Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 08, 2005 | | Summary | I liked it! | Content
 | Bruce Willis is a former hostage negotiator from L.A. turned small town sheriff who finds himself dealing with a hostage situation in his new job. A mob accountant is followed home by street scum, they hold him and his family hostage and the mob holds the sheriff's family hostage until they get their hands on evidence that could land them in prison. Now, the burnout negotiator must renew his skills and confidence to try to save his own family.
Lots of action, I rate it a 5 star effort. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 07, 2005 | | Summary | Willis goes head on with the bad guys in Hostage | Content
| Bruce Willis (Sin City, Pulp Fiction) stars in this hardcore action movie about a negotiator who has to make a choice. He has to save another family to save his own family in the process who are being held captive by corrupt FBI agents. Inside the residence of actor Kevin Pollack (The Usual Suspects, The Whole Nine and Ten Yards), his son and his daughter are being held hostage by 3 kids, 2 played by Jonathan Tucker (The Deep End) and Ben Foster (Big Trouble, Get Over It). Things happen that alter situations and forces Willis to go head on with both the corrupt agents and the punk kids inside the house. Also starring Kim Coates (Black Hawk Down, ExChange). Some people might like this movie, which in the case I did but some might find the language and the really hardcore scenes to be a little extreme. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 04, 2005 | | Summary | Nerve Shattering | Content
| This is the best acting I have ever seen Bruce Willis do. "Sixth Sense" is a distant second. The film stirs up the real unpredictable nature of people. The premise is a good one. Bruce Willis as a cop has to rescue a family held captive in their own house, but thats not all. His gung ho motivation is that if he retrieves a disc hidden in a dvd case that pertains to a corrupt group, he saves his own kidnapped family. He plays the anxious, must do savior unusually well. The threesome teenagers holding the family in the house(one reluctant)do a decent job of playing some confused, ruthless oddballs. Their is some strong violence and an undercurrent of shear nerve racking bombardment. The empathy drawn out by Willis for his family is impressivly done. The ending could have used a little more work, but it plays. The dvd clarity is excellent and the sound is great. Not a bad watch, but post viewing may require sedation. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 03, 2005 | | Summary | Thrill a minute movie | Content
| This movie was so well done...instead of making it a simple movie of people being taken hostage, there were other factors brought into the situation that made it so much more exciting than it would have been otherwise. Bruce Willis is AWESOME as usual. Great supporting actors...the children were so talented. I gave it four stars instead of five only because it left me feeling disturbed, as it most likely would leave anyone...and I had trouble sleeping afterward. Well worth the watching and the emotional distress it may leave you feeling once you turn off the lights and go to bed. Two thumbs up!! |
| Rating | | | Date | August 01, 2005 | | Summary | Defecation | Content
| I was excited to see that French director Florent Siri was making his english language debut. I was a huge fan of his fabulous French criminals vs. cops vs. terrorists French action-fest 'The Nest'. And when I saw that he would be directing 'Hostage', starring Bruce Willis no less, I figured it would rock just like his previous film. I was severely deluded.
The story goes something like this: three annoying criminal teenagers take a family hostage. The father of the family has some shady criminal business dealings going on and his kids are annoying. Bruce Willis is, of course, a damaged ex-hostage negotiator now working in a small town. He gets called in to handle this hostage situation. But its not that easy...the hostage father's criminal partners want some computer disc from the house so they kidnap Willis' family so that he(Willis)will get the disc for them. This makes no sense. If the evil criminal partners wanted the disc, why not just wait till the hostage situation ends and then go in and get the disc later? Why bother with all the drama of kidnapping Bruce's family? This, like most every decision made in this film, makes no sense.
Okay, Siri's direction is not bad at all. The style he purveyed in 'The Nest' is just as prevelant in 'Hostage'. Its just the performances of the mainly child-actor cast that makes the film suffer. Every child in this film is completely and utterly annoying. Every thing they do is stupid and you just hope they all end up shooting each other in the face. These children, every single one of them, should never be allowed to act again. They are truly awful. Its almost insulting to be forced to watch them. Willis plays his role as he plays every role he gets. He's basically the same character in each film only with a different job, which isn't bad...you just know what you're gonna get.
'Hostage' is just not a good film. The characters are annoying, the plot irritates, and I'm really disappointed that Florent Siri would pick such a sloppy script to make his American debut. Hopefully he chooses something better for his next project so the American public can see what this guy can really do.
Skip 'Hostage' and check out Siri's 'The Nest' instead. |
|
Picture 01 (20)
