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RansomRating:
Release Date: 15 January, 2002 Retail Price: $19.99 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Complete Cast (14 total) |
Ransom Reviews
Ransom (1996)
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Brawley Nolte, Gary Sinise, Delroy Lindo, Lili Taylor, Liev Schreiber, Donnie Wahlberg.
Running Time: 139 minutes
Rated R for graphic, bloody violence and strong language.
"Ransom" is yet another Hollywood extravaganza movie about the terrors of the crime of kidnapping - with a twist. Ron Howard ("Apollo 13", "A Beautiful Mind") directs this, for the most part, gripping story with propulsion and the ability to gain nuanced performances from a disparate cast. The result is a tightly wound spring that coils tensely until the last fifteen minutes when the film explodes. Tom Mullen (Mel Gibson) is a wealthy man with a strong willed wife Kate (Rene Russo) and a son Sean (Brawley Nolte, son of actor Nick Nolte). When Sean is kidnapped by an estranged detective named Jimmy Shaker (Gary Sinise) and ransom is demanded, Tom goes before national TV audiences and doubles the ransom demand for a bounty on Shaker's life. How this turn of events of a kidnapper becoming the victim and the resolution of the kidnapping that results is the gist of the story: it is the struggle of good versus evil, citizen versus police, and calling the bluff of a dangerous man for the sake of a father saving his child.
Gibson does well as the torn father, though director Howard allows him to go a bit over the edge, acting wise. The real shiner of this film is Gary Sinise who continues to impress with the facility with which he moves through varied character parts. Russo is moderately enjoyable as the supportive wife at the side of her husband, yet Delroy Lindo is the most explosive of the excellent supporting cast (featuring Liev Schriber, Donnie Walhberg, and Lili Taylor) as the detective hot on the case. Ron Howard is clearly a director with talent and this is a cracking story, deserving of a modern update (it was originally made in the Fifties). He draws a fine performance from his cast and keeps the film exciting and taunt. Ransom, despite its flaws, is well worth checking out even if it is only to remember Gibson's good old days before he became an over-ambitious director with delusions of religious grandeur. A good cat and mouse tale that has at its core the heinous crime of kidnapping, police corruption, and family devotion.
5 Stars for the FILM, 1 Star for the DVD
Of course the movie deserves 5 stars, however I wish I could say the same for the DVD. What does it take for DVD company to release each DVD enhanced for 16x9 TVs? Nothing!
Recently I bought a laptop with widescreen display and I have a collection of over 600 Dvds. I learned now about "Enhanced for 16x9 TVs" and how important it is, I did not care about it or even know about it since I own a standard TV, however all my Dvds are Region 1 and in widescreen, I never buy fullscreen Dvds. So I did an inventory on my collection and realized the following:
Out of 600+ Dvds, 42 are NOT enhanced for 16x9 TVs and they really look horrible when I played them on my PC. Anyway, according to my inventory, MGM and Touchstone are the worst! Universal, Columbia, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner are the best and Paramount ranks in between.
Here is some details:
- 3 of the 42 are Universal (Please note that many of my Dvds are Universal so 3 of them, included Tremors, is not a big deal)
- 12 of them are from Touchstone (such as Ransom, The Rock, What about Bob, Good morning Vietnam etc) Which is a high number compared to my small Touchstone collection.
- 2 out of 42 from Warner Home Video. Note that I have around 100 Warner Dvds. The only negative thing about Warner is most of the DVDs come in digipak. However, the latest "2-Disc Special Edition" rate among the best in terms of quality and extras.
- 14 of them are from MGM.
Sadly, some of my favorite MGM movies are among them such as "A fish called Wanda", "Misery", "Graduate", "Prizzi's Honor", "No way out" etc. MGM Europe has released all those DVDs (Region 2) 2-Disc in special edition including 5.1 surround, widscreen enhanced 16x9. I hope one day soon MGM USA releases them in Special edition like they did with "Fargo", "Rain Man" and "Usual suspects".
- 6 out of the 42 are from Paramount including good movies such as "Breakdown", "Ghost and the darkness", "Primal fear", "Private parts", "Coming to America" and "48 Hrs".
The reason why they don't release every DVD in widescreen enhanced for 16x9 is beyond me since soon Widescreen Tvs will replace standard ones.
Amazon should add in the description if the DVD is enhanced from 16x9 Tvs.
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