Hostage

Synopsis:
Bruce Willis plays Jeff Talley, top notch hostage negotiator who loses his edge and retires to a small town to become their police chief. One day, during a robbery call, one of his officers is killed and the situation quickly escalates out of control, until he is trying to negotiate the release of an entire family from a group of scared teenagers just trying to figure out how they went from stealing a car to being trapped in a house that has the security system of a secret government lab. Jeff Talley is more than happy to hand over the reigns to federal authorities when they arrive to control the situation, but is drawn back in to negotiating when his wife is kidnapped by a mysterious group of men that have to get in to the house before the authorities do in order to retrieve a very special DVD. He is again forced to use his negotiating skills to save his family, even if it costs everyone else their lives.

Review:
Yep, you read it right. That synopsis might as well have come straight off the back of the DVD box itself. This movie is a big walking cliché where nothing really happens. It has all the good ones, a marriage on the verge of collapse, the rebellious daughter, the moment of doubt where our hero is not sure whether or not he can do what needs to be done, the impenetrable house on the hill. I could go on, but the more I think about it, the bigger the pain in my head gets. The only thing missing was a wise cracking partner that keeps telling him how old he is.

Normally, a lot of action can save these movies. But nothing ever happens. I can’t stress that enough. The only exciting part of the movie happens about an hour and a half after the movie gets started, with the fake FBI team (mmhmm), breaking into the house to retrieve the mysterious DVD, and the last of the accidental kidnappers (mmhmm) just starts setting fire to pretty much everyone in sight. Our hero is running around the house, the fake FBI guys are running around the house, and this crazy lunatic is running around setting fire to everyone he sees. A lot funnier than it was supposed to be I think, but worth the price of the rental as long as your DVD player can fast forward. But, it isn’t even the climax to the movie. In what seems like an afterthought, the next day he goes and gets his family back, after quickly dispatching the bad guys, and literally rides off into the sunset. By the end of this movie I was hoping that Bruce Willis would punch out a reporter and give his hip, younger, partner the lighter he was given by his previous partner who died saving his life, while being taken away in an ambulance. At least I would have felt more comfortable with the ending.

While looking up information for the site I read that this movie was actually based on a book by Robert Crais. Now, either this is a novel based on clichéd action movies that was turned back into a mess of an action movie, or this was a decent novel that just fell apart. Either way, I’m just glad it’s all over.

In conclusion, there are dozens of movies in the discount bin with actors like Van Damme, Speakman, and Seagal will fill any action movie jones you may have. But unless you really have to see one of the strangest action sequences I have ever seen, you may just want to pass on this one.


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