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Sure, you’ve seen something like it before—a damaged cop trying to save the day. Perhaps you saw it when it was called Die Hard. But Hostage isn’t exactly the same old Bruce Willis movie.
Willis plays Jeff Talley, a cop with the LAPD who takes off and moves to suburbia after a hostage negotiation goes bad. Settled in as chief of police in a sleepy no-crime town, Talley may be happier, but his wife and daughter (who, incidentally, is played by Willis’s real-life daughter, Rumer) miss their old life and their old home.
Meanwhile, three teenage criminals decide to punish a rich family (for being rich) by breaking into their house and stealing their Escalade. But their plan doesn’t go as expected, and soon the owner of the house, Walter Smith (Kevin Pollak), is lying unconscious on the floor, there’s a dead cop outside, and the three boys are stuck in the house with Smith’s son, Tommy (Jimmy Bennett), and Smith’s teenage daughter, Jennifer (Michelle Horn).
But the situation isn’t just any hostage situation. Walter Smith wasn’t just a mild-mannered accountant. Some of his business practices (the ones that bought him the house and the Escalade) were less than legal—and they brought him into contact with some powerful and dangerous people. When Smith’s clients see what’s happened, they go straight for Talley, demanding that he help them out—or cause the death of his wife and daughter.
In Hostage, Bruce Willis isn’t the same old smooth-talking, witty tough-guy. Sure, he’s a tough-guy, but he’s more human than the characters he usually plays. He expertly shows his character’s weakness and fear—and that makes his character real. It makes him someone that viewers will be able to relate to.
The story itself is edge-of-your-seat action from the beginning to the end. No wise-cracking characters or comic relief. Just action and suspense. That’s not to say, of course, that it’s without its flaws. There are plenty of holes in the plot—and plenty of things that just don’t seem to work out if you think about them too much. But you won’t have time to think about those things when you’re watching this movie. You’ll be too caught up in the action.
If you love a good testosterone-rich action film, with guns and death and explosions, you’ll love Hostage. In fact, it’s even a pretty good action film for those who typically shy away from action films (though be warned: there are guns and death and explosions). It may not be a thinking-man’s movie—and it may not be totally unique—but it’s an intense ride that will grab your attention and hold on until the final credits roll.
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