Hostage, 2005

Hostage, 2005
Director: Florent Emilio Siri
Cast: Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollak, Jimmy Bennet, Ben Foster



Stage: Home theatre


Hostage in short: Jeff Talley, a former LAPD hostage negotiator, has moved himself away from his failed career outside of Los Angeles, and away from his wife and daughter. When a convenience store robbery goes wrong in his turf, the three perpetrators move in on an unsuspecting family. But the family's father has a secret which might compromise his kin, and one of the criminals is about to jump over the edge. Jeff Talley has to get everybody to survive the night......if he can.


Preps: Hm. Nothing more interesting to do on a Sunday evening. So I check out the TV offering. Bruce Willis is always a treasure to a girl's heart. And sore eyes :)


Reality: Well, this is another piece in line with several similar, to this topic. Panic room (to name one of the ones I saw recently) is a similar movie, but more profound in the way the burglars get into the house. This one happens more or less by accident - because of a line of some events that seem more or less usual. Three guys running around in a wagon, trying to entertain themselves, pull off a stage act of them trying to frighten a young teenager, but end up with them being in a house in a role of a burglar, taking hostages and not really knowing what they are trying to get. A juvenile burglary, it seems at the front end. Still, they find troubles or, better put, the troubles begin when one of them shoots a cop.
After that, it's a downfall. All sorts of people have a part in this piece. Turns out the victims are a bad guy's family. So you are feeling with the pain of losing children, family, on the other hand you are satisfied that at least once someone that is doing wrong, is getting robbed.

A secondary story is running in the backgrounds. Willis as a cop/negotiator/specialist, who once lost a child's life at negotiations, still trying to get over this. (How obvious) he will fall into this scene again. This time the bad people also pressing to his family. I thought there was an unwritten rule that you cannot be a negotiator/specialist AND have a family. Because they will always find them and press on your feelings for them. So no surprises here, in this piece. Obviously they press on soft spot that Willis has for the family and make him bend the rules a bit with the rescue.

The piece is a solid action. No special surprises. Willis as always, wins the game, wins the dame and rescues everybody. And the bad guys get wasted. Or die in the process. The three burglars end up dead after their little game. The "FBI" people don't get hurt in a deep sense. But the director gives a good feeling of corruption in their ranks, as you watch this piece.

A good Sunday entertainment and action. As said, always a pleasure watch Willis in one of the "Die Hard" roles. Unfortunately, there is only one Die Hard. Even in that fourology (or were there already five?), well, the first two are the best, after all they lose their breath when they breed to number 3,4.


My personal rating: 6,0 (a solid, action-full, entertaining piece. No real depth, but a good action rating).


Hostage on IMDB