Starring Bruce Willis, Ben Foster, Kevin Pollak, Serena Scott Thomas, Jonathan Tucker, Jimmy Bennett, Michelle Horn, Johnny Messner
Written By: Florent Emilio Siri
Directed By:
Studio: Miramax/ Disney
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Bruce Willis stars as Jeff Talley, a failed hostage negotiator turned small town Police Chief in this action-thriller. One day, Talley is dragged into a new hostage situation in his town, due to three kids who end up trying to rob and kidnap the wrong guy. Talley now must use his skills to try and save the life of everyone involved including himself and his family.

Jeff Talley was one of the premier Hostage negotiators for the LAPD, until one day, a hostage situation goes horribly wrong. Feeling entirely responsible for what happened, Jeff moves up to a small upscale neighborhood in Bristo Camino to become the town’s Chief of Police. What turns out to be a generally quiet job turns into a nightmare day when three kids decide to rob a convenience store, then journey up to one of the very large house to steal a car. Two brothers, Dennis and Kelly, with one kid Mars being quite mysterious decide they have nothing better to do than follow a family home and try and rob them. Kevin Pollak co-stars as Walter Smith, who is one that is held hostage along with his son and daughter. As it turns out, not only was Walter Smith a successful business man but is a numbers runner for West Coast kingpin Sonny Benza. The problem is that evidence inside Smith’s house can incriminate Sonny Benza’s whole west coast operation and put him away. When Sonny learns of Smith’s kidnapping, he takes matters into his own hands and gets Chief Talley involved, by kidnapping Talley’s family and forcing him to do his bidding. Talley must get the situation resolved by ending the dispute but with three psycho kids who are stupid they refuse to turn over Smith and his family. Talley must then to try and break into the house to get the evidence, while still in control of command with the FBI involved. While all the events outside of the house are occurring you have Mars(Foster) inside who is certifiable and quite a creepy kid. Ben Foster’s role as Mars makes this film intense and almost scary rather than an action type of film. The film should be classified more a suspense thriller than action, despite some very violent scenes.

Extras include several worth checking out, like the deleted and extended scenes with optional commentary, and Taking Hostage Behind The Scenes documentary. Not to mention you can check out the audio commentary by Director Florent Emilio Siri. I always felt that insightful but detracts from the film. I suppose if you have seen a film several times, audio commentaries aren’t so bad.

Despite a lackluster box office, Hostage was a strong film with great suspense thriller moments, that leave you on the edge of your seat, biting your nails. Yeah I know, gross habit. Willis proves he still can do those type of films, and the other performance that stands out is Ben Foster, the creepy serial killer teenager who you just wished a horrible death. Hostage could have been better or gone in a different direction than the thriller area, but still proved to be a good film to watch.

Features:
-Deleted scenes with audio commentary
-Extended scenes with audio commentary
-Taking Hostage behind the scenes
-Commentary by Director

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC
FRENCH: Dolby Digital Stereo

Video:
Widescreen 2.35:1 Color (Anamorphic)

Subtitles:
Spanish

Favorite Scenes: Ending at restaurant, House on Fire, Hostage situation in LA
Rating: R
Running Time: 113 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: