Main Cast: Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Brawley Nolte, Gary Sinise, Delroy Lindo, Lili Taylor
Release Year: 1996
Country: US
Run Time: 120 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Ron Howard directed this thriller which stars Mel Gibson as Tom Mullen, a former fighter pilot who built a ramshackle one-plane airline into a major multinational service fleet. Mullen has a multi-million dollar fortune, a beautiful wife, Kate (Rene Russo) and a nine-year-old son, Sean (Brawley Nolte) that he dotes on. However, Mullen's life comes crashing down around him when Sean is kidnapped. The FBI are called in, but Mullen is wary -- he was the recent target of an FBI investigation in which he was found to have bribed union officials while negotiating a contract. FBI Agent Hawkins (Delroy Lindo) advises Mullen to make the $2 million dollar drop to pay the kidnappers, which will make it easier to track the criminals, but when the tradeoff goes wrong, Mullen takes a new tactic -- he goes on television and offers a $2 million bounty for the heads of the people who kidnapped his child. Meanwhile, it becomes clear the kidnappers include Maris Connor (Lili Taylor), who once worked for the Mullens, and Jimmy Shaker (Gary Sinise), one of the cops who investigated Mullen for bribery. This remake of the 1956 Glenn Ford vehicle of the same name was scripted by Richard Price, who has a bit part as a police detective. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Crisp, taut, and often preposterous, Ron Howard's Ransom is as eager a suspenseful potboiler as they come. For the most part, it scores, with Mel Gibson revisiting the righteous anger that worked so well for him in films like Mad Max and Braveheart. The film absorbs the viewer from the start, as a disorienting abduction scene teaches Rene Russo's character how simply -- and perhaps irrevocably -- a loved one can be whisked away. As they process the kidnappers' demands, the Mullens and FBI agents reach great heights of melodramatic emotion, worrying that brashness has cost them their son. Meanwhile, the parallel scenes in the kidnappers' headquarters reveal that their stakes are equally high, and that their strategizing must be just as methodical. A little in awe of what they've done, they display a sense of high-strung uneasiness that's unusual in movie villains, often known for their evil stoicism. But the film makes a bit of a misstep when it thrusts Gibson into vigilante mode. It's meant to be a statement on Gibson's descent into madness -- inspired by the belief that his son is dead -- that he places a bounty on the heads of his son's captors. But it's hard to fully support a hero in the wake of such a reckless decision. The viewer is left with the nagging notion that if the child is killed, his father will have provoked it. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
John Kasarda - Art Director, Aldric La'Auli Porter - Associate Producer, Louisa Velis - Associate Producer, Jane Jenkins - Casting, Janet Hirshenson - Casting, Susan Merzbach - Co-producer, Adam Schroeder - Co-producer, Rita Ryack - Costume Designer, Aldric La'Auli Porter - First Assistant Director, Ron Howard - Director, Daniel Hanley - Editor, Mike Hill - Editor, Todd Hallowell - Executive Producer, Howard Shore - Composer (Music Score), James Horner - Songwriter, Michael Corenblith - Production Designer, Piotr Sobocinski - Cinematographer, Brian Grazer - Producer, Scott Rudin - Producer, B. Kipling Hagopian - Producer, Susan Bode-Tyson - Set Designer, Danny Michael - Sound/Sound Designer, Richard Price - Screenwriter, Alexander Ignon - Screenwriter, Billy Corgan - Musical Performer, Robert "Bobby Z" Zajonc - Pilot
