Ransom

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Summary: THE BEST MOVIE OF 1996!
Review: Ransom is a film everybody should own. Mel Gibson plays the partof a rich airline owner. Gary Sinise is the creepy and subtlekidnapper. The movie is frightnigly tense with the scenes between Gibson and Sinise on the phone. With plenty of clever twists Ransom is a must see movie. BUY IT NOW!!!!

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Summary: Really something special.
Review: Ransom is a very clever,intelligent and original hostage thriler.It is brilliantly acted throughout and has an outstanding pace.A real must see of the year,along with Con Air and The English Patient.

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Summary: Keeps you on the edge of your seat
Review: Ransom is full of twists and turns that keep you on the edge of you seat. This movie is full of *unexpected* moments. It gets to the heart of the matter when the mother played by, Rene Russo and the father, played by Mel Gibson are forced to face the fact that their son has been kidnapped. If you are a fan of these two talented actors you'll love their chemistry in this movie (even better than in the Leathal Weapon movies). This movie tugs at your heart and gets to the real fear that all parents have of their child being kidnapped. Gary Sinise displays another outstanding performance in this movie as well. not giving away the ending... you'll have to watch the movie for that! Buy it, esp. if you like any or all of the cast actors, I personally enjoy all of them, there are just too many to mention.

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Summary: Pass the time
Review: RANSOM is probably Ron Howard's most fully realized film to date. Howard helms a tense, literate script, without letting its potential maudlin come through. Mel Gibson, who has "ruined" his career with the 350 million dollar+ gross of THE PASSION OF CHRIST (Notice tongue in cheek, folks) shows us what a powerfully commanding actor he can be. His role as the tortured, yet committed, father is beautifully performed. Mel doesn't parlay his looks into establishing his popularity. The Australian is a very good actor, and in some ways, has never been recognized for the fact. Rene Russo is amazing, too. Starting off in a cool, I've got things under control aura, she melts into a desperate, crazed, and passionate woman who loves her husband dearly, but can't believe he's risking their son's life. Gary Sinise once again brings a mercurial sense of villainy to his role as the mastermind behind the kidnapping, and his coldhearted murders only enforce his psychosis; Delroy Lindo as the head FBI agent gives a sturdy, tense and compassionate portrayal; Lili Taylor is devastating to watch as she crumbles under the pressure of her part in the kidnapping, but her cold hearted willignness to kill the little boy is frightening; Liv Schrieber and Donnie Wahlberg as the brothers are convincing, in view of their relatively little time on screen.
I liked this film a lot because it touched my emotions in the way a thriller of this type should. Nail bitingly good, it's one of Gibson and Howard's best works.

Rating:
Summary: MARVELOUS MEL-O-DRAMA
Review: RANSOM is probably Ron Howard's most fully realized film to date. Howard helms a tense, literate script, without letting its potential maudlin come through. Mel Gibson, who has "ruined" his career with the 350 million dollar+ gross of THE PASSION OF CHRIST (Notice tongue in cheek, folks) shows us what a powerfully commanding actor he can be. His role as the tortured, yet committed, father is beautifully performed. Mel doesn't parlay his looks into establishing his popularity. The Australian is a very good actor, and in some ways, has never been recognized for the fact. Rene Russo is amazing, too. Starting off in a cool, I've got things under control aura, she melts into a desperate, crazed, and passionate woman who loves her husband dearly, but can't believe he's risking their son's life. Gary Sinise once again brings a mercurial sense of villainy to his role as the mastermind behind the kidnapping, and his coldhearted murders only enforce his psychosis; Delroy Lindo as the head FBI agent gives a sturdy, tense and compassionate portrayal; Lili Taylor is devastating to watch as she crumbles under the pressure of her part in the kidnapping, but her cold hearted willignness to kill the little boy is frightening; Liv Schrieber and Donnie Wahlberg as the brothers are convincing, in view of their relatively little time on screen.
I liked this film a lot because it touched my emotions in the way a thriller of this type should. Nail bitingly good, it's one of Gibson and Howard's best works.

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Summary: Brawley Nolte was wonderful
Review: Ransom really shows vivid scenes about how the kidnappers treat their victims. I'll never forget the scene where Brawley Nolte, who plays Sean Mullen,is tied to the bed and gagged, and his parents must watch the horrific image on their laptop. The person who I felt the most sympathetic towards in the movie was not Tom Mullen or his wife Kate (Mel Gibson and Rene Russo). It was Sean Mullen. Good job, Brawley.

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Summary: Melvin Gibson's Steady Climb Up The Acting Ladder
Review: Ransom showcases Melvin Gibson in more of an acting role than do many of his past films, and the theater lessons he has been taking are apparent. He occasionally frowns as he talks, his delivery being far more low-key than in, say, Lethal Weapon -- when his acting consisted of coupling dialog with lots of wild facial expressions and eye-rolling. It's obvious that Melvin employs what he learns; in his next film, Conspiracy Theory, he combined the tight frowning from Ransom with the wild stuff from Lethal Weapon, and ascended another rung on the Acting Ladder. It has been a pleasure to watch Melvin Gibson work and strive, these past two decades, to become an actor. Melvin is beginning to make encouraging progress, and it is apparent that, at some point in some future film, he will actually act -- and grow to be more than just a pretty face.

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Summary: Mercy
Review: Slick psychological thriller about the high-stakes cat-and-mouse game between a ruthless businessman and the kidnappers holding his son for ransom. Tom Mullen (Mel Gibson) is the self-made head of a major airline who wears his aw-schucks affability like a suit of silk chain mail. When his boy (Brawley Nolte) is snatched by a gang of mercenary lowlifes, His true nature comes to the surface: Ignoring his tearful wife (Rene Russo) and the seasoned FBI agent (Delroy Lindo) assigned to the case, Mullen starts messing with the kidnappers, convicing that only he has the cojones to get his son back. Until the disappointingly conventional ending, in which the dad and the head baddie (Gary Sinise) go it mano a mano on the streets, this dark drama--based on a 1956 Glenn Ford picture of the same name--negotiates its narrative twists and turns with professional aplomb, even daring to make the hero an arrogant schmuck. As is often the case, the scumbags are far more interesting than the good guys, perhaps because they're not played by stars cocooned in suffocating personas.

Rating:
Summary: Very Entertaining
Review: The main reason why this film was so good is mainly because of Gary Senise who is one of the best actors in modern films. Do you notice how his eyebrows are perfect for the vilain character he plays. The eyebrows make him look really mean and always pissed off. lol. He was also great in reindeer games with Charlize Theron and Ben Affleck. The other actors were great in Ransom, such as Liev Shreiber and Lili Taylor. The only flaw was the occasional overacting by Mel and Rene. And they could have upped a notch on the excitement level as far as grattiude when they got Sean back. After all they thought he was dead. But to find him alive again, is like a second chance kinda like a miracle. And all they did was hug him and get teary eyed with an I LOVE YOU. But when he was kidnapped they were hysterical and Rene threw up and screamed, and Mel looked like he was gonna jump off the roof when they thought the kidnapper shot Sean over the phone during the argument causing him a little fit of rage so he pretended to shoot him. The ending was fun and added some more tension and wonder. It was pretty clever to shoot the kidnappers and pretend to be the hero to save the boy and get the ransom at the same time and not get caught. Too bad Sean heard his voice and peed his pants. It gave him away obviously, and in the end the bad guys lose and no one got hurt!

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Summary: MUDDY OLD NON-ANAMORPHIC DVD-DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!
Review: The order page describes this DVD was anamorphic widescreen. It is not. Amazon refuses to make things good. We definitely would not have bought it. Now, we're stuck with it after having sold our original copy for next to nothing. We would have rated this a zero but it wouldn't let us. Two thumbs down to Amazon. I think a class action suit is in order against a business that has no class where their orders are concerned.