Critics and general audiences don’t always agree on their movie opinions. There are certain films that audiences seemingly fall in love with that critics just can’t get behind, and just as many that critics praise endlessly despite audiences not really caring for them.

That was somewhat the case for Mel Gibson ‘s 1996 thriller Ransom . Despite widespread praise from audiences and a scattering of positive reviews from the industry, many critics immediately dismissed it as irredeemable and uninteresting.

The film stars Gibson as a wealthy corporate executive whose son is kidnapped by organized criminals, and when the FBI investigation stalls, he takes matters into his own hands to bring his boy home. It’s a very familiar thriller that plays with countless tropes of the genre, but takes a couple of interesting twists and turns on the way to its bold conclusion.

Today, Ransom is widely considered one of the most exciting, propulsive thrillers of its time.…