HOSTAGE / Florent Emilio Siri (2005)

February 28th, 2005 by Scott Marks

Bruce Willis in HOSTAGE

Hostage (2005)

Directed by: Florent Emilio Siri

Written by: Robert Crais, Doug Richardson

Cast: Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollak, Jimmy Bennett, Michelle Horn, Ben Foster, Jonathan Tucker, Marshall Allman, Serena Scott Thomas, Rumer Willis, Kim Coates, Robert Knepper, Tina Lifford, Ransford Doherty, Marjean Holden, Michael D. Roberts

Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1

Genres: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Rating:

If only this film lived up to the standard set by its noirish opening credits. The duo-tone design, with cast and crew names embossed on buildings, resembled the opening of Panic Room.

The filmmakers didn’t stop there. Hostage is another film about three thugs terrorizing a family in an abode with duct space airy enough to sublet.

What could Bruce Willis possibly have seen in this cornball rehash to make it his comeback after a two-year absence? Acting as co-producer, did he really believe this formulaic mall fodder would mark a return to his action-hero heyday?

This time around, Willis plays a ten year SWAT veteran forced to take a less stressful position after a bad judgment call proves fatal. One year, and an above-the-neck shave later finds him anchoring a patrol car as the chief of police in a small California town.

Two clever touches: before the story kicks in, three thugs first encounter Willis at a stop sign. Without checking his rearview, the driver chucks a defective CD out the window. Directly behind them Officer Willis decides to ignore the litterbug and hang a left. It was a rare moment of subtlety not to be repeated.

Next, a CD containing mob info is hidden in the DVD case of the Ernst Lubitsch version of Heaven Can Wait. (Ironically, it’s has yet to be released on DVD.) Later on, the audience smiles as a character searching for the disc removes a copy of the Warren Beatty/Buck Henry remake from the shelf.

Pretty much everything else in the film is old hat. Willis’ wife and child are held hostage, psycho turns against psycho, while clichés and special effects form a narrative logjam. The imitation Bernard Herrmann score soon resembles imitation John Addison. Kevin Pollack lucked out by getting to play dead for two-thirds of the film. Unless it has zero competition opening weekend, this one is going to die hard at the box office.