Ransom (1996)

Dir Ron Howard

Written by Richard Price, Alexander Ignon

Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Gary Sinese, Delroy Lindo, Brawley Nolte, Donnie Wahlberg, Liev Schreiber, Lily Taylor, Evan Handler

Multimillionaire airline CEO Tom Mullen (Gibson) has it all; the loving wife Kate (Russo), and son Sean (Nolte), and the career many dream of. When his son is kidnapped by dirty cop Jimmy Shaker (Sinese) and his crew – they hold Sean for ransom for $2m.

Calling in the Feds, led by Lindo – the initial ransom drop goes haywire, and that’s when Tom realises that this kidnapper is playing by different rules – and Tom decides to do the same. Soon a cat and mouse game begins between Tom and Jimmy, and instead of paying the ransom, Tom puts the $2m as a reward for Shaker.

Intense thriller is well written, with a well performing cast. Gibson and Russo are reunited here after their brilliant chemistry in Lethal Weapon 3. They work well together, and play their roles as spouses well. When one spouse is down, the other is there to lift them up – and the performances don’t really seem to fault.

Sinese is equally as good as the primary antagonist, and it is almost as if he suits playing the antagonist role better than the protagonist.

The secondary cast such as Wahlberg, Schreiber etc are all very good too, but feel a tad underused at times. This film also pre dates some of their better work (Wahlberg in Blue Bloods, Schrieber in Ray Donovan, Handler in Californication)

For the most part the directing is pretty solid. There are a few odd choices, especially during some ‘slow motion’ moments that are supposed to add some tension, but just confuse things.

The overall story is solid, with Jimmy being revealed as the mastermind of the kidnapping from the start. It would have made a better conclusion had he had connections with the family prior to the third act, but it still is a solid watch almost 30 years later.

3.5/5