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 "Hostage" Chris' Review: I've come to expect more out of Bruce Willis. In the past few years he's done some very nice work with such movies as Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, playing the hero, but in a more cerebral manner. As producer of Hostage one has to assume that he's been dying to get back into his Die Hard role of action hero. Unfortunately, Hostage is no Die Hard. It's understandable, I guess. Die Hard 4 is slated for some time next year. This is the perfect type of movie to feel out his audience, see if they'll accept this kind of thing from him again, see if he's still capable of pulling it off, or if it will flop due to age and his career direction of late. Also, Doug Richardson, who wrote Die Hard 2, and is set to write Die Hard 4, adapted the screenplay for Hostage from Robert Crais' novel. So we also get to see if Doug still has the writing chops to pull off Die Hard 4. If you think about it, it's a great marketing manuver. Write a big action flick, which with Bruce at the helm will be hard pressed to LOSE money, just to see how much they can sink into Die Hard 4. Really, that's the way I see Hostage. Not as a movie in it's own right, but as a means to a larger movie with a bigger budget. As an action flick, on it's own, Hostage really doesn't bring all that much to the screen. It's big and loud with unrealistic plot devices and more than it's fair share of plot holes. It does a good job of surprising you with twists along the way, but they're surprising in the sense that there is no way you would have thought that it was possible... and after watching it happen, you still have your doubts that someone in the movie isn't going to stand up and say, "Hey, Mr. Willis, I don't think it's possible for the bad guys to be that stupid... they must be messing with you," or, "Mr. Willis, don't you think that the mastermind behind the mafia will be upset that you killed all his goons, and that even though you seem to be safe for the moment, you just bought yourself a lifetime of running?" I guess I just didn't like Bruce in this movie. Not that he didn't do a good job, but his action sequences were slow. It was like he was starting to show his age. The younger hooligans in the movie were the real stars. Johnathan Tucker (Kevin Kelly) and Marchall Allman (Dennis Kelly) do an excellent job of playing bickering brothers from the wrong side of the tracks. You really feel the familial bond between them. You feel that they are frustrated with each other, but beneath it all would kill everyone in the room to save the other. Ben Foster (Mars Krupcheck) is a standout in this movie. I'm not all that familiar with the rest of his work, but he plays the psychotic killer with perfection in Hostage. He's creepy in the way that Christian Bale was creepy in American Psycho. You really just feel that you want to stay out of his way. Unfortunately, the screenplay puts him in a couple of awkward positions that even his excellent character skills are remiss in saving. At one point, Mars' would-be lust-interest Jennifer Smith (Michelle Horn), one of the hostages, is draped in a wet towel to shield her from the flames of the burning house, an cliched Mary pose, while Mars is forced into a Christ pose while he bursts into flame... no, I'm not making it up. It really happened. Concerning the actors in general, the casting was, for once, realisitc. Everyone looked normal rather than a model. Tally's (Bruce Willis') on-screen wife was average looking, and middle-aged, not model-hot and early 20's. It's like the beautiful people took a day off. Maybe this was to enhance Bruce's visual appeal by making him the best looking of the group, and maybe it was just a novel idea of making the characters more believable in appearance. Whatever it was, it was appreciated. Other than the plot holes and bad symbolism, Hostage makes itself heard with overused and abused ideas, unneccesary violence, over-the-top gore, and an unrealistic ending. Really, what's not to like? The direction is slick and polished, but in the end it can't save the movie any more than the excellent performance of Ben Foster. So as a run of the mill action flick, it's almost passable. Bruce Willis is what I would consider secondary to the movie, when he should be headlining. Again, this is likely all as a marketing survey. A subdued Bruce in Hostage will give them the input they need and if it flops, it won't nosedive his career. For those of you that are really into action movies for the sake of the action, you may be able to sit through this and pass the time pleasantly. For the rest of you, I suggest waiting until Die Hard 4 comes out, as this was obviously just meant to whet your appetite. I give Hostage 4 thumbs down. The performances and slick production values aside, it really wasn't worth the celluloid.   Jim's Review: BackHome - Info - Reviews - Map - Message Board - Photo Album |
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