Held Hostage (2009/Image DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C-     Feature: C-

 

 

Julie Benz has a likable screen presence.  From her Buffy/Angel work to role on Dexter, she has remained viable and is a good screen presence.  Trying to do something different, she plays a working mom whose job at a bank makes her the target for kidnapping and worse in Grant Harvey’s TV movie Held Hostage (2009), loosely based on a true story of Michele, a woman who was made the victim by the kidnappers and her employer.

 

The problem is that this telefilm does not know if it wants to be a thriller, make the big statement about her abuse all around or just coast on the idea (like 99% of such projects no matter where they come from) of being “based on a true story” which is a cheap way to be lazy and tell your audience to do the same.  Benz gives a good performance, but that cannot save the high unevenness and many issues the teleplay has in deciding where it is going and what it wants to be.  Too bad because there is something to say about all this, but Held Hostage does not have the guts or at least healthy cynicism to do so.  Bruce McGill also stars.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is softer than expected with lots of motion blur, poor color and other detail limits.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is really stretching the low budget, simple stereo sound.  Extras include a look at making the telefilm.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo