Review: Ransom

Mel Gibson stars as a multimillionaire husband (to Rene Russo) and father (to Brawley Nolte) whose son gets kidnapped and held for ransom. FBI man Delroy Lindo is on hand to help resolve the situation, but runs into a stumbling block: Gibson, who fearing that his son will die either way, refuses to pay the ransom and instead heads to the media to place a bounty on the heads of the kidnappers. Neither the law nor the kidnappers – nor wife Russo for that matter – are happy about this. Then there’s this business in Gibson’s recent past about potentially dodgy business dealings and a currently incarcerated former associate (Dan Hedaya).

 

***** SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW. PROCEED WITH CAUTION ***** Since the big twist isn’t really a twist, and is revealed quite early in the piece I probably don’t need to provide spoiler warnings but if ever you read a review after seeing the film, this is probably a good occasion to do so. Ye hath been warned.

 

This Ron Howard (“Splash”, “Parenthood”, “Backdraft”, “Apollo 13”) kidnap thriller from 1996 was pretty hugely hyped at the time, and thus I’ve always come away from it feeling as though it should’ve been better. I enjoyed it the first time I saw it, and I enjoyed it this time too. It’s a solid movie, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s good. It just seemed like at the time that it was being touted as something if not loftier, certainly bigger than its story actually is (or frankly warrants). It’s an undeniably slickly-made, quite well-directed, mostly impeccably acted film and interesting from start to finish. Hell, it’s probably one of Howard’s better directorial efforts. Perhaps I should just treat it for what it is instead of expecting it to be the “Citizen Kane” of kidnap movies or something. Scripted by Richard Price (“Sea of Love”, “Shaft”, “Freedomland”) and Alexander Ignon (who only has two other minor credits), it’s essentially a blockbuster 90s loose remake of an OK 50s B-movie starring Glenn Ford, with the 90s equivalent of Ford in Mel Gibson out in front.

 

Gibson is immediately terrific as a loving father and husband, but also someone prone to impulsive actions without thinking them through. In any other actor’s hands it might come off as erratic behaviour for purely plot/tension reasons. Gibson makes you believe that it’s simply organic to the character. His temper and impulsiveness might end up becoming a liability, much like the man’s off-screen behaviour post-2004. And that’s where viewing this years later becomes rather interesting. These days one might like to compare Gibson more to Oliver Reed or Lee Marvin due to some of his off-screen erratic behaviour, but back in 1996 Gibson was a trusted star with charisma and machismo more akin to Glenn Ford, Spencer Tracy and the like. There wasn’t all that much off-screen scandal at the time to break that image. Now when you look at him in films like this, his loose cannon cop in “Lethal Weapon”, and his scatter-brained cabbie in “Conspiracy Theory” it’s hard not to think about just how close to the bone some of the characters Gibson has played are to the real guy. But you cast anyone else in those roles and you might not buy it. Look at the scene where Gibson thinks he’s completely blown it, and just falls apart, visibly and audibly. Can you imagine Harrison Ford (who was on the short list for the role) doing that? I can’t. But Gibson, that’s an easy sell. It’s the kind of thing we’ve seen him do since “Lethal Weapon”. Nice guy or not, Gibson’s damn good in the right role, and this is absolutely the right role for him. Meanwhile, am I the only one detecting a little of “America’s Most Wanted” host John Walsh in Gibson’s character here? I dunno, maybe I’ve watched a few too many episodes of “On the Hunt with John Walsh”, but I was thinking of him and the case with his young son here nonetheless.

 

The always underrated Rene Russo is equally good here as the more rational of the central couple, who starts to get angry with her husband’s stubborn, impulsive, reckless, if well-meaning behaviour. The guy allegedly paid people off for business purposes, but won’t give in to kidnapper demands in order to get their son back? We understand Gibson’s POV here (They’ll kill him and take the money), but she does have a damn point. I’m glad Russo gets to play more than just the weepie mother here, she’s more stable than the father. Delroy Lindo brings a welcome state of calm, common sense, and pragmatism to the role of the FBI man trying to resolve the situation and having to work around Gibson’s impulses. The kidnappers are played by a really interesting bunch of names and faces, with Gary Sinise obviously the big standout here. Revealing the head kidnapper about 30 minutes into a 2+ hour film is an interesting idea ‘coz it makes you wonder where on Earth this is headed and why on Earth would this particular guy be doing this particular thing. Sinise, always an underrated actor is a good foe for Gibson to play off. Effortlessly able to slide between good guy and bad guy, he kinda has to do both in the one performance here. He lends his policeman cum kidnapper a hard-edged bitterness, as well as a cool intelligence without being full-on John Malkovich super genius villain. He’s simply the smartest among a group of otherwise fairly uneven spread of criminal intellects here, and clearly considers himself well above them all. That’ll come in handy when the shit starts to hit the fan for him and he shows his true black heart. However, aside from soft-hearted Donnie Wahlberg (quite effective), none of these people has a moral compass to speak of. Lili Taylor is solid as the neck-tattooed girlfriend accomplice of Sinise, whilst a pre-“Ray Donovan” Liev Schreiber is well-cast as Wahlberg’s less morally conflicted brother. I’m not sure I entirely bought sleazy Evan Handler’s character here. He’s supposed to be the resident techie among the group, but I didn’t buy Handler in that role and didn’t think this absolute douchebag would last five minutes with the rest of the gang before someone shoots him in the balls. His out-of-place sleazy jocularity just isn’t helpful to the film. Look out for versatile veteran character actor Dan Hedaya as Gibson’s mobster-ish former associate. It’s a small role, but Hedaya is terrific in it.

 

Howard does some really nifty work here, especially in the creepy opener intercutting the family scenes with scenes of the kidnappers preparing things for the kid’s arrival once he’s been nabbed. I also like how slowly and ominously Howard introduces the kidnappers. Meanwhile, there’s a particularly cruel bit where Gibson actually walks out in front of the van that his kid is being transported in by the kidnappers. Jesus. Although I didn’t 100% buy the chief villain’s rationale for the kidnapping, I must say that the conclusion is still really satisfying. Sinise gets more and more desperate as his plan starts to unravel. It’s not that he’s reckless or stupid, he’s actually quite smart, but things around him start to unravel and he needs to pivot. It’s a fun cat-and-mouse game where the cat and mouse are a dirty cop leading a band of dummies, and a slightly volatile and unpredictable parent, respectively.

 

Perhaps too much movie where the original was a bit too slim, this is nonetheless an interesting and engrossing kidnap thriller with a great cast, and a solid director. And what would you leave out here anyway? It’s no masterpiece by any stretch and I think perhaps Howard indeed thought the film was better than it is. However, it still works and is certainly more enjoyable than the original, which was OK at best. Good, slick filmmaking in the big, loud blockbuster manner.

 

Rating: B-