Since appearing in the very successful movie Die Hard, Bruce Willis has made many other movies, several of which have been some type of action movie. Once again, Willis plays a cop in his new movie, Hostage, the most violent movie he’s been in for a while.

Jeff Talley was part of a SWAT team in Los Angeles for ten years. For seven of those years, he was a successful hostage negotiator. Something went wrong during a negotiation, and Jeff left Los Angeles. He took the job as chief of police in a small California town with a very low crime rate. His move had strained his relationship with his wife, Jane and daughter Amanda. Three young men, brothers Dennis and Kevin, and Mars, a new friend of Dennis, were driving around town in an old truck. Dennis and Mars were making all the decisions. They decided to follow a family home so they could steal their SUV.

Walter Smith lived with his two children, Jennifer and Tommy, outside of town in a large home with a state of the art security system. That system didn’t do him much good since he didn’t notice Dennis and Mars climbing over the gates to break in. Things didn’t go like Dennis and Mars planned, and they ended up holding the family hostage. Jeff was at the scene and even talked to reporters about the situation, but he willingly turned over control to the county sheriff. It turned out that Walter was involved in some kind of criminal activity and had some important information on a DVD in his office. The men he was connected with saw the news reports about what was going on at Walter’s house. They wanted the DVD so they came up with a plan. They kidnaped Jane and Amanda to force Jeff back on the scene and do what they wanted so they could get the DVD. If Jeff didn’t do what they wanted, his family would be killed. Inside the house, Dennis was starting to crack under the pressure. Mars was attracted to Jennifer and he was spending time alone with her. Tommy managed to find a hiding place and he was able to contact Jeff on his sister’s cell phone.

Hostage was a pretty good cop movie. There was action in several scenes throughout the movie, though it wasn’t what I consider an action packed movie. It was extremely violent. Jeff was first shown when he was still working in Los Angeles, during the negotiation that went badly. Several people ended up dead. It was a year later when he was pulled into what happened with the Smith family. More people were injured, and some even ended up dead. There was more than one confrontation over the course of the movie. People were shot. One character was stabbed. There was a lot of blood shown. The action parts of the movie did keep things interesting, but the movie could be too violent for some people. Anyone who doesn’t like movies with violence in them should avoid this one. There were some disturbing things that happened, including children being in danger. There was a lot of swearing in the movie, including many uses of the word that rhymes with luck. People that don’t like movies that have a lot of swearing in them should look for a different movie. Drug use was shown in a few scenes as well. There was no nudity in the movie, though Jeff and a few other characters were shown in their underwear. This is not a movie for children of any age.

Jeff found himself in similar situations a year apart. At one point, during each of the events, he was running to hopefully stop something from happening. Both times, his face was shown when he was running and the camera was very jerky. The camera was in front of him, and below his face. It looked like he was actually holding the camera himself as he ran. It was jarring when the jerky camera work started, but at least it didn’t happen in every scene. There were a few times when quick cuts were used between two characters. Some of the cuts were very fast, making it a little difficult to tell exactly what was going on. The camera work wasn’t as bad as it has been in some movies though. It was really only a few scenes where it was too jerky. There were some overhead camera shots used several times, sometimes to show something outside, and other times to show things inside the house. It was later in the day when Dennis, Kevin, and Mars took the Smith family hostage. Most of the events in the movie took place after dark, but there was enough light to be able to tell what was going on. That was the case even when a character was in shadows.

Most of the plot points were resolved by the end of Hostage, but I did feel that a few things were left unexplained. Unless I somehow missed it, and I didn’t leave the theater after the movie started, it wasn’t said exactly who the men were that took Jeff’s family hostage. That situation was cleared up, but I still wanted to know who those men were. Their faces weren’t even shown. They had on black masks when Jeff saw them, and the once or twice that one of them was showing talking on the phone, they were silhouetted in the dark. It doesn’t really matter what they looked like, but I did want to know who they were. Some people may not be bothered by that like I was. Anyone that likes for everything to be neatly tied up will probably be disappointed. Jeff, Jane, and Amanda were having problems before everything happened. The ending did make it seem like something was going to happen with that situation, but it wasn’t said for sure, so there was still some room for something else to happen. That wasn’t anything that major, but I did wonder about it a little after the movie was over. At one point, Kevin mentioned that Dennis had only known Mars for a short time. It was never said how Dennis and Mars met. It came out that Dennis and Mars had been doing some illegal things. I did wonder how the two had met and ended up committed crimes together so soon after meeting. Dennis wasn’t an innocent bystander in what happened in the Smith house, but he didn’t seem to be as violent as Mars was.

I thought that the acting in Hostage was good. Bruce Willis played the main part of Jeff. This isn’t the first time he’s played a cop in a movie, and he does tend to do well with those parts. Willis looked very different when Jeff was first shown. He had long hair and even a full beard. His hair didn’t look too neat or clean, but that could have been because Jeff had been trying to negotiate with a man holding his family hostage for sixteen hours. The main part of the movie took place a year later, and Jeff looked very different then. The beard and hair were gone. Willis looked like himself. He had to express many emotions, especially sadness throughout the movie. I don’t remember him doing that to this extent in any of the other movies I’ve seen him in before. I think it was one of his best performances. Kevin Pollack was fine as Walter, though he didn’t have too much to do for a large part of the movie. Serena Scott Thomas was fine as Jane in the few scenes she had. One of Bruce’s daughters, Rumor, actually played Amanda. She didn’t have many scenes either, but was fine in them.

Jimmy Bennett and Michelle Horn did very well as Tommy and Jennifer. They weren’t whiney or annoying like some child actors have been. Bennett provided the voice for a character in The Polar Express. Jonathan Tucker did a good job as Dennis. He was believable in the part. Marshall Allman also did a good job as Kevin, the young brother of Dennis. Tucker and Allman were good together in their scenes. They were believable as brothers. Ben Foster was really good as Mars. He didn’t say much for most of the movie, so Foster had to convey a lot through his facial expressions. He was very good at that, and his expressions did show what he was thinking or feeling. There were a few times when his expression was a little strange and it wasn’t really clear what he was thinking. That did fit in with the character, and some things were cleared up about Mars a little later. He was more complex than he first seemed. The other actors were fine in their parts, though nothing really stood out about any of their performances.

CHARACTERS

Jeff Talley - He had been on a SWAT team for ten years and a hostage negotiator for seven of those years. After a negotiation went badly, Jeff took the job as chief of police in a small town with very little crime. He felt guilty over what had happened. He didn’t share much with his wife, and their relationship was strained. He was a good cop. He was determined to do what he had to in order to save his family and the Smith family.

Jane and Amanda Talley - Jeff’s wife and daughter. Jane was frustrated because he wouldn’t talk to her. Amanda hated that her father took a new job. She was afraid her parents would get divorced.

Walter Smith - Man that lived with his two children in a large house outside of town. He had a lot of money. Walter was involved in something that the hostage situation complicated.

Jennifer and Tommy Smith - Walter’s two children. Jennifer was the oldest. They both managed to stay calm while they were being held hostage. Tommy had a secret place in the house, and he was able to get there. He even managed to get his sister’s cell phone and call Jeff.

Dennis and Kevin Kelly - Dennis bossed his brother around and made most of the decisions. Kevin didn’t want any part of what Dennis and his friend were planning, but he wasn’t able to stop them. Dennis had been mixed up in some criminal activities before, but he wasn’t as violent as his friend. Dennis said he was in charge, but it didn’t seem that way. Dennis started to crack under the pressure he was feeling.

Mars - Friend of Dennis. The two had only known each other a short time. Mars said very little, but he seemed to have a lot of influence over Dennis. Mars did whatever he wanted, and made their situation much worse. Mars was very disturbed for some reason and very violent.

CAST

Marshall Allman - Kevin Kelly
Jimmy Bennett - Tommy Smith
Ben Foster - Mars
Michelle Horn - Jennifer Smith
Serena Scott Thomas - Jane Talley
Jonathan Tucker - Dennis Kelly
Bruce Willis - Jeff Talley
Rumor Willis - Amanda Talley

Florent Emilio Siri - Director

Hostage was released on March 11, 2005. The movie was 113 minutes long and rated R for graphic violence and swearing. This is not a movie for children of any age to see. The movie was based on a book by Robert Crais. I haven’t read the book so I have no idea how close to the book the movie stayed.

Hostage was an entertaining cop movie with a fair amount of action in it. The movie is very violent, and the dead bodies did start to pile up, so people that have a problem with a lot of violence in movies will probably want to avoid this one. Fans of Bruce Willis will probably enjoy the movie.

Related Reviews
The Polar Express ~ The Fifth Element ~ The Whole Ten Yards ~


Recommended: Yes