Un homme voit rouge

I cannot believe the negative comments I am reading here. This is a complex, atmospheric and well-acted thriller, which fully captures the 1970s atmosphere of European terrorism, fashion and mannerisms.

The photography is stunning of the Norwegian snowbound landscapes, and Sean Connery gives one of his best performances.

And to cap it all there is a great - and I mean GREAT score by Jerry Goldsmith, one of this best.

Check the scene of the plane chase through the mountains, also the stylish montage of scenes involving London being struck by terrorism in the opening credits and the way the photofit of the terrorist leader gradually appears.

Goldsmith's score is so good, it is worth watching for that alone!

Many critics have called the Sean Connery thriller Ransom a stinker. It's not all that good, but to label it as bottom-of-the-barrel rubbish is possibly a bit harsh.

The story is old hat. It concerns a plane hijacking in Scandinavia, carried out by a gang of suit-clad Englismhmen led by the charismatic Ian McShane. Connery is introduced as a Scandinavian police chief (still with the familiar Scottish accent, however) who is hired to end the siege. His mission is complicated further when a second hostage situation arises at the nearby residence of the British Ambassador.

The snowy landscapes fit nicely with the cold, cynical plot. There are infrequent tense sequences, such as the bit where a team of counter-terrorist soldiers make a bungled attempt to seize the aircraft. Connery and McShane have a few well played scenes in which they taunt and torment each other over the readio transmitter. The reason that the film fails to take off is that it is too low key, and suffers from a bad twist ending which renders the entire film a bit pointless. Too many of the scenes are flat, and Caspar Wrede (the director) doesn't get interesting performances out of any of the secondary characters.

Not a full-on catastrophe, then, but not a great film either.

Strong performances by leads Sean Connery and Ian Mc Shane, backed good action segments, pacing and fine winter locations. Poor editing in some spots causes the film to seem a bit stiff as does some inferior dubbing. Nice twists. Connery's always a pleasure to watch, and Mc Shane's bad guy provides an interesting touch as the head terrorist.

Sadly neglected 70's thriller shot on location in Oslo, Norway. Sean Connery looks great as "Scandinavian Security Chief" Nils Tahlvik, and director Caspar Wrede has made some great use of Oslo scenery including a West Side residential area, Oslo's City Hall and Fornebu International Airport (which closed down in 1998). It's also nice to see one of Norway's greatest stage actors, Knut Wigert, as Connery's commanding officer.

All though slow-moving at times this gritty looking thriller has a nice realistic flair to it, including some surprising plot twists along the way.

One final note: from a Norwegian point-of-view it's fun to see how much this British production has the look and feel of a 70's Norwegian film!

Update/comment on Mike's user comment with the headline "Boring Swedish hijacking action": I don't know where he gets all this "Swedish"-stuff as the movie is mainly shot on location in Norway, it has Norwegian actors in some of the supporting roles (most notably Knut Wigert and Alf Malland) and not one Swedish actor, and as IMDb states it is a British production. Sweden had nothing to do with it.

Sean Connery plays a tough, uncompromising security chief who just happens to be a Swede with a distinctive Scottish burr in this forgotten thriller from the mid-70s. It's probably forgotten because it's all a bit hum-drum and consistently fails to thrill at any level. These were sort of Connery's wilderness years when he made a number of stinkers post-Bond (this, Zardoz, The Next Man) before finally hitting his stride. Having said that, he's still the best thing in this. Ian McShane can't compare and, sporting a three piece-suit and footballer's hair-do, makes a completely unconvincing terrorist.

The story is unnecessarily convoluted and – at less than 90 minutes – overlong, with a number of superfluous scenes. Characterisation is non-existent, the terrorist's ideology and objectives sketchily described, and the climax is badly bungled as black-and-white suddenly becomes a murky grey which grows even muddier when two (presumably) good guys come to blows.

The picture's one saving grace is Sven Nykvist's terrific photography. He captures some incredible images during the plane chase sequence which are simply staggering when viewed in high definition.