After leaving his Los Angeles hostage negotiation job due to a
particularly devastating standoff that ends badly, Jeff Talley
(Bruce Willis) takes the police chief job in a small town in
Ventura County. The peace is shattered when three youths (Jonathan
Tucker, Ben Foster, and Marshall Allman) invade a wealthy home
belonging to a man (Kevin Pollack) who does the books for the mob.
A police officer is shot and Pollack is knocked unconscious as a
standoff begins. Then things really go bad, as Talley's wife and
daughter are taken captive by the mobsters so that Talley will
retrieve a disk for them from the house.
CRITIQUE
Thrillers today have become so prevalent and typical that they can't
really surprise. The story can actually be considered successful if
there is some genuine suspense created at all, and entries into the
genre now must usually distinguish themselves by elements other than
story. Hostage features the expected clichés of its genre but
does offer a bit of freshness and French-ness in plot and direction,
with some surprisingly solid performances.
The way this script proves original is in small touches in the
storyline. Audiences may be used to one hostage situation in a film,
and they may be used to a lead character being forced to do something
to save their family, but putting those two premises together isn't so
familiar. The two mesh well, though some of the usual standoff
thriller stuff is here: the big house with secret passageways and
nifty security features (which the thieves always manage to get past),
the heroic lead cop being relieved of command, the death of at least
one of the criminals. Also, there are always three thieves: the leader
(Tucker), the psycho (Foster), and the good one who doesn't want to
hurt anyone (Allman). They are almost always male and there is almost
always a pair of brothers (in this case, Tucker and Allman). Despite
all this screenwriter Doug Richardson manages to keep the attention
engaged and provide some unpredictable moments.
French director Florent
Siri accomplishes the film's other commendable elements in his
direction. His staging is usually good and the title sequence is
eye-catching. Siri's real triumph, though, is his camera work. He
punctuates scenes with the use of point-of-view camera and body cams
put right on Willis to emphasis the character's frantic feeling. The
overall effects of these things is good in itself and appropriate for
the genre. The '40s noir lighting couples with the '70s gritty realism
tone and Siri's European imagery (especially in the big fiery climax),
as pointed out in the behind the scenes featurette. The house is the
only location for a vast majority of the film, so keeping the film
from seeming static is no small feat, either. The soundtrack is
another area of disappointment, though. The score by Alexandre Desplat
(Birth) is incongruous with the loud songs that are sometimes
employed.
Willis is the go-to guy for tough roles, so he does fine here. Certain
moments, such as his reunion with his family, may surprise some of his
detractors. Pollack is always good and he does shady well. Tucker and
Foster get the meat of the roles and they run with it. It's a credit
to Tucker that you feel sympathy for him in the end. Foster meanwhile
takes a complete about face from his earlier comedic roles and is
quite scary. It must be no coincidence that his name is Mars, the
Roman god of war, fiery and deadly.
THE VIDEO
The anamorphic widescreen presentation of this disc is the best
format, as usual, and all the color is transferred without any major
flaws.
THE AUDIO
The soundtrack is a bit uneven in its combination of score and loud
songs but the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround brings it all across fine.
There is a French language track and Spanish subtitles as well.
THE EXTRAS
Deleted Scenes:
There are six here and only one or two add anything in the way of
characterization or story, like the one titled "Jacking Cars." They
each end with the start of the following scene, which is nice.
However, I couldn't access the director's commentary that's supposed
to accompany them. There are also two extended scenes and I had the
same problem. Only one of these adds something significant as well and
features more of Willis' real life daughter Rumer in her performance
as his on-screen daughter.
Audio Commentary:
Director Florent Siri provides an okay track. One listen will tell you
some mildly interesting things about how the film got made (like a
remote-control car used in the crawlspace scenes), the influences he
had (apparently the Western is big here) and he praises everyone who
worked on the film like many others do. Some people may have a hard
time getting past his French accent as well.
Behind the Scenes:
This is longer and more interesting than some making-of featurettes.
There are interviews with the cast, director and more which shed some
nice light on the direction and the work between the actors, as well
as an interesting discussion with the real-life hostage negotiator who
consulted on the film.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Above average as far as thrillers go, especially lately, Hostage
is worth a night's rental for just the slightly fresh plot and good
direction. The acting is also a draw and the special features of the
DVD are above par too. The whole DVD package might be worth buying if
thriller is your genre, but renting will provide a couple hours of
decent entertainment.
