Held for Ransom

This film had quite a bit of action and a good cast. I was especially impressed with the plot twist at the end. Overall, its nothing incredible.... But, Dennis Hopper still did a great job in this one. Hopper's eccentric characterization of "J.D." was pretty awesome -- it made this direct-to-video film rate above average (in my opinion, anyways).

A strait to video release, you have to give it some credit. HELD FOR RANSOM is based on the Lois Duncan novel and you can obviously tell that it is a low-budget film. But the fact that it was based on a book helped give it some more famous actors to star in the film.

The film was a little suspenseful you have to admit, but I still don't understand why everyone hated this movie so. I mean, we get to see Tsianina Joelson strip down to her bra and panties. No, but seriously the film was pretty enjoyable for me. It is very realistic as to what some people might do in a hostage situation. It is somewhat different from the book as the film takes place in the sweltering Everglades and the book is in the icy cold mountains.

I seriously didn't think it was that bad. HELD FOR RANSOM gets 4/5.

I only rented this movie to see Morgan Fairchild and Joan Van Ark, who turn out to each have about three lines of dialogue in the movie as the kidnapped teens' moms. I don't understand why these well-known women were hired only to be given three lines... Anyway, this is one of the most boring, stupid movies I've seen in a long time. It was absolutely awful. It's confusing because Dennis Hopper and Debi Mazar, who are in lots of other things, are in this trash. Why would they bother with doing such a low-budget movie?

I will never stop wondering why a basically good actor like Dennis Hopper finds himself in a movie like this. Several things aren't just awful, but really, really bad: - the plot, - the acting, - the music, - the script, - etc etc The movie is rated 16+ (why? the once-in-a-while "f***-s" in it?); 12 year olds might be excited by the teen-actors. The story would most likely bore. A 3 out of 10.

I picked this one up from Blockbuster last week. This was a straight to video release, which usually puts up some red flags. It was actually quite good for the budget. There were several past stars in this movie, Morgan Fairchild, Joan Van Ark, The oldest Son from Home Improvement and Dennis Hopper. I would recommend this for a rental but not necessarily one to buy.