That was an excellent one.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

When a rich man's son is kidnapped, he cooperates with the police at first but then tries a unique tactic against the criminals. Ransom is directed by Ron Howard and stars Mel Gibson, Gary Sinise, Rene Russo, Delroy Lindo, Donnie Wahlberg, Liev Schreiber and Lili Taylor and everyone gave terrific performances and Sinise was pretty ruthless as this dirty cop big mastermind kind of a villain and he really sold the film with his performance especially when the kid show him and peed himself was easily the stunning point of what this man did to Gibson's son and the ending where they fight was pretty cool the whole movie is cool if Taken and Commando was great then prepare to see another great film about a kid who gets kidnapped and the father goes crazy and doesn't pay a thing cause he has a plan.

Kidnap thrillers usually produce plenty of tension and drama but when they also feature action, excitement and a terrific plot, they're virtually irresistible. This is certainly the case with "Ransom" which is highly entertaining, thoroughly engrossing and justifiably became a huge commercial success. Because the story involves the abduction of a child, emotions run high from an early stage as the parents and everyone else involved with trying to bring the child back home safely, struggle to keep their composure in order to achieve the best possible end-result.During a science fair in Central Park, Sean (Brawley Nolte), who's the 9-year-old son of wealthy airline owner Tom Mullen (Mel Gibson) and his wife Kate (Rene Russo), is abducted by a gang of criminals who take him to their house where they handcuff him to a bed and tape up his eyes before sending the Mullens an e-mail in which they demand a payment of $2,000,000 for the return of their son. Tom calls in the FBI who soon arrive and use his New York City penthouse as their operations room.Special Agent Lonnie Hawkins (Delroy Lindo) who's in charge of the investigation, is also an expert in dealing with kidnapping situations and so when he advises Tom to pay the ransom to get his child back, Tom readily agrees and meets up with one of the gang members to hand over the cash. Things go wrong however, when an FBI helicopter suddenly appears and following an exchange of gunfire, the gang-member is left dead and Tom is no wiser about the location of his son. Even more seriously, when Tom reflects on the gang member's reactions when he was going to hand the cash over, he becomes convinced that the gang never had any intention of returning Sean alive, even if the full ransom had been paid. Tom's response to this situation is swift and shocking as he goes on TV and announces that he's no longer prepared to pay the ransom and is instead, offering the money as a bounty to anyone who can bring in the kidnappers dead or alive.Tom calculates that the kidnappers' best move would be to return his son safely to avoid being hunted down by a bounty hunter but Kate and Lonnie certainly don't see things the same way. Kate, who's always been a very devoted and supportive wife, is desperately upset because she's convinced that Tom's putting Sean's life in greater danger by not co-operating with the kidnappers and Lonnie tries to use rational argument to dissuade Tom from what he's doing. Interestingly, Tom's action also triggers discord amongst the kidnappers and a whole series of unexpected developments then follow before the story reaches its violent climax.The character of Tom Mullen is interesting because he's a self-made man who'd built up his airline from nothing and his success had made him used to being able to get his own way either by negotiation or (on one notable occasion) bribery. The criminal who'd masterminded the kidnapping had targeted Tom because of his wealth but also significantly because he's identified him as "a payer". Tom is consumed with guilt about this action in his past which had led to his son's life being put in danger and Kate and himself having to suffer unbearable levels of anguish, fear and despair as a consequence.In an incredibly intense performance, Mel Gibson portrays the frustration, anger and pain that Tom endures as he tries to navigate his way through a dreadful ordeal and Rene Russo is also convincing as she displays Kate's mixture of fear for her child and outrage at her husband's actions. Gary Sinise is great as the kidnapping mastermind and the remainder of the cast members are also superb in this wonderfully enjoyable, plot-driven thriller that's full of neat twists.

Tom Mullen has it all, a happy family, success and wealth. One day during a conference at the park, his son goes missing.By the time he arrives home, he receives a video-taped message of his son, who has been kidnapped.He is willing to pay the ransom, but he calls the FBI in secret.When the drop goes bad, Tom tries another tactic against the criminals, using the money as a bounty on their heads...A wonderfully high concept movie, this was released when Gibson was one of the biggest stars in the world, and this has to be one of his most adult orientated movies of the nineties, as the majority of his non-directed movies focused more on his charm and wit.For the most part, it's a solid movie, with great performance from the four central characters, and Howard keeps the tension taut throughout the movie.As Hollywood blockbusters go, it's refreshing to see something as dark and as sinister as this, and some of the scenes here are very disturbing, and Sinise proves he can play one disturbing bad guy, as well as a wholesome good guy.It falters off into generic action territory come the end, but all in all, it's nice to see a movie as high profile as this, not spoon feeding the audience.

Yes, I enjoyed watching this movie - even though it felt at times that it would never end. It looks like there are enough reviews on here praising its technical "merits" by Hollywood criteria. I for one do not think the acting had much quality or depth to it at all (Gibson's is really inconsistent/ delirious), nor would I say at all that this is a "good" film story, just an enjoyable one, and a compelling one for the following reason; This is possibly the most thinly-veiled cinematic propagation of a Neoliberal capitalist mentality I have seen - from the mid-nineties: White collar criminal (Gibson) gains his redemption / dignity and the respect of his family and government (the skeptical FBI agent (Lindo)) by pursuing a stubborn, risky path of non-negotiation (which jeopardizes the life of his son). Gibson's character refuses to pay-off the "human garbage" who could partially be seen to represent an extralegal justice.. and effectively pits the actors who constitute the threat to his decadent life against one another; the competition literally destroys itself -for the most part. The final scene is the most unbelievable, where we see the corporate 'hero' disobey the faithful but ineffective state - the officers demanding that he "drop the gun", who failed to take down the wayward dissatisfied officer from their ranks. A sort of case for the benefits of extreme self-interest, privatization, deregulation of business, realpolitik, etc.? This is an interesting watch as it significantly predates the wall street crash, the more contemporary political-economic policy that one would associate with this sort of message, and the more recent flashier action films (i.e. Nolan's Dark Knight, Miller's 300 etc) that are recognizable now as the Hollywood promotion of (I would say quite TOXIC) Neoliberalism. Thanks for reading.