Mel Gibson seems a likable sort of guy, his recent tsuris notwithstanding. It would be great to have a beer with him and have him try to explain his current predicament. As an actor, however, I find him rather bland. I keep seeing Mel Gibson instead of the character. He does a better job than usual here. He's surprisingly good at projecting fear of physical harm, almost as good as he is at wisecracking.
The supporting cast is fine too. Gary Sinese is a rogue cop who has kidnapped Gibson's and Renee Russo's young boy, ask for two million dollars in ransom, and plan to off the kid anyway because he's a witness. Lili Taylor is good as Sinese's rapacious girl friend who (for reasons I don't quite understand) turns on him at the end and is shot full of holes for her effort. The script gives us a Sinese who is completely cold blooded except for his love for Taylor, so his having to shoot her is an act that leaves him basically empty of everything but bitterness. Nothing goes the way he planned. And at every frustration, every new glitch, he blasphemes and kicks furniture. We all know how he feels. There is also DelRoy Lindo with the biggest chin in the business.
We feel sorry for the doomed kidnapped kid, of course, but the drama surrounding the nest of kidnappers on the one hand (which include Liev Schreiber) and Gibson, the millionaire airline owner on the other hand, swamps any real emotional involvement with the kid's plight. On a chess board he'd be a lowly pawn.
And that brings up the part of the movie that has me wondering about what, exactly, it is trying to say.
Sinese is holding the kid and asking for two million. Gibson, who can easily afford twice that amount, tries to cooperate. The first attempt at a drop is botched. Half-way through the second, it occurs to Gibson, in the absence of any evidence, that they're going to kill his son no matter what he does. Pay or not pay -- it makes no difference.
So instead of being the compliant victim, he turns into an open antagonist. Gibson goes on TV and announces that, yes, he has the two million. Here it is, right on the desk, in unmarked bills. But the kidnappers will never see a cent of it because he will never pay them, convinced as he is that his son is dead meat anyway. So instead of a ransom, Gibson designates the money as a reward for whoever drops the dime on the kidnappers. "Do you know anyone who would NOT turn you in for two million dollars?", he asks. (I'd turn my mother in for that much. I'd turn my ex in for nothing.) Later, Gibson ups the reward to four million.
The movie lost me at about this point because I couldn't grasp precisely what Gibson's motives were. The police, the FBI, TV journalists, and his wife all beg him to pay the ransom. (It's half Russo's kid too, isn't it? Yet he doesn't discuss his decision with her.) And though of course there is always a risk that the kid will be offed anyway -- think Lindbergh -- there's at least an equal chance that the kidnappers will return the kid and avoid murder charges.
Instead of betting the percentages, Gibson turns into a kind of John Wayne figure. It's a duel of wills between him and Sinese. I kept waiting for Gibson to come up with some John Wayne-ism like, "Talkin' words is fer wimmin." What the hell is he playing at? His kid's life is at stake. His unshakable belief that they intend to kill his son anyway is not rooted in facts but only serves as an excuse for Gibson to out-tough Sinese.
A scene near the inevitable final shoot-out is very well handled. Sinese, whose identity as one of the criminals has not been uncovered, shows up to collect the four million dollar reward from Gibson. Gibson gradually becomes aware of Sinese's involvement, and Sinese gradually becomes aware of Gibson's awareness. Sinese tosses the four-million-dollar check in the air and it glides to the floor in a neat shot.
The violent climax was a bit anti-climactic. Gibson winds up in the middle of a New York City street pounding the disabled Sinese to a bloody pulp while the audience is supposed to be cheering and the traffic whizzes unflappably by. And guess who gets to shoot Sinese in the last scene? It's all supposed to be cathartic, I suppose. The writers and director must have thought the audience is slavering at the prospect of finally seeing Gibson loose his rage on Sinese, but it's disappointing all the same. What has so far been a contest of wills and intelligence has become a routine blood bath.
The supporting cast is fine too. Gary Sinese is a rogue cop who has kidnapped Gibson's and Renee Russo's young boy, ask for two million dollars in ransom, and plan to off the kid anyway because he's a witness. Lili Taylor is good as Sinese's rapacious girl friend who (for reasons I don't quite understand) turns on him at the end and is shot full of holes for her effort. The script gives us a Sinese who is completely cold blooded except for his love for Taylor, so his having to shoot her is an act that leaves him basically empty of everything but bitterness. Nothing goes the way he planned. And at every frustration, every new glitch, he blasphemes and kicks furniture. We all know how he feels. There is also DelRoy Lindo with the biggest chin in the business.
We feel sorry for the doomed kidnapped kid, of course, but the drama surrounding the nest of kidnappers on the one hand (which include Liev Schreiber) and Gibson, the millionaire airline owner on the other hand, swamps any real emotional involvement with the kid's plight. On a chess board he'd be a lowly pawn.
And that brings up the part of the movie that has me wondering about what, exactly, it is trying to say.
Sinese is holding the kid and asking for two million. Gibson, who can easily afford twice that amount, tries to cooperate. The first attempt at a drop is botched. Half-way through the second, it occurs to Gibson, in the absence of any evidence, that they're going to kill his son no matter what he does. Pay or not pay -- it makes no difference.
So instead of being the compliant victim, he turns into an open antagonist. Gibson goes on TV and announces that, yes, he has the two million. Here it is, right on the desk, in unmarked bills. But the kidnappers will never see a cent of it because he will never pay them, convinced as he is that his son is dead meat anyway. So instead of a ransom, Gibson designates the money as a reward for whoever drops the dime on the kidnappers. "Do you know anyone who would NOT turn you in for two million dollars?", he asks. (I'd turn my mother in for that much. I'd turn my ex in for nothing.) Later, Gibson ups the reward to four million.
The movie lost me at about this point because I couldn't grasp precisely what Gibson's motives were. The police, the FBI, TV journalists, and his wife all beg him to pay the ransom. (It's half Russo's kid too, isn't it? Yet he doesn't discuss his decision with her.) And though of course there is always a risk that the kid will be offed anyway -- think Lindbergh -- there's at least an equal chance that the kidnappers will return the kid and avoid murder charges.
Instead of betting the percentages, Gibson turns into a kind of John Wayne figure. It's a duel of wills between him and Sinese. I kept waiting for Gibson to come up with some John Wayne-ism like, "Talkin' words is fer wimmin." What the hell is he playing at? His kid's life is at stake. His unshakable belief that they intend to kill his son anyway is not rooted in facts but only serves as an excuse for Gibson to out-tough Sinese.
A scene near the inevitable final shoot-out is very well handled. Sinese, whose identity as one of the criminals has not been uncovered, shows up to collect the four million dollar reward from Gibson. Gibson gradually becomes aware of Sinese's involvement, and Sinese gradually becomes aware of Gibson's awareness. Sinese tosses the four-million-dollar check in the air and it glides to the floor in a neat shot.
The violent climax was a bit anti-climactic. Gibson winds up in the middle of a New York City street pounding the disabled Sinese to a bloody pulp while the audience is supposed to be cheering and the traffic whizzes unflappably by. And guess who gets to shoot Sinese in the last scene? It's all supposed to be cathartic, I suppose. The writers and director must have thought the audience is slavering at the prospect of finally seeing Gibson loose his rage on Sinese, but it's disappointing all the same. What has so far been a contest of wills and intelligence has become a routine blood bath.