Ransom (1996)

From Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, the Academy Award winning Director-Producer team of APOLLO 13, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, and THE DA VINCI CODE, Bring us the most intense crime thriller from Touchstone Pictures and Imagine Entertainment called RANSOM. Released in 1996, the film follows the story of New York City’s multimillionaire airline owner Tom Mullen (Mel Gibson – Braveheart, Lethal Weapon trilogy) and wife Kate Mullen (Rene Russo – Lethal Weapon 3-4, Get Shorty), whose only son Sean (Brawley Nolte - Affliction) gets kidnapped by a gang of criminals, who demand $2 million as ransom. At first, Tom cooperates with the N.Y.P.D., and then later tries a unique tactic with the kidnappers’ leader by offering the ransom money for his head. The film also stars Gary Sinise (TV’s CSI: N.Y.) as N.Y.P.D. Detective Jimmy Shaker, Delroy Lindo (Malcolm X) as FBI Special Agent Lonnie Hawkins, Lili Taylor (I Shot Andy Warhol) as Maris Conner, Liev Schreiber (Scream) as Clark Barnes, Evan Handler (TV’s Sex and the City) as Miles Roberts, and actor/musician Donnie Wahlberg (New Kids on the Block, TV’s Blue Bloods) as Cubby Barnes. I sort of grew up watching this film because my Dad took me and my family to see this movie at a drive-in movie theater when I was eight years old. I forgotten about it as the years passed, and I never saw it again till I was a teenager when it was broadcasted on television. Although Ron Howard directed a very entertaining thriller, but it’s hard for me to watch it because this is one of the most intense thrillers I’ve ever seen and can’t watch. The performances of Gibson, Russo, Sinise, Lindo, and Taylor were sensational. And also Liev Schreiber, Evan Handler, and Donnie Wahlberg were also good in their performances. Gibson was nominated for a 1997 Golden Globe award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, but he lost to Geoffrey Rush for his performance in SHINE. Filmed entirely on location in New York City, New York from January 10th to May 10th, 1996, with an estimated budget of $80 million, RANSOM was released on November 8th, 1996. With $34,216,088 on its opening weekend, the film later grossed over $136,492,681 domestically. RANSOM is one of the best films of the 1990’s, and if you’re a fan of intense crime thrillers, this movie has it all.