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Already better known for what happened behind the camera than what took place in front of it (Meg Ryan had an affair with co-star Russell Crowe which led to her separation from husband Dennis Quaid), "Proof of Life" is a workmanlike thriller whose romantic elements seem to have been left on the cutting room floor.
Inspired by a Vanity Fair article on organised kidnapping, Taylor Hackford鈥檚 film involves an American engineer, Peter Bowman (David Morse), who is abducted while building a dam in the fictional Latin American country of Tecala. If she wants to see her husband again, Alice (Ryan) must pay his captors a cool $3 million.
Stonewalled by Peter鈥檚 employers, Alice turns to Terry Thorne (Crowe), an expert in kidnap & ransom. But as weeks become months with no signs of breakthrough, Alice finds herself increasingly attracted to the rugged Australian.
Putting aside the almost total lack of chemistry between the leads (which might explain why their steamy love scenes have been replaced by a single smooch), the biggest flaw with "Proof of Life" is the way it divides its screen time between Thorne鈥檚 interminable phone negotiations and Peter鈥檚 experiences as a hostage in a remote mountain hideaway.
The Meg and Russell scenes appear trivial and redundant next to these harrowing sequences - especially as, after countless hours on the blower, Terry opts for a gung-ho, military solution. "Proof" briefly comes to life during its all-action climax, but the result is still a broken-backed exercise in dissipated tension.
Read a review of the "Proof of Life" DVD.
