--- title: "Ransom" year: 1996 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/ransom" fi1m_id: "ransom" imdb_id: "tt0117438" tmdb_id: 3595 wikidata_id: "Q752362" fi1m_score: 70 critics_score: 67 critics_reviews: 8 published: "2026-10-05T00:16:53.508399+00:00" updated: "2026-10-05T00:17:01.043779+00:00" region: "AT" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Ransom (1996) Directed by Ron Howard · 2h 01m · Action, Thriller ## Identity Ransom - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/ransom - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** ransom - **IMDb ID:** tt0117438 - **TMDB ID:** 3595 - **Wikidata ID:** Q752362 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117438/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/3595, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q752362 **Fi1m score: 70** · Critics 67 from 8 reviews *In a sentence:* Mel Gibson treats his son’s kidnapping as a hostile takeover and the film cannot decide whether to applaud > Ron Howard’s kidnap thriller is tense, slick and well acted, with Mel Gibson at his most coiled and Gary Sinise doing a great deal with a whisper. The last twenty minutes throw it away on a chase, but the first hundred earn the evening. ## Synopsis Tom Mullen (Mel Gibson) is a rich man with a penthouse, a wife, Katherine (Rene Russo), and a son, Sean (Brawley Nolte). One afternoon Sean vanishes. A message arrives on the family computer naming a price for his return. The FBI, led by Agent Lonnie Hawkins (Delroy Lindo), moves into the flat. Across town, in a room with blacked-out windows, the boy is held by a gang that includes Maris (Lili Taylor), the brothers Clark and Cubby Barnes (Liev Schreiber, Donnie Wahlberg) and a computer specialist, Miles Roberts (Evan Handler). The man giving the orders is a police detective, Jimmy Shaker (Gary Sinise), who whispers his instructions to Tom down a scrambled line. Tom has paid people off before, and it has come back on him. ## Review Ron Howard’s *Ransom*, written by Richard Price and Alexander Ignon, asks an old question: what do you do when a stranger has your child and names a price? For most of its 121 minutes it answers with a tight, well-acted thriller that knows exactly how to make a telephone frightening. Then, with twenty minutes left, it stops being that film and becomes a chase, and the chase is the least interesting thing in it. We recommend it, with that warning attached. Tom Mullen (Mel Gibson) is rich, and Gibson plays him as a man who has never met a problem that could not be bargained down. When his son Sean (Brawley Nolte) is taken, the FBI moves into his penthouse, and Gibson spends the first hour pacing it, listening on headphones, trying to read the voice at the other end. It is one of his better performances: coiled, intelligent and not quite likeable. Rene Russo, as Katherine, is given mostly waiting, and does it with a stillness that makes her one eruption at her husband land. Delroy Lindo’s Agent Hawkins is calm, dry and usually right. The kidnappers are the surprise. Gary Sinise plays Jimmy Shaker, a police detective who is also running the job, mostly in a hoarse whisper down a scrambled line. Price and Ignon write him as a man who has thought about money far longer than Tom has. Lili Taylor, as Maris, the one gang member who treats the boy as a child, gives a performance the script keeps forgetting to use. Liev Schreiber and Donnie Wahlberg, as the Barnes brothers, are jumpy and credible. The flat where they hold Sean, with a mattress on the floor and tape over the windows, is the film’s other locked room, and the cutting between the two is where the tension lives. That cutting is the work of Daniel P. Hanley and Mike Hill, and for an hour it is close to faultless: a ransom call in the penthouse, a reaction in the hideout, back again before anyone has drawn breath. Piotr Sobociński shoots the penthouse in warm lamplight and the hideout in sour greens and greys, so we always know where we are. Michael Corenblith’s penthouse is glass and height, with the city laid out below it; Tom can see all of it from his window and cannot find his son in it. James Horner’s score is the weak link. It thumps and swells under scenes that were already tense, and in the last act it does the pushing the pictures should have done. Halfway through, Tom does something on live television that we will not describe, though the tagline all but does. We were gripped, and we were on his side, and a minute later we were slightly ashamed of ourselves, because the film had just asked us to cheer a rich man gambling with a child’s life and we had. That is the one moment where *Ransom* is about something more than its plot. Howard does not quite trust it. Having raised the question of whether Tom is brave or simply used to winning, the script spends the rest of its length arranging events so that the question goes away. Howard directs with a steadiness that is mostly a virtue and occasionally a dullness. He is good at rooms full of people under strain and less good at the street, and when the film finally leaves the flat it becomes an ordinary action picture of its decade: a car, a gun, a crowd, a man running. Once Shaker has to run and shoot like everyone else he is far less frightening than he was on the phone. One critic found that the midpoint turn ruined the film, and we half agree: the choice is hard to believe, and the film knows it, and gets through the scene on Gibson’s conviction alone. It carries an 18 certificate and reached UK cinemas on 7 February 1997. Watch it for the first hundred minutes and for the phone calls; the last twenty you can take or leave, and by then the film has rather stopped caring too. *Fi1m score 70, published 5 October 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics find Ransom an effective thriller, and the praise lands first on Mel Gibson, whose performance as the desperate father is singled out by nearly every review that reaches a verdict. The early stretches draw the warmest notice: the build-up of tension, the tightly controlled suspense and the way the twists are parcelled out. Gary Sinise’s villain is also admired, with more than one critic crediting him for wry touches in a role that might have been flat. The reservations gather around the second half. Several reviews find the script mechanistic, the focus diffuse and the final reel a let-down, and the Radio Times thinks Ron Howard’s direction unusually starchy for him. The spread is moderate rather than wide: most land somewhere between a grudging and a solid pass, with the Los Angeles Times the one outright dissenter, arguing that the shift into vigilante drama derails a film that had been working well. Two reviews offer no readable verdict. ## Straight answers **Is Ransom worth watching?** *Ransom* is worth watching for anyone who wants a tense, well-acted kidnap thriller, and we scored it 70. Mel Gibson is coiled and not quite likeable, Gary Sinise is frightening in a whisper, and the cutting between penthouse and hideout holds for a hundred minutes. The last twenty throw it away on an ordinary chase. **How long is Ransom, and what is it rated?** *Ransom* runs 2h 01m. It is an action and thriller film. **Where can I watch Ransom in Austria?** *Ransom* is available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from €3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is Ransom, and is it suitable for children?** *Ransom* carries an 18 certificate in the UK and is not suitable for children. The subject is the kidnapping of a young boy, held in a taped-up room while his parents negotiate for his life, and the closing act turns to guns and a chase. Teenagers used to adult thrillers will cope; anyone upset by children in danger should steer clear. **How does Ransom compare to High and Low?** *Ransom* is the slicker, faster film and [*High and Low*](https://film.one/film/high-and-low) the deeper one, and Kurosawa's is the better picture. Both begin with a rich man and a ransom demand, but *High and Low* dwells on the moral question of whose child is worth paying for, while *Ransom* raises a similar question about its hero and then arranges events so it goes away. Choose Howard for tension, Kurosawa for weight. **What should I watch after Ransom?** After *Ransom*, try [*High and Low*](https://film.one/film/high-and-low) (1963, Fi1m 90): Kurosawa’s shoe tycoon faces a ransom demand and the question of whose child is worth it. Then [*The Vanishing*](https://film.one/film/the-vanishing) (1988, Fi1m 88): A Dutch abduction thriller that never raises its voice and is far more frightening for it; and [*Dog Day Afternoon*](https://film.one/film/dog-day-afternoon) (1975, Fi1m 90): A hostage situation that turns into live television, with Pacino sweating through every minute. ### Reviews we read (8) - **Variety**, Todd McCarthy (85/100, inferred): McCarthy calls the film a highly entertaining, well-constructed thriller. He particularly praises Mel Gibson’s performance and the film’s tightly controlled suspense. [Read](https://variety.com/1996/film/reviews/ransom-2-1200447829/) - **Total Film**, Total Film (4/5): The review calls it a solid, entertaining thriller that lacks the tension its premise promises. It praises Mel Gibson’s edgy performance and the film’s strongest set-pieces, while faulting the diffuse focus and underdeveloped villain. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/ransom-review/) - **Empire**, Adam Smith (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the thriller ruthlessly effective despite a mechanistic script and a disappointing final reel. They praise the sustained tension and strong performances from Mel Gibson and Gary Sinise. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/ransom-review/) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (3/4): Ebert finds the film an effective, tense thriller. He singles out Mel Gibson’s performance as a strength. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/ransom-1996) - **The New York Times**, Janet Maslin (64/100, inferred): The accessible page does not reveal the critic’s verdict. It also provides no basis for identifying what the review praises or criticizes. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/08/movies/vigilante-dad-vs-kidnappers.html) - **Time Out**, TCh (64/100, inferred): The available page text does not reveal the critic’s verdict. It describes the ransom demand and Tom Mullen’s decision to involve the FBI. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/ransom-1) - **Radio Times**, Alan Jones (3/5): Jones finds the remake entertaining but weakened by Ron Howard’s unusually starchy direction. He singles out Gary Sinise for adding wry twists to the villainous role. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-5zvl65/ransom/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (35/100, inferred): Turan finds the thriller effective for much of its length but says its turn toward vigilante drama derails it. He praises the early tension-building and carefully parcelled twists, while faulting the implausible decision that makes Gibson’s distraught father a vigilante. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-11-08-ca-62352-story.html) ## Details - **Director:** Ron Howard - **Director:** Ron Howard - **Screenplay:** Richard Price, Alexander Ignon - **Cinematography:** Piotr Sobociński - **Editor:** Mike Hill, Daniel P. Hanley - **Music:** James Horner - **Production design:** Michael Corenblith - **Costume design:** Rita Ryack - **Producer:** Scott Rudin, Brian Grazer, Kip Hagopian - **Cast:** Mel Gibson as Tom Mullen; Rene Russo as Katherine Mullen; Gary Sinise as Det. Jimmy Shaker; Delroy Lindo as Agent Lonnie Hawkins; Lili Taylor as Maris; Brawley Nolte as Sean Mullen; Liev Schreiber as Clark Barnes; Donnie Wahlberg as Cubby Barnes - **Runtime:** 2h 01m - **First release (the US):** 8 November 1996 - **Genres:** Action, Thriller - **Budget:** $80 million - **Box office:** $309 million ## Where to watch in Austria - Amazon Prime Video: rent €3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy €7.99, sd *Checked 2026-10-05.* Also available in: AT, AU, BE, DE, FR, GB, NZ, PL. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *High and Low* (1963), Fi1m 90: Kurosawa’s shoe tycoon faces a ransom demand and the question of whose child is worth it — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/high-and-low.md) - *Ransom!* (1956): The Glenn Ford original, smaller and starker, with the same hard idea at its centre - *The Vanishing* (1988), Fi1m 88: A Dutch abduction thriller that never raises its voice and is far more frightening for it — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-vanishing.md) - *Dog Day Afternoon* (1975), Fi1m 90: A hostage situation that turns into live television, with Pacino sweating through every minute — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/dog-day-afternoon.md) - *Prisoners* (2013), Fi1m 81: Hugh Jackman’s father takes the law into his own hands and the film makes him pay — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/prisoners.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/ransom