Proof of Life | | Cast : | Meg Ryan, Russell Crowe, David Morse | | Director : | Taylor Hackford | | Studio : | Warner Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | December 08, 2000 | | DVD Released Date : | February 08, 2005 | | Language : | Unknown (Dubbed), English (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 26, 2005 | | Summary | Proof of Story | Content
 | Taylor Hackford's film on the tension between a kidnap-rescue mercenary (Russel Crowe) and the distrought wife (Meg Ryan) of a business man abducted in a fictional Latin American country. A rather boring film devoid of action or even drama as the characters don't seem to be too enthusiastic about either eachother or the cuckold husband on ransom.
The film focuses on Alice Bowman (Meg Ryan) whose husband Peter (David Morse) is kidnapped by guerillas in Latin America. A mercenary named Terry Thorne (Russell Crowe) is called in to do an extraction but he falls in love with Alice. The film goes back and forth between the rebel camp and the ransom payers to add tension and suspense to the film. Crowe finally heeds to his sense of duty and goes off to rescue his rival lover and voila! The film is over!
The simple result of these machinations in this film is that it's boring. Whatever action Crowe and Ryan enjoyed off-screen, the two simply have no chemistry on-screen which makes their characters rather hard to believe. Furthermore, this is a simple kidnap-ransom film without any mystery and Tony Gilroy's screenplay is just too long for this kind of story making it boring: there's no action worth seeing in this film and this kind of story, unless it has a very intricate plot, is suitable only for an action film! Also, the fact that Alice is contemplating an affair while her husband is ready to have his throat slit doesn't make her a very appealing character. Finally, what's the deal with putting this in a country that doesn't exist? It would have made perfect sense to place this film in Columbia or Peru which have the highest kidnapping rates in the world. Given that fact, I don't think those nations could claim to be insulted if they were the context of the film.
The title to this film should be more properly addressed to the director as to the value of this film. This is a very boring film with shallow dialogue and an overextended screenplay that really has no purpose or direction. This movie isn't worth renting or buying. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 01, 2005 | | Summary | Not Bad, but Not Great either | Content
| Proof of Life was a bit of a disappointment considering the make-up of the cast: Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan among others.
In short, the acting is pretty good (but nothing great), the action/special effects are just average, while the plot is rather poor.
Moreover, the characters are weak, bland and just plain uninteresting.
In a nutshell, it's probably not a movie you would want to add to your collection, but it will provide for an evening's entertainment, and that's about it.
No masterpiece here... 3½ Stars
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| Rating | | | Date | March 15, 2005 | | Summary | Thoroughly Dislikeable Kidnap Thriller | Content
| This movie is set, to all intents and purposes, in Columbia, though officially it is set in some fictitious neighbouring state. Peter (David Morse), an engineer there to build a dam, is kidnapped by some dodgy insurgent group. Wife Alice (Meg Ryan) is beside herself until Terry (Russell Crowe), super-competent hostage negotiation expert shows up. Only almost immediately he has to go as there's a problem with the insurance and Alice is forced to rely on the inexpensive local experts who prove to be almost as crooked as the kidnappers. Happily Terry has fallen hopelessly in love with Alice so he comes back and offers his services for free. Alice herself is ever so keen to get hubby back but meantime here is super-competent, smouldering, ex-SAS tough guy Terry hanging around her sorting everything out and she too is soon so smitten that its clear hubby's return will be a somewhat mixed blessing. I guess there are good and likeable romantic thrillers with a similar premise - one thinks immediately of `Casablanca'. But here the whole business just comes over as tawdry and rather repellent, perhaps largely because neither Ryan nor Crowe is up to doing very much to making their characters remotely likeable while Morse is. The result is all rather dismal and depressing. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 12, 2005 | | Summary | overlooked gem | Content
| Meg Ryan and David Morse play a married couple who live and work abroad. Morse gets a job in South America and is promptly abducted and held for ransom. Russell Crowe plays a professional intermediary/negotiator who will negotiate for the release of Ryan's husband. Suspenseful, quality film, widely overlooked, panned by critics upon its release, and overshadowed by the very public Ryan-Crowe romance, which is unfortunate because this is an excellent, thrilling and taut story. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 22, 2005 | | Summary | An Excellent Underrated Film | Content
| Proof of Life was the first movie to come out after Russell Crowe's enormous hit, Gladiator. Unfortunately, the thing most remembered about this movie is the real life romance between he and his costar Meg Ryan. I believe this is why the movie was never really seen for what it was - a well made drama with action that is done realistically and with intensity.
The two stars of this film are Crowe and David Morse. Crowe is the K&R (kidnap and ransom) man - a professional hired by insurance companies that specialize in negotiating for victims of kidnapping. The term "proof of life" is one those in Crowe's profession use when negotiating so they know their "client" is still alive. Morse plays an idealistic engineer who is working to build a damn that he thinks will save the impoverished lives of those in the mythical country of Tecala (which represents Columbia). He ends up getting kidnapped by the local "revolutionaries" who earn their money by growing cocaine and ransoming their victims.
Both of these men are excellent actors in their own right, and have an intensity about them that gives the film a slow burn throughout the film. David Caruso also plays a memorable part as Dino, Crowe's partner throughout most of the film. With the power Crowe, Morse, and Caruso deliver, Meg Ryan sadly lacks in this film, and brings nothing interesting to the role.
Taylor Hackford (director of such films as "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "Ray") had real K&R consultants as well as military advisors to train the actors in the film. This is clearly evident as Crowe and Caruso make their way through the story with incredible nerve and professionalism. Meanwhile Morse delivers the emotional punch that makes the film and the story that much stronger.
The relationship between Crowe and Ryan can be ignored. What makes me enjoy this film over and over again are the two lead male characters who take command of the movie and keep me watching. |
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