Hostage (2005)

Not only is the source material, a book of the same name by Robert Crais, the movie is edge of your seat brilliant from the first minute to the last. FANTASTIC performances by the entire cast. Brilliant cinematography. I think the creepiest bad guy on film in the character of Mars, played by Ben Foster. He haunts my nightmares!There are some standard plot elements but they are so brilliantly fit together with twists and turns you don't even notice on the first viewing. I saw this first on the big screen where it's really massively effective, particularly in the close up sequences. But it translates very well to the small screen.Enjoy the film, read the book. Both are brilliant and the book will flesh out the film. Robert Crais is a genius!

A good story if you can get past the ridiculous affirmative action casting, racial role reversals, and typical Christian bashing. Possible Spoiler Alert:The story takes place in a wealthy white area. However, the police captain is a black woman. The bad guy home invaders are white. They shoot a black woman police officer. The opening scene shows a white man holding his family hostage. He then recites from the bible, saying his Christian God wants him to send his family to heaven, then murders his wife and son. Too bad Jewish Hollywood is allowed to put this mind poison in almost every movie. When was the last time you saw a movie with a Jew quoting Jewish scripture before slaughtering his family? When have you seen a child molesting Rabbi in a movie? How many Catholic priests are portrayed that way?

A failed police negotiator turned small town cop, must save the lives of a family held hostage, which draws him into a much more dangerous situation.The film's plot is roughly the same as the novel; the main difference is that a complicated subplot involving the Mafia was removed and the ages of the first group of hostage-takers was lowered slightly.Although reviews on the film seem to be mixed or even negative, Ebert wrote of the plot twists, "This is ingenious, and adds an intriguing complexity to what could have been a one-level story." And he is right. The film is complex, but never in a way that seems contrived. Impossible, maybe, but without the reality of film quite sensible.Bruce Willis is a great action star, and while action films may have faded since the 1980s, Willis never faded with them. He continues to bring a certain level of excitement to his pictures and it is no surprise the "Die Hard" franchise has been successful long after other franchises have fallen off.

Jeff Talley (Bruce Willis) is a former LAPD hostage negotiator. After a particularly brutal incident, he leaves L.A. to be the chief of police in the small suburb of Bristo Camino. Some time later, Dennis and his brother Kevin, and their vicious cohort Mars Krupcheck break into the Smith home. They are challenged by a cop and shots her. They lock down the highly secured home taking Walter Smith (Kevin Pollak) and his two kids hostage. However other interests intervene. Walter actually does work for a mysterious criminal gang and they want a DVD from inside the house. The criminals take Talley's family hostage forcing him to work outside the law to find the DVD and trade it for his family.This is a functional thriller. The main thing that bugged me are the three young thugs. They are too stereotypical. They're greasy and jittery. It's too on-the-nose. I like that the movie takes a simple premise and puts a slightly different spin on it. It's too bad that Kevin Pollak doesn't have a bigger role. This movie seems geared towards his wheelhouse. Bruce Willis is usually good in this type of roles. This is a relatively fine thriller but it's nothing special.