Ransom

Rating:
Summary: The Big Payoff?
Review: At first glance, director Ron Howard's Ransom, seemed like a pretty solid thriller. However, after seeing it a second time on the special edition DVD, my feelings about it changed somewhat. And then there's those extras.

Tom Mullen (Mel Gibson) is a wealthy airline tycoon. Along with his loving wife Kate (Rene Russo), and their son Sean (Brawley Nolte), they seem to have it all. Things are turned upside down for the family though, when Sean is abducted and held for ransom, by a gruoup of kinappers. Frantic, Tom decides to take matters into his own hands, despite the pleas of his wife and FBI agents, led by agent Lonnie Hawkins (Delroy Lindo). Then, he deal with the consequences of attempting to turn the tables on the kidnappers, and find a way to help get his son back.

Ransom boasts fine perfomances from Gibson and Russo, who carry over their obvious chemistry from the Lethal Weapon films. Lindo is top notch as Hawkins, as is Gary Sinise, playing Detective Shaker. With all this talent in front of the camera, and Howard as a fine director Ransom should still be a better film.The major twist of the story is telegraphed too early. It's bad enough the trailer gives away a minor twist, but, I think it would have been better to keep that secret a bit longer. It kind of takes the suspense of the last act and leaves it muted. Thanks to a solid cast--it's still watchable.

Now to the DVD extras. You would think, after reading the back of the snapper case, that the bonus features would be worthwhile, well, in reality they don't measure up. Take the audio commentary by director Ron Howard, it's fact filled about the production--almost to a fault--it's also lacking any ommff. Having someone else there would have probably helped. The deleted scenes are nothing more than minor snipets of edited material. The "What Would You Do?" featurette is all too brief and doesn't do anything except take up space. The lack of any of the film's cast is noticed and hurts the piece. The "Between Takes" featurette is also short, but at least it's fun to watch. The movie's Internationl trailer and a Touchtone products ad round out the disc.

I wish I could rate Ransom a bit higher but I can't. I would say rent don't buy

Rating:
Summary: Another lousy Ron Howard movie
Review: Bad. Really bad. Only Gary Sinise manages to save this nearly unbearable flick. Avoid it. It is silly, predictable, and revels in violence. For an interesting movie with a similar plot, watch Kurosawa's High and Low.

Rating:
Summary: Ransom was a good movie.
Review: Brawley Nolte did an excellent job of portraying Sean Mullen.I couldn't help but be afraid for Sean's life.Gary Sinise did a super job as Jimmy Shaker.I didn't like Jimmy Shaker,but I have to admit,he was a genius compared to alot of criminals.I would have asked for more money than he did,but I would also treat the person I was kidnapping alot nicer than he did.Why? So that the kid would try to talk his parents out of trying to kill me for kidnapping their son.If Brawley Nolte should ever read this,I want him to know that he did a great job as Sean Mullen.

Rating:
Summary: Another Crummy Ron Howard Movie
Review: Dull. Bad. Over violent. Mel Gibson trots out his three acting tricks. Only Gary Sinise manages to create anything credible in this stupid flick. If you want to see an interesting movie with a similar plot, rent Kurosawa's High And Low. Avoid Ransom.

Rating:
Summary: Pass the time
Review: ENOUGH with the "cat and mouse" expression! Anyway, this is another "Hollywood" movie. Very unrealistic, many times during the movie you will be thinking "that would NEVER happen". The beginning of the movie we see dad and son play around, laugh, and and have fun, as if that is a typical every day for them. (Who hasn't seen that 20 times before?)

This DVD was given a special edition, but I am unsure why. The featurette is boring, 3/4 of it are clips we've just seen from the movie.

Overall, sure it's mildly entertaining if you can ignore how unbelievable it is.

Rating:
Summary: Pass the time
Review: ENOUGH with the "cat and mouse" expression! Anyway, this is another "Hollywood" movie. Very unrealistic, many times during the movie you will be thinking "that would NEVER happen". The beginning of the movie we see dad and son play around, laugh, and and have fun, as if that is a typical every day for them. (Who hasn't seen that 20 times before?)

This DVD was given a special edition, but I am unsure why. The featurette is boring, 3/4 of it are clips we've just seen from the movie.

Overall, sure it's mildly entertaining if you can ignore how unbelievable it is.

Rating:
Summary: Bad Guys Out-Act Mel and Rene
Review: First, Lili Taylor ROCKS. Second: I
think it is totally awesome that Opie put these groovalicious indie actors in
his movie as bad guys. The bad guys were the only interesting part of this
movie! Liev Schreiber, Donnie Wahlberg, Lili Taylor, Evan Handler, and Gary
Sinise. Third: Mel Gibson and Renee Russo? BO-HO-RING! YA-HAWN! Mel was Mr.
Ridiculous Macho and Rene was Ms. Passive, Powerless Wife. I mean, why was
Mel in charge of the whole ransom thing? Why didn't she drop-kick his arse to
the curb and take charge? Imagine how absurd it would seem if their roles had
been switched.

Rating:
Summary: 5 Star Cast!
Review: Gibson's acting in this equaled to that of Braveheart. He made the tension of losing a son so dramatic that you needed to feel sorry for him! Gary Sinise's role in this was great too! The way that he treated a kid seemed the way that any kidnapper would treat their victim. This movie is a must-see!

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as I expected
Review: I also felt the story fell flat! There was so much hype about this movie. I think the acting was fine, and as a mother, my heart went out to the parents of the kidnapped child and I thought the movie showed a realistic view of what I imagine kidnappers might do to their victim. I, like another viewer, felt like Mel Gibson's character should have used his wits to battle these evil beings, rather than being the somewhat "wishy-washy" character he was. It just wasn't one of my favorites movies.

Rating:
Summary: A good movie for anyone. A bad one for Gibson
Review: I felt very different about this movie throughout but overall I would say I liked it.A interesting film that was good but could have been great. This movie almost fet rushed and Gary Sinise was the person I felt did the worst. As a fan of most of his work he lacked everything a villian in that kind of movie should have:a real personality,spunk,style and cold hearted.If you like Mel Gibson see it. You mite get a kick out of it.