Ransom

Synopsis

A CEO's son is kidnapped at an event, but after a ransom is demanded and the initial drop goes wrong, Tom Mullen decides that the ransom money has better as a bounty than ransom.

Review

This is an old movie and damn does it show its age. The cornstarch and red food dye for blood, the loud gun noise with the flipping of the gun to make it look like they are firing (See The 355 for more of this crap), and the launching backwards after being hit by a bullet just shows that this is peak 90s film. I mean it is a peak 90s film, but this is just bad now. Did not age well.

The story is pretty good. Bouncing between the two points of the victims and the kidnappers pretty evenly. Where the story fails is that you don't really get a "why" the kidnappers started this whole event. There is a sense of it was just for greed, but greedy people wouldn't have a plan to execute the kid. It just seems to be lacking for that.

Where this movie is woefully underrated is Mel Gibson and Rene Russo's acting. There is a scene where they believe that their son is dead and that it is their fault. The anger, confusion, depression, and grief are just full on their face and body language. There are a couple actions during this moment that remind you how good of an actor Mel Gibson is.

My Rating

I saw the scene on social media where Mel gives the money as a bounty and thought "I am curious where this goes." It goes very well, but very slowly. There is a lot of time in these scenes that just drag on. This movie is at least 15 minutes too long, maybe even 20 minutes. However, it is still an entertaining movie that was enjoyable to watch. The acting was the high point, but the pacing was too slow to keep this movie in the high point. It is a 7.

Parental Rating

The violence at this point is more funny than real so it isn't a big deal. The language is weirdly at the end rather than throughout for the heavy stuff. I wasn't sure what this was rated so I googled it and the first thing that came up was this website, this website, kids-in-mind) which honestly made me laugh at what came up without clicking the link. "SEX/NUDITY 2 - Kissing, a man and woman kiss in bed and he's naked (we see a brief glimpse of his behind as he climbs into bed)." The fact that a behind and kissing in bed is something that is so devastating is crazy at this point, but I assume this was written in the 90s which would make it "outrageous" for the most conservative parent. That is the only "sex" in this entire movie and I wouldn't call that sex at all speaking that it doesn't go beyond kissing. So some language and violence toward a child (more negligence and threat of harm) are the major concerns in 2024. Approved by Dad and Mom, but Mom wouldn't watch it on her own as it isn't family oriented.

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