Movie Review: Hostage

Hostage

I realize that most action-genre movies don't win awards or get a lot of critical praise (though the mountains of money some of these movies make is probably a more-than-adequate compensation). I also freely confess that I like them. I like Bruce Willis, too, so there wasn't much question that Hostage was going to be on my list of movies to see this weekend.

Hostage follows the career of Los Angeles hostage negotiator Jeffrey Talley (Bruce Willis) who, with some years as a SWAT officer and then a successful hostage negotiator, is much in demand. But after an incident he considers to be both his failure and his fault, Talley leaves to become the chief of police in a small town away from the big city. Ironically, the career change has been hard on his wife, Jane (Serena Scott Thomas) and daughter, Amanada (Rumer Willis) thanks to the commute involved. But Talley himself needs the relief from the pressure cooker of LA's violent crime scene, and the smaller and bucolic community provides that for him. What Talley doesn't count on, however, is a series of events that combine into an explosive situation on his new beat.

Three teenage hoodlums who are angry with their dismissal by a rich girl decide to follow her home and steal the expensive vehicle her father drives. But Dennis Kelly (Jonathan Tucker), his brother, Kevin (Marshall Allman), and Dennis' new acquaintance, Mars Krupcheck (Ben Foster) bite off more than they can chew when they invade the home of wealthy accountant Walter Smith (Kevin Pollack). The Smith residence is well protected by a variety of security mechanisms, but Smith's own false sense of security proves his downfall where the violent teens are concerned. After terrorizing Smith and his children, Jennifer (Michelle Horn) and Tommy (Jimmy Bennett), a silent alarm brings a police presence and traps the teens inside with the family they now decide to take hostage. Their efforts to get out of the trouble they're in don't take into account, however, the fact that Smith is engaged in some shady dealings of his own.

Meanwhile, Talley is still determined to back away from situations like those he dealt with in LA, and he gives jurisdiction over to county authorities. But Talley, too, is surprised into taking action when his own wife and child are taken hostage to enforce demands that he handle the Smith hostage negotiations personally. More and more, Talley begins to see that there's another failure in the making as he must decide which family to save and which will pay for his choice with their lives.

Bruce Willis is by no stretch a Laurence Olivier, but he's a good actor and the action genre is his niche. The other actors in the film are fine, too, but the real standout here has got to be Ben Foster. Some of you may be more familiar with Mr. Foster as a sensitive and almost effete boyfriend on HBO's Six Feet Under. If so, you'll find Foster's departure from less threatening characters to be even more impressive than it is even as a stand alone performance. It was also fun to see Bruce Willis' daughter, Rumer, play his daughter in the movie. Though her role is relatively small, she acquitted herself well (with genes like she's got, that's probably not a big surprise).

In some parts, Hostage is relatively predictable. In others, the plot twists and turns prove to be a real surprise. In other words, the script is somewhat uneven. The editing and the direction, however, are good, and the story as a whole is interesting. And those with any kind of an artistic bent will think they've died and gone to heaven when they see the opening credits.

Hostage is not an unflawed movie by any stretch of the imagination. But if you're looking for your action fix for spring, Hostage will probably do the trick.

POLITICAL NOTES: There's some gun handling in the film that will continue to give the ignorant the false impression that handguns are both deadly and deadly accurate at all times, and that people who are good shots can take out an entire room in a firefight without being shot themselves. You and I likely understand that this is poetic license, but there are too many people who look at movies for educational purposes. There's also a strong implication throughout the film that we must rely on law enforcement to protect us even though it sometimes fails to do so. When films feed into such people's already unreasonable fears, that makes those scenes a real threat to liberty.

FAMILY SUITABILITY: Hostage is rated R for "strong graphic violence, language, [and] some drug use." The violence is, indeed, graphic, and there's a good deal of it. The situations the hostage Smith children must deal with are also far too frightening for younger kids. The combination of some very adult situations and the level and frequency of violence lead me to believe that Hostage is best suited for those of about 15 or 16 and up. If you want to see Hostage, my best advice is that you either leave the little ones at home or that you send them to see Robots.