Review of Proof of Life (2000) by Andrew H — 25 Aug 2011

A good, dramatic thriller. It is like two stories being made within one film; the story of being a hostage and the story of hostage negotiations and rescue. There are two main action scenes one at the beginning and the other at the end and both a quite realistic. Although there is not much action in the middle of the film the film is quite fast throughout and there is always something happening, it never seems to drag on.

The hostage scenes and especially the hostage negotiation scenes are particularly realistic and have evidently been very well researched.

The thing that is a downer on the film and completely unnecessary happens to be the centre of the story and unfortunately takes up a bit of the film. This is the romance between Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan. What you have is a good thriller which is slightly spoilt by a romance.

Russell Crowe plays the hostage negotiator very well, playing the part very seriously and professionally. Meg Ryan on the other hand was quite wooden in the film; anyone could play her part as the doting wife! David Morse plays his role really well as his was probably the most demanding as the hostage and his acting is very convincing throughout the film.

Overall a really good thriller which has a good story and is quite fast paced. There is also some fine acting. However there is a certain part of the story, quite a large part it which is unnecessary for the film and this lets the film down slightly.