Proof of Life is tepid at best; director Taylor Hackford's attempt to juggle an action-adventure flick with a Serious Drama undermines both parts of the film.
Proof of Life (2000)
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Reviews Counted:32
Fresh:11
Rotten:21
Average Rating:4.1/10
Consensus: Despite its promising premise and superstar cast, Proof of Life is just a routine thriller that doesn't offer anything new.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] violence, language and some drug material
Runtime: 2 hrs 15 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:Dec 8, 2000 Wide
Box Office: $31,193,043
Synopsis: Around the world, between 20,000 and 50,000 people are kidnapped each year. In Taylor Hackford's suspense-filled adventure film, American businessman Peter Bowman (David Morse) is traveling in a... Around the world, between 20,000 and 50,000 people are kidnapped each year. In Taylor Hackford's suspense-filled adventure film, American businessman Peter Bowman (David Morse) is traveling in a Latin American country when a group of criminals take him as their hostage and hold him for ransom. The megacorporation he works for sends in an expert hostage negotiator, Terry Thorne (Russell Crowe), to settle on a ransom with the kidnappers, an antigovernment faction. Thorne earns the reluctant trust of Bowman's wife, Alice (Meg Ryan), and begins trying to win Bowman's freedom, but conflict with Bowman's employers, missteps with the kidnappers, and Thorne's growing attraction to Alice threaten to derail his efforts. Crowe and Ryan are excellent as thrown-together allies under pressure, and Morse's descent from collected businessman to desperate hostage anchors the film. Watch for former NYPD BLUE sensation David Caruso as Crowe's partner. PROOF OF LIFE is based on an article entitled "Adventures in the Ransom Trade," written by William Prochnau, which was published in the May 1998 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. [More]
Starring: Meg Ryan, Russell Crowe, David Morse, Pamela Reed
Starring: Meg Ryan, Russell Crowe, David Morse, Pamela Reed, David Caruso
Director: Taylor Hackford
Director: Taylor Hackford
Screenwriter: Tony Gilroy
Producer: Charles Mulvehill
Studio: Warner Bros.
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Reviews for Proof of Life
...may go down in cinematic history more for the off-screen romantic shenanigans of its two stars than for the movie itself.
Split cleanly along three concerns, Proof of Life is a lackluster love story, a terminally predictable POW intrigue, and a tightly edited action film.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
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| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
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| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
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| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
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| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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