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Ransom

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Mel gets mad, gets even, gets his kid back!

You loved this suspenseful blockbuster at the cinema and sent it to number 1 on the Australian video rental charts in its first week of release.

Tom Mullen (Mel Gibson) is a wealthy corporate executive used to mediating tough business deals, and doing things his own way. Along with his beautiful wife Kate (Rene Russo) and son Sean (Brawley Nolte), Tom has all the material trappings of success, including a Fifth Avenue penthouse, an enviable position in New York society and high media visibility. But when the thing he cherishes most (his young son) is abducted by desperate criminals and held for ransom, Tom's world of affluence and privilege comes crashing down. And after an FBI rescue operation fails, he engineers a dangerous countermeasure in a last chance effort to bring his boy back to safety.

With his son's life hanging precariously in the balance, and his wife terrified by the shocking plan, Tom offers an appalling proposal, the response to which could easily result in the loss of his son forever.

Also starring Gary Sinise as Detective Jimmy Shaker, Delroy Lindo as Agent Hawkins, Lili Taylor as Maris, Liev Schreiber as Clark, Evan Handler as Miles, Donnie Wahlberg as Cubby, Dan Hedaya as Jackie Brown, Paul Guilfoyle as Wallace, Michael Gaston as Jack Sickler, Jose Zuniga as David Torres and Nancy Ticotin as Agent Kimba Welch. Directed by Ron Howard.

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

A movie worth seeing.

This is surprising for the reason that I never like to see a movie twice, and the second time around, Ransom is just as suspenseful and thrilling and actionful as the first. It's such a well-made film that I enjoyed being manipulated by it, and I enjoyed the twists even though I knew they were coming.

The only difficulty I have is that it falls again to the American stereotype [Aren't all Americans stereotypes? - Director of Intelligence] of the action-hero maverick good guy who gets pushed too far, so that when the system fails it comes down to two thugs bashing and shooting each other to death in the middle of the street. Refer to any Western if you want to see more of this. But that's a flaw in the American psyche (the same one that says that everyone should be allowed to own and use a gun because it's their God-given right to) and if you can put up with that, you'll have a darn good viewing.