RANSOM (1996) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1997 Ted Prigge
Director: Ron Howard Writers: Alexander Ignon and Richard Price Starring: Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Gary Sinise, Delroy Lindo, Lili Taylor, Donnie Wahlberg, Liev Schreiber, Brawley Nolte, Dan Hedaya
If I ever become rich, I will never have kids. Simple as that. You know you're probably gonna piss some schmuck off who will somehow vindicate his actions by giving you "a lesson," which will probably involve kidnapping someone, namely your kid, for a hefty sum. That's what "Ransom" depicts. It's a smart thriller because it has the balls to give us a flawed protagonist who we somehow doubt liking but nevertheless care about what happens to him because, well, it's Mel Gibson and his freaking kids been kidnapped by a group of schmucks. However, it never really becomes too smart, because that's when the audience starts hating it.
Gibson plays Tom Mullen, a multi-millionaire who owns the fourth biggest airline in the country. He's rich, he's powerful, and he has a family, including his wife, Kate (Rene Russo), and his beloved son, Sean (Brawley Nolte). One day at some kind of flying machine festival, Sean is kidnapped by two greasy haired psychos (Liev Schreiber and - get this - Donnie Wahlberg, I guess trying to earn some extra bucks following that whole "New Kids" spiel - or just a way to follow in the footsteps of his brother). They can't find him and they soon get a high-tech e-mail showing his son and a ransom for 2 million bucks.
Tom has no trouble getting the cash but as he researches some cases he got from the FBI, who he's called in (led by the schweppervescent and gouteed Delroy Lindo), he begins to doubt that he'll ever see his son again. After some botched drop-off attempts and some philosophical bashings from the kidnappers (cleverly led by a cop named Jimmy Shaker, played by Gary Sinise), he gives up his hope of truly getting him back and goes on the air to proclaim that he's switching the tables around, putting a 2 million dollar bounty on the kidnappers' heads unless they give the kid back.
A lesser film would have perished at this (it is pretty crazy), but the film turns into a psychological analysis, showing the kidnappers arguing over what to do and Kate and Tom worrying about his decision in their own ways. The ending is kind of stupid but nonetheless satisfying since the film has depicted a psychological collapse of three sort of decent people.
The best part of the film is the character Tom and his portrayer, Mel Gibson, who has a tough part to play, since we learn he has made a very selfish and totally amoral business decision that has caused him to worry intensely. Tom starts out as a man plagued with ghosts in his head that come erupting out in emotions. Mel Gibson, one of the better of the well-paid actors in Hollywood, does it totally believably and makes him a complex individual. His best scenes are when he's sitting in a car, thinking about what he's doing. Also, his acting when he walks out to the balcony with suicidal thoughts going through his head is priceless. His performance is so good that he got a well-deserved Golden Globe nomination. An Oscar nomination would be going too far, but still, Mel rocks in this flick and he's the anchor for the whole film.
Rene is mostly weepy, but it's obviously understandable. Gary is creepy and does a great job at it. Delroy rocks, as he always has and will. Lili Taylor is good and all, but she's wasted in a crap part. Remember, she was absolutely amazing in "I Shot Andy Warhol." She's great in this, but you kinda feel cheated.
"Ransom" is tautly directed by Ron Howard, who's a very good director. It's far from his best film, but he nicely shows us the psychological collapse of a flawed entrepeneur. And he wonderfully gives us the tenseness of having a person's kid being kidnapped by a bunch of greedy schmucks. I reccomend this as a good film, but not a great one, unfortunately.
MY RATING (out of 5): ***
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