The premise of this movie is that a father becomes convinced that the kidnappers of his son will kill his boy even if he pays up; in his desperation he goes rogue, offering money for anyone who helps find the abductors instead...
... which might seem like a good idea on screen, but is a horrible one if you have the slightest demand for realism. It was quite ridiculous to watch the ruthless kidnapper-boss getting himself all pumped up over Mel's strategy. In real life Mel would have probably received an envelope with his son's fingers each day he wasn't paying. I mean come on- there are plenty of things one can do short of killing that would have made anyone in the world pay in half an hour.
So yeah, the acting was good, the action OK, the movie as a whole entertaining, but it's hard to give it a good mark if its core idea doesn't work.
... which might seem like a good idea on screen, but is a horrible one if you have the slightest demand for realism. It was quite ridiculous to watch the ruthless kidnapper-boss getting himself all pumped up over Mel's strategy. In real life Mel would have probably received an envelope with his son's fingers each day he wasn't paying. I mean come on- there are plenty of things one can do short of killing that would have made anyone in the world pay in half an hour.
So yeah, the acting was good, the action OK, the movie as a whole entertaining, but it's hard to give it a good mark if its core idea doesn't work.