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| Bruce Willis looks tough with a gun in the dark during a heavy downpour on this poster for Florent-Emilio Siri's Hostage |
A rich family is taken hostage in an high security LA mansion, but LAPD hostage negotiator Jeff Talley finds himself in a horrific dilemma when his own family also gets taken hostage.
Hostage is written by Doug Richardson (Die Hard 2 (1990)), adapting the same-titled 2001 novel by Robert Crais (The Watchman (2007)), and directed by Florent-Emilio Siri (A Minute of Silence/Un Minute de Silence (1998)).
Very well conceptualized and entertaining actioner plays well with an impressive pace and cool photography (by Giovanni Fiore Coltellacci (Figurine (1997))). Also a score by Alexandre Desplat (Carnage (2011)) and a game cast help: Bruce Willis (The Jackal (1997)) and Jonathan Tucker (Westworld (2018-20)) and Ben Foster (Here (2011)) as young criminals from hell do well. - Foster especially goes the distance as a disgusting thug and is quite scary.
Siri has seen his Quentin Tarantino and David Fincher's Panic Room (2002) (and much more) as inspiration for this to be sure, and he keeps us engaged for most of Hostage, before the yelling gets tiring, and we look in vain for something concretely meaningful in the film's second hostage drama. The ending is also a bit confusing.
Watch a 3-minute clip from the film here
Cost: 50-75 mil. $ (different accounts)
Box office: 77.6 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.19 times the cost)
[Hostage was released 9 March (Philippines) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took place from January 2004 - ? in California, including Los Angeles. The film opened #4, behind fellow new release Robots and holdover hits The Pacifier and Be Cool, to a 9.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 34.6 mil. $ (44.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 7.7 mil. $ (9.9 %) and France with 5 mil. $ (6.4 %). The big flop status and return listed above is based on a 65 mil. $ cost, which seems likely (and is the one listed by Bombreport.com). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Siri returned with Intimate Enemies/L'ennemi Intime (2007). Willis returned in Sin City (2005). Hostage is rotten at 35 % with a 5.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Hostage?
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