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Proof Of Life Details

2000 DVD Certificate 15.gif
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 3087 members

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 .. Read more

Starring Meg Ryan, Russell Crowe, David Morse, Pamela Reed
Director Taylor Hackford
Genres Drama

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Proof Of Life

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.

Starring Meg Ryan, Russell Crowe, David Morse, Pamela Reed, David Caruso, Anthony Heald
Director Taylor Hackford
Studio WARNER HOME VIDEO
Run time DVD: 2 hrs 14 mins
Certificate DVD Certificate 15.gif
Genres Drama
Language English
Hearing-impaired English
Subtitles Arabic, Bulgarian, English, Romanian
Released DVD: 27 Aug 2001
Production year: 2000
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews (3) of Proof Of Life

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    Overshadowed by the excessive media interest surrounding its production, this efficient kidnap drama from Taylor Hackford was also marred by tragedy, when a stuntman was killed during filming. Part action movie, part romance and part thriller, it's set in a fictional South American country where Meg Ryan's rocky marriage comes under further strain when her engineer husband David Morse is taken hostage by guerrillas. Enter the heroic Russell Crowe, a professional “K&R” (that's kidnap and ransom) man, who agrees to help Ryan (and begins to fall for her) even when it transpires that Morse's employers aren't adequately insured. There are a few good action set pieces, but the scenes between Crowe and Ryan are curiously muted, despite their much-publicised off-screen romance.

    • Radio Times
  • A movie that fails to make an audience care for the people involved, for all its attempts to update Casablanca with its repressed romance and world-weary airs.

    • Halliwell's Film Guide
  • Most helpful member's review of Proof Of Life

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  • 5 out of 6 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    This film is superb. Great acting, great locations, great story, great music - got the picture? Kept me on the edge of my seat for over two hours

      • A customer from YORK
  • Most recent members' review of Proof Of Life

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    Quite a bit of proof

    I really wasn't sure about this one, but was very pleasantly surprised. Meg Ryan's role was a little insipid but her husband wiped the floor with the bigger names. Ending was a bit too action film, but otherwise solid and thought provoking.

      • SuziQ from essex
  • News and features

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    Proof Of Life

    Ray is here to stay

    • 07 Jun 2005

    Ray, the film that tells the story of blind singing legend Ray Charles, is now out on DVD. The film features a simply spectacular performance from Jamie Foxx, who won the Oscar for Best Actor at the 2004 Academy Awards for his lead role. Foxx follows on in great style from the early promise that his career showed with films such as Any Given Sunday, Ali and Collateral. He is joined by Regina King, who has featured in Daddy Day Care and Legally Blonde 2, as well as Kerry Washington, who is due... Read more

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Rating breakdown

3,087 Member ratings
  • 100
164
  • 90
182
  • 80
442
  • 70
593
  • 60
819
  • 50
384
  • 40
251
  • 30
135
  • 20
80
  • 10
37

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    • 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 ...