The movie "Ransom" with Mel Gibson and Rene Russo is one of the most thrilling of its genre. This is due to Mel Gibson's charisma and the unorthodox way his character deals with a very difficult abduction issue. In order to keep the pace up, several scenes that solely focused on character and story development were removed from the Theatrical Cut. According to the backcover of the Laser Disc, those add up to 18 minutes but luckily they were re-integrated into the movie with the release of the LD. Therefore, the viewers can now decide for themselves whether the additional footage slows the movie down or makes it complete. Here the decision is very easy. The new scenes add a lot more depth to the story and character development and they do not slow down the movie. Far from it: The movie is even more exciting now. It has to be said though that two tiny scenes are missing from the Extended Cut but those were really extremely short and not at all important.

Due to the fact that the Extended Version of the movie has so far only been released on Japanese and US-LD and that all DVD releases only offer the Theatrical Cut, the LD has become a true collector's item.
The THX certified LD does not only have the Extended Cut but also DD 5.1 sound and the video quality is excellent.Furthermore, the movie comes in the original 1:1,85 format. However, as always with LDs it's letterbox and not the preferable anamorph format.

A fact that could be interesting for people with technical background knowledge is that "Ransom" is one of the very few movies that actually has a broader frame in the 1:1,85 format. The black bars were not added. Instead, the image height was compressed to get a true widescreen image. For the 4:3, the black bars could not therefore be removed and instead the image was zoomed in with the pan & scan method. As a result, the outer parts of the image were lost.

The time references refer to the German 4:3 DVD.
In the first part of the censorship report the scenes that are missing from the theatrical cut are listed. The second is about scenes that were removed from the Extended Cut.

Comparison between the extended cut from the US-LD (R-Rated) and the theatrical cut from the German VHS.

Theatrical Cut: 18 additional cuts that results in a difference of 18 Min. 13 Sec.
Extended Edition: 2 new cuts = 16 sec.

0.03.35
After the grimace of the boy, an inter-cut to the waitress follows. She smiles at him and turns around to put away a six-pack of beer. When she looks back to the boy he is gone and only his gameboy is still on the table.

10 sec

0.04.01
The boy (Sean) tells one of the party guests about his toy plane. His mother (Rene Russo = Kate) pets his head and goes to some guests in the room next door. The boy grimaces at her and watches himself on one of the monitors of his airship.
42 sec

0.04.59
The reporter who had already been dismissed is sent away by Gibson's wife (Renee Russo) again. She tells him the time and asks him whether he doesn't have a family. Then Mel Gibson is shown how he takes a painkiller.A friend tells him that reporters will never give up.
22 sec

0.07.02
Kate says goodbye to some guests that are about to enter the elevator.
12 sec

0.13.03
A delivery truck is backed into a driveway and some men leave the truck.

(change of scene)
Gibson and his wife call several friends and ask them whether one of them has seen Jean. In the background the the video with Sean from the toy plane is shown.

(change of scene)
Again the kidnappers are shown.They carry the bound and gagged boy into the house and throw him onto a bed. One of the kipnappers says that he will get a camera.
50 sec in total

In the normal version one of the most exciting and intersting scenes is missing. The FBI has Gibson and his wife take a lie detector test seperately. First, we are not told why the two are questioned because the FBI-agent starts with questions like "Is your shirt blue?" etc.
At the end of the test, he asks the question "Do you know where your son is at the moment?". Kate says "No" and the needle of the lie detector stays normal. However, when Gibson is asked the same question and he also says "No", the needle starts moving, which means that he is lying. The FBI agent looks at the other (black) agent, who then looks at Gibsons, who starts crying.
Because of that scene, the next scene, the one on the balcony, which is also in the Theatrical Cut, is easier to follow. In the Theatrical Cut it just doesn't make sense that Gibsons suddenly says who kidnapped his son.
86 sec

0.25.24
After the conversation with the prisoner, Gibson and the black agent talk with each other in a car. The agent asks whether anybody else knows that he has bribed that man but Gibson says "no". Moreover, they talk about that the FBI used to be unable to nail Gibson down.
98 sec

0.30.56
Gibson's apartment is buzzing with people. An FBI agent comes out of the elevator packed with two boxes of pizza. Kate is watching him. Another agent questions the house maid. Some other men are busy checking a commercial for Gibson's aviation company and after that they talk with each other.

(change of scene)
Kate talks to a female FBI agent, while looking at a photo album. First, they talk about the family of the FBI agent, then Kate tells her that she has already had four miscarriages and that Sean is a miracle. Furthermore, she tells her that Tom (Gibson) is not in the position to negotiate.
104 sec. in total

0.35.46
After Gibson has left with the money, the part where he overtakes a truck is missing. Afterwards, he is called by boss of the kindnappers for the first time. The boss gives him the location they want to come to.
31 sec

0.35.55
After Gibson has passed a crosswalk with his car and the helicopter has passed by, Gibson turns left after he has passed the bridge. The scene. The scene begins with a bird's eye view and ends with a long shot)

0.45.51 (time index of the Extended Cut)
The wife of the kidnapper looks at Sean, who is lying on the bed, with a sad look on her face.
15 sec

0.50.27
After the scene, in which Gibson tells the man from the special forces that his son has been killed, one of the kidnappers is shown how he is desperately trying to cover a van with a canvas.
7 sec

0.59.08
The conversation in the kitchen is a little longer. The black agent reminds Tom that he once asked him about the "X-factor" and that he wants to tell him something about that now. He talks about one of the abduction he has worked on. During the abduction it took the man six days to decide that he wanted to pay the ransom. After the kidnapper had then told him where to find his wife, all they found was her dead body. The autopsy found out that his wife had suffered for more than 12 hours before she died. The agent finishes by telling Tom that that's why he himself is the X-factor. In the Extended Cut, Tom leaves the kitchen at that point and not earlier. That's why one gets the impression that it was the agent who convinced Tom to pay the ransom. In the Theatrical Cut, it's the very opposite. Here, it seems as if Tom has convinced the agent NOT to pay the money.
44 sec

0.59.27 The longest scene:
After the agent has asked Kate to help her husband if she wants to rescue the life of her son, she walks down the corridor and finds her husband in Sean's room. He is sitting on the bed. She sits down next to him and they hug each other. He is desperate because only 7 out of 10 abducted persons come home alive.

(change of scene)
The FBI agent is on the phone with his superiors. He tells them that Gibson was questioning whether paying the ransom would be the best way to get his son back.

(change of scene)
Inter-cut to Gibson and his wife.They are now lying on the bed.

(change of scene)
Inter-cut to the kidnapper, who is also on a bed with his wife (and Sean). His wife cannot sleep, so she gets up. she grabs her clothes and a revolver appears. When she is about leave the room her husband wakes up. He follows her to the kitchen, where she is washing a pot. He then hugs her and tries to calm her down by telling her that everything would go as planned. She, however, is full of doubt and leaves the kitchen telling him that the plan won't work.

(change of scene)
From his balcony, Gibson sees a group of reports who are on the street in front of the hotel. He leaves the hotel through the main entrace to face the reporters but he doesn't manage to say anything and goes back into the hotel.

(change of scene)
In the next scene, the kidnappers see Gibson in front of the reporters on TV.
309 sec. = 5:09 min.

1.08.47
A conversation between the FBI agent and his superiors. They not happy with his work.
18 sec

1.15.46
First, the kidnapper goes into the bedroom where his wife is sleeping. After he has left the room, he passes one of his accomplices in the corridor. The whole time he has a switchblade in his hand.
47 Sec

1.16.00
Kate gets off a taxi at the meeting point. The camera zooms out until the dark house becomes visible in a long shot.
24 Sec

1.32.43
The conversation with the injured policeman, who is actually the boss of the kidnappers pretending to be a hero, is slightly longer. However two shots are missing from the LD. The policemen chit-chat a little and make a few jokes. One of the policemen asks the kidnapper/hero what he is going to do with all the money. The kidnapper acts as if he still couldn`t believe that he is the one to get the huge reward.

After that the kidnapper is shown leaving the hospital surrounded by reporters. He tells them he just did his job.

(change of scene)
Kate sits next to Sean on his bed watching a cartoon with him. Gibsons stands in the door frame watching the two. Kate looks over to him. She wants to go to him but Sean timidly asks her where she wants to go. Kate points her finger at her husband and says: "Just over there." - The, Sean lets her go. She talks to Tom, who suggests to get something to eat. He then asks Sean whether he is hungry. Sean denies that and at first Kate doesn't want anything, either, but then Tom persuades her.
162 sec. = 2:42 min.

New cuts in the Extended Cut:

0.22.36
After the lie detector scene (only on LD), a conversation between Gibson and the FBI agent follows. This is a little shorter in the Extended Cut. The shot, in which Gibson and the agent lean on the balcony and Gibson says, "I have to tell you something. I want you to know." and the agent answers, "what?" is missing.
10 sec

1.32.43
During the conversation with the injured kidnapper one shot was also removed. The agent drinks something from a cup and the kidnapper turns his head away and clears his throat.
6 sec