Rating: 
Summary: Proof Good Actors Can Look Bad!
Review: The premise of Proof of Life's story is interesting. However, Terry Hackford's directing left much to be desired. The long look between Crowe's and Ryan's characters at the airport was emotionless and contrived as well as the scene where Alice is weeping, hidden in her pantry off the kitchen and Terry tries to comfort her. The explosions in the city with Terry and Alice running hand in hand - what was the purpose? A waste of time - better to spend the time on developing the relationship between Terry and Alice. I could continue with other examples, but it would be easier to say that if someone like Ridley Scott was directing this film, there would be much more excitement and suspense.
As for David Morse's character... He was portrayed as whiny, annoying, and aggravating; he grated on my nerves. But I found he was the only character with whom I could somewhat sympathize.
When I think of Meg Ryan, I do not think of a dramatic actress. She is typical cute blonde who plays ditzy, comedic, light roles. Ryan is an average actress who cannot compete with the strong, intense, forceful Crowe on-screen. Her portrayal of Alice was flat, her tears seemed forced, and she provoked no sympathy from me.
As for my favorite actor, Crowe did an adequate but good job. I cried when I saw him in The Sum of Us, I was moved when I watched The Insider, I smiled at him in Mystery, Alaska, I simply adored him in Gladiator, and thought he was excellent in A Beautiful Mind. But besides his good looks and nice biceps, I cannot say much more about his performance in A Proof of Life. He carried the film even though it did not go very far.
The beginning of the movie looked promising, and Crowe, as Terry, did his usual intense acting. His character proved to be a force to be reckoned with. Then he meets Alice and turns into mush. A man who risks life and limb in his work, is on his way up the career ladder, knows how his business works, then chucks it all because he meets Alice. Please don't feed me that, I eat enough junk food.
At the end of the movie when Ryan drives off with her husband, and Crowe is standing watching them head for the airport, my eyes were dry. There was no reason to cry.
Rating:
Summary: Could and should have been better
Review: It was,as Russel Crowe said,good but not great.. An engineer named Peter Bowman working in Tecala gets kidnapped by a terrorist group.Then comes ex-soldier professional K&R negotiator Terry Thorne(Russel Crowe),hired by Bowman's company to help Alice Bowman (Meg Ryan) get back his husband.As the movie progresses,a love interest begins between Crowe and Ryan and we also find out that there is a more complicated relation between the terrorists,the government of Tecala and the oil company Bowman was building the dam for.. The storyline is interesting but not quite so surprising and the tempo of the movie gets slow from time to time..Russel Crowe is magnificent as usual and although it is strange for me to see Meg Ryan in a different role than her usual "sweet and lovely girl",I must say that she is not a bad fit for the Alice Bowman character.
This Dvd should have included most of the scenes deleted from the final version of the movie.Those scenes have been talked about a lot,especially the ones depicting the love interest between Crowe and Ryan.I'm sure this would push the DVD sales of Proof of Life a lot.Unfortunately,we will never see those scenes and the disc is quite poor in the extras area. I can not say it is a good buy,but definitely worth renting.
Rating:
Summary: Falls short of what could be excellence...
Review: This movie, based primarily upon the diary-turned-published book by Thomas Hargrove, has hints of excellence. The portrayal of the hostage is close in terms of capturing the resemblence of Dr. Hargrove, whose book, "Long Road to Freedom" was an actual diary he kept while being kept hostage for over 11 months by the FARC in Colombia. Morse did an excellent job with his portrayal and that might be the best acting job in the movie. The romantic tension was frivilous and added nothing good to the authenticity of the story other than to help sell to the movie to those who crave the romance in films. The hostage negotiations seemed to be accurate and was infact based upon one of Dr. Hargrove's own son's filming during actual negotiations. If you want to see one example of how the hostage-for-ransom terrorism pans out, this would be a good one to view, if not the only one that deals with this real life situation that still goes on a daily basis around the world. Too bad the story is changed a bit too much in the name of commercialism, it cheapens the story and plight of reality.
Rating: 
Summary: God bless Pearl and his family
Review: With the recents events and ultimate tragedy of Daniel Pearl, this film may offer some light as to what possibly could have been happening to him and his family. Proof of Life is a much better film than I anticipated. And the love story that appears in the ads and trailers isn't really there, so it's not so sappy as it appears. It is extremely interesting and informative as to what happens when someone is kidnapped and held for ransom. I would recommend this film.
Rating:
Summary: good performances
Review: i thought this was an enjoyable film. though there was not too much action at no point did i feel board or wanting it to hurry up and end. Crowe gave a good performance as did the other actors. three days after seeing this film i bought it.
Rating: 
Summary: expecting better
Review: Whei I heard about proof of life, I set my expectations high because of russell crowe who was really good in the gladiator. However when I saw proof of life I was disappointed by the rather weak acting. Rusell Crowe has shown that he can act well like beautiful mind and gladiator but that is not the case in proof of life. The movie never quite takes off the ground
Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful... somewhat seductive
Review: When Peter is kidnapped by rebels in Tecala, his wife, Alice, is left in fear of who to trust to save her husband. A Kidnap & Rescue negotiator arrives to help, only to discover Peter was a subcontractor and therefore, the company he was contracting for is not responsible for his return (summary: the company's insurance did not cover his safety, therefore will not pay for the expert Kidnap & Rescue negotiator to attempt to save Peter; leaving Alice to hire a negotiator with little to no experience, and try and raise money for the ransom). However, Thorne (K&R negotiator) leaves Tecala, only to return again, just in time before Alice trusted a huge amount of money to the inexperienced negotiator and lost everything - even her husband. Though it seems unlikely that a romance would blossom out of such a tragedy, the movie carefully shows where feelings begin to take root. Thorne returned to save Peter out of his strong attraction to Alice. Alice feels nothing except fear for her husband, but as time goes on and the ups and downs of each phase in the rescue, Alice and Thorne open up a little at a time to each other about all aspects of their lives - until a natural care for each other develops. With Thorne being basically Alice's "knight in shining armour," and the close friendship they develop together for the next several months... it's only natural that strong emotions and thoughts of love seap into the minds of both Alice and Thorne. However, though the attraction is great, Alice realizes her true love is Peter and doesn't waver from that fact. Thorne, realizes too, that his goal of returning Peter will in fact mean he will never have Alice - however, he cannot sacrifice another good person, so he can have his wife. This will leave you feeling good about being an American for one thing!! However, I also felt good that though the emotions were running high from the beginning of the film to the end, moral standards did not waive from the main characters. Enjoy... I think it is a good film that you should enjoy the first time you see it.
Rating: 
Summary: No star if possible, boring, agony, bad movie
Review: Is there a choice of zero or below? I believe this was the worthless, useless movie should receive.
Two boring hours of ridiculous, repeated idea, deprived of all the "action, suspense' promised on the back cover, except barely few minutes toward the end which any one had imagined, and were redundant. The end was anticipated and waited for. Can you imagine the silliness in listening to Crowe negotiating and Ryan complaining, and the kidnaper have to agree and believe Crowe, or that the maid figured out the kidnapper from his voice, what a coincidence!!! Why was a missionary man, and why he was killed, did I was waiting for it or?? All were very pathetic especially Ryan with kidnapped husband falling in love with Crowe.
The only help in this movie was counting the day of kidnapping, which always reminded me of how many minutes of agony and waste I spent watching this horrible movie.
Rating:
Summary: Russell Crowe saves the day once again
Review: I didn't see this movie in the theater because I thought it was "just" an action movie, and the previews showed Meg Ryan at her worst. I was pleasantly surprised by the video and this film really confirmed me as a Russell Crowe fan. I will never again pass up an opportunity to see him act. It was refreshing to see Hollywood production set up a situation where adultery was possible and then show the characters exercising restraint. This is RARE in movies, although in real life it happens all the time. Meg was so right to insist that the love scene not be included in the final cut, and not because of her real life situation. It's because the straight-arrow, consumate professional Terry Thorne says to Alice, "You will have to learn to trust me." That is the crux of the movie. If he had seduced her after that it would have been a terrible abuse of power, like a psychiatrist or clergyman who takes advantage of his client's trust. She was really at his mercy, and Terry did the right thing. This is the kind of thing Jesus was talking about when he said, "What will it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?" Of course, Terry Thorne is also a cold-blooded murderer, and you can't apply the "What would Jesus do" standard too far here. I found that the movie had integrity, that the performances were pretty solid, and that Russell Crowe's incredible talent made the whole thing possible. I thought watching David Caruso and Russell on screen at the same time really underlined the difference between good, competent acting (Caruso) and acting as a true art form (Crowe).
Rating:
Summary: Horrid
Review: I can't believe other reviewers even consider this a movie. I didn't care about any of the characters and I actually hoped that her kidnapped husband would just die so that the film would end. How another reviewer considered his "acting" worth an oscar I have no idea. He simply grew a beard and failed to bath for a few weeks. This is not acting. The worst was the contrived nemisis captor, who he OF COURSE shot at the end. Didn't see that one coming!
Russel crowe looked bored. Meg ryan...well all she really did was complain. Great, thanks for subjecting us to two hours of straight agony. THere is a reason this movie bombed at the box office; no one wants to sit in the theater for two hours and watch uninspired, hackneyed crap. Even Russel crowe and Meg ryan looked bored throughout the whole film. If you cared about this film, you need help.
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