Review of Hostage (2005) by Dave H — 04 Jul 2008

Hostage is not as good as it should be. Granted, there are some good moments, but these are let down by a long list of flaws. Let's start with the good stuff.

Bruce Willis plays his normal role with customary skill. His is ably supported by a pretty good cast, and the script is, for the most part, well written. The tension builds well, and once the brown stuff hits the fan there is a real adrenaline kick. That about cover's the good stuff - like all good movie critics I like what I like and slate what I hate...

Firstly, the ending (I never claimed to be methodical in my madness). The movie builds a crescendo of tension which peaks about 20 minutes from the end. I get the feeling that it originally ended with the house on fire, Brucey gets the DVDs and his family is set free. Then they decided that the ending was too cheesy, so they bolted on an extra sequence.

Next up, the so-saccharin-sweet-you-want-to-gouge-out-your-eyes scene with "you know who agent zero is?" It's so cliché I bet the subtitle writers just wrote "What do you think he'd do yadda yadda etc.".

Finally we have the death of villain. Are we supposed to believe that after all we're shown, a he's just blinked into suicide? I'm not buying it. Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but it seems totally at odds with everything else we've learned about him. That which we suspend our disbelief of needs to remain consistent, otherwise the 'hang on a minute'-reflex kicks in.

All that said, at least it isn't boring. If you want to see Bruce Willis kick some backside, watch Die Hard. If you want to see a kid make a mockery of some villains, watch Home Alone. If you want to see a mediocre mash-up of the two, watch Hostage.