TweetyonIMDB I was pleasantly surprised with this film. I wasn't expecting much based on the IMDb rating but I love Russell Crowe so thought I'd give it a run. I was also interested to watch it as it is the film that initiated the affair between Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe. Meg Ryan plays the role of the distraught wife well. The film illustrates the disparity between the lives of the poor in South America and the wealthy westerners - and the perils of venturing into such hostile lands.I found the movie engaging throughout. I dislike all the gratuitous violence in movies these days and I found this did not have too much violence, nor too much mush. It wasn't too wordy either, so you could pop out to the kitchen to get a quick drink and come back and pick up again. And it had a nice, happy ending, which I also like. A good Saturday night flick.

kosmasp I am a big fan of Taylor Hackfords overall work. But I don't think this matches some of his other movies (unfortunately). One of my favorites of all time (actually my number one movie) is "Blood in Blood out" aka as Bound by Honor, which makes it sound less like a horror movie. Of course it is a drama, but I guess people might be confused by the title. This movie right here has a great cast (Russell Crowe starring), but lacks the emotion I got of some of his earlier work.It's unfortunate, but while not a bad movie, I don't think this matches what he has done before and the question could be if he lost his touch. I haven't seen any of his more recent films since then, but the success of Ray alone might be a disprove of that theory. So if you're a fan of his, do not be too harsh on this movie if you can. If you don't care about directors in general or this one in particular, do not expect too much from the movie

inspectors71 Taylor Hackford's Proof of Life is a hopelessly uneven, dull- as-dishwater, slap-dash chunk of topical hokum to begin with. I don't know which character I cared about the least, except a pre-CSI David Caruso, showing some sort of talent for acting(?). Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe are stolidly unpleasant. One can only hope they were more interesting for and to each other when they had their fling in real life. On screen, they're wholly unappetizing. Once again, the benefit of watching this gunk on the Sunday afternoon movie is that you don't have to pay for it. You'd be better off puttering about in your garage.

Rob-O-Cop I liked this movie, I liked the characters and the pacing and plot, but what's with the gratuitous use of cigarette placement in this film. it seemed crow-bared into the story for no effect. there was no point to its inclusion. Add to that we never see meg Ryan taking a puff, just awkwardly waving her cigarette around. I first say a stray puff of smoke and wondered what the hell it was then later figured out Meg was smoking (or not). Then we get Crow in on the act and the sister. It just rang hollow and confusing and put a corporate edge on an otherwise interesting story.Crow's character was cool and for the family breaking wife stealer he managed to pull in the real world with meg his character was certainly worth it.Meg looked cool too, pre lip implants.The military stuff was precise and focused and the hostage stuff disturbing. A flawed but good movie. I'm glad I watched it.