Hostage (2005)
Picture: B
Sound: B- Extras: B- Film: B-
Well, if a film works once, a variant might work
again. Florent Siri’s Hostage
(2005) wants very badly to be David Fincher’s Panic Room (2002) with a
bit of F. Gary Gray’s The Negotiator (1998) thrown in for good
measure. Though not quite up to
Fincher’s thriller, this Bruce Willis vehicle has its moments and is worth
checking out.
Jeff Talley (Willis) is a top negotiator for the police
and has had bad things happen before.
When his latest gambit and gamble goes horribly wrong, its back to his
family and the problems there. Trying
to get his life back together, a trio of bored and potentially dangerous teens
decide to invade the home of a rich man (Kevin Pollack) who is up to something
at least as sinister. Talley is called
in when it seems like a hostage situation, but it turns out there are far
darker things going on than even he knows and all these factors are on a
collision course that could have some fatal results unless Talley figures out
what is going on before its too late.
Along with Sin City, Willis is in one of his
upswings again. With him, he follows a
few good films, with a few experimental ones, with a few commercially crass
ones and that is how he stays one of the top male leads in the business. Because it was released off season and he
was in one of his crass cycles, not enough people really got a chance to see
and enjoy this little thriller, but Doug Richardson’s adaptation of the book by
Robert Crais is better than the usual formula thriller garbage Hollywood seems
to churn out too often. This has some
edge to it, even if we have seen many of these things before. The most unknown cast is also good, and with
DVD, this should find the audience it deserved in the first place.
The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is nice and
clear, despite the low-balled color schemes and use of digital here and
there. Cinematographer Giovanni Fiore
Coltellacci does a good job using the scope frame for suspense and even comes up
with a few memorable shots. The Dolby
Digital 5.1 mix is not bad, though it seems to have limits because of the Dolby
compression. Too bad this was not DTS,
because it sounded better in the theater.
Extras include director commentary, extended scenes & deleted scenes
with optional commentary and a behind the scenes featurette. Catch Hostage, because it is nice to
see Willis back in form in a good film.
- Nicholas Sheffo
