bujold).After her best friend Nancy (Chiles) succumbs to a brain-dead coma after a minor surgery, Susan acutely sniffs some goings-on on top of the statistic hokum of bad luck, her pursuance of the truth will duly encounter mounting resistance, but nothing can hold her back, neither the bureaucratic pressure nor a ruthless killer trailing her among the cadaver-riddled hospital rooms in the witching hour. She even goes out on a limb and sneaks into a formidable institution on her lonesome to finally solve the puzzle and miraculously finds an exit route. Yet, just when we are astounded by her moxie and wits, she predictably makes a fatal mistake and throws herself on the mercy of the vile ringleader to be silenced on the operation table by carbon monoxide poisoning, only to be rescued by her knight-in-shining armor in the eleventh hour, as an ostensibly female-centered trend-bucker, that final phallocratic deed is tastelessly self-defeating. What is more excruciating is the portrait of the aforementioned knight, Susan's boyfriend and colleague Dr. Mark Bellows, played by a flip Michael Douglas, often gratingly plays the contrarian whenever a stressed Susan propounds her theory, and Crichton rams the hovering question into his audience by implicating that he might be complicit in the whole backdoor human organ trafficking, simply to pull off the kicker and feather the movie's deceitful macho nest, don't forget, he is the one who would rather staying in his car and leaving Susan alone to visit the sinister-looking facility in the first place, plus, if he were really such a perfect dreamboat, it would not have taken him until that later phase to realize that something is amiss. While it is the imagery of horizontally floating comatose patients (all young, fit bodies, for practical and aesthetic reasons), that chiefly subsists the film's dimmed allure, there is no denying that a pert and competent Ms. Bujold makes for a strikingly sympathetic heroine, in spite of Crichton's carefully veiled comments on women liberation, as Mark frustratingly mutters, he should have fallen in love with a nurse instead, which strikes her as a frigid, lippy woman whose femininity is subdued by her own aptitude. Finally, two supporting turns are worth singling out here, an authoritatively stern Rip Torn can always give us goosebumps even without uttering one single syllable; whereas a blink-refraining Elizabeth Ashley knows perfectly how to put impersonality to the fore, her Nurse Emerson could be intricately computer-manufactured herself, to more align with the drift of Crichton's works.

Antonius Block I'll start by saying there is a plot hole in 'Coma' large enough to drive a giant truck through, which will have almost all viewers absolutely howling. There is also some pretty poor acting from some of the supporting characters, particularly early on in the movie, and an overall feel that makes one think of 'made for TV' films from this time period. Stick with it, it gets better. Lastly, because we know at least most of what's going on pretty early in the film, a good portion of the potential tension is lost.And yet, and yet. Michael Crichton knew a good story when he saw, it and shows us one that was ahead of its time, touching on organ farming and the computerization of hospitals all wrapped up in a creepy conspiracy, and with a little feminism mixed in besides. Geneviève Bujold is fantastic as the surgical resident who early on makes it clear to her boyfriend, another resident (Michael Douglas) that she won't be pushed around in their relationship. She then begins investigating some odd circumstances surrounding patients at Boston Memorial Hospital who unexpectedly go into comas following routine surgeries, including her close friend. Douglas is good, and it's interesting to see Tom Selleck and Ed Harris in minor roles, but Bujold stars here. You can probably sense where the film is going, but it may surprise you a bit along the way, and there are several memorable scenes in the second half. You do have to forgive it for some of its character motivations, but it's well worth watching even close to 40 years later.

desert_dilbert Topless extras hanging out! Joanna Kerns in a leotard! Dr. Goodhead getting an abortion! The trampy nubile French mom from Earthquake!, not wearing bras, drinkin' scotch and all naked and stuff! And Elizabeth Ashley, a black marketeer who smokes! Who said the women's lib stuff filmed for the movie hit the cutting room floor? I have to quote Gomer Pyle, "Well Ghaaalleee!" If you regularly watch the 700 Club, you'll see this as a pornfest of loose, amoral whores, gallivanting around, snooping where they aren't supposed to, being voyeurs in the men's showers and breaking things. That commie pinko Douglas breaks stuff too! That French tart must have corrupted him being all naked outta wedlock. What's with all the hussies, hangin' out with just fussy britches on! So many tramps, not doing what they're told, not even dying when the man wants 'em dead, then getting good men killed! My word! A 1978 PG movie, those were the days! It's another great Michael Crichton film.

gavin6942 When a young female doctor (Geneviève Bujold) notices an unnatural amount of comas occurring in her hospital she uncovers a horrible conspiracy.Maybe I am just too young, but I think of Michael Crichton as really blossoming in the 1990s. He had "ER", he had "Jurassic Park" and "Congo". It seemed like the height of his career. And yet, here we have 1978, he is already directing a very strong thriller. Maybe not well remembered compared to his other projects, but you still have a great movie with Michael Douglas in a big supporting role. (Bujold, though not as big of a name, has at least as distinguished a career.) "Coma" was Tom Selleck's first theatrical appearance. He would later work with Crichton again in the 1984 sci-fi thriller "Runaway". Composer Jerry Goldsmith would also work with Crichton on "Runaway", contributing his first--and only--all-electronic score.