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For those who may think that Bruce Willis lost his way, selecting projects that weren't quite as entertaining as his earlier efforts, take heart. Hostage is an emotionally satisfying action drama that affords Willis the opportunity to create a complex character, flawed and tormented, primed for a comeback. Borrowing from the plot device Tom Cruise used so effectively in such films as Top Gun and Days of Thunder, Willis plays a man devastated by failure, fearful of the future, and deserving of redemption.
Jeff Talley (Bruce Willis) was a cocky, self-assured negotiator attached to the Los Angeles SWAT Team. During a hostage situation in which an unstable man was holding innocents at gunpoint, Talley's failure of judgment resulted in several deaths. Wracked with guilt and unable to shake off his feelings that he was responsible for the bloodbath, he resigns from the force and takes refuge in the peaceful little California community of Bristo Camino, as far from violent crime as he can get. He accepts the position of Chief of Police, but his troubled mind has taken a toll. His marriage is failing and his teenage daughter is angry with him, both for his psychological descent and his moving her away from her L.A. friends.
But even in an isolated town far from urban crime, violence can erupt. Enter Dennis Kelly (Jonathan Tucker), his younger brother Kevin (Marshall Allman), and Dennis' friend, Mars Krupcheck (Ben Foster). Dennis is an unrepentant thief, a carjacker who'll not hesitate to commit violence on his victims. Kevin is an innocent, and since the parents seem to be absent, he's involuntarily drawn into his brother's crimes. Mars is on an entirely other plane of existence. A sadistic sociopath, he delights in inflicting pain and death. And when the two miscreants spot Walter Smith (Kevin Pollak) driving his teenage daughter, Jennifer (Michelle Horn), and her younger brother, Tommy (Jimmy Bennett), in a gleaming Cadillac Escalade, they have their next victim.
They trail well behind the Smith's as they drive back to their palatial and highly secure home, built against a vast stone monolith, high atop a mountain. But before they can invade the grounds, we learn that there is more to Walter than his domesticity would suggest. He's connected to the shadowy and powerful in ways not yet apparent. Dennis and Mars penetrate the home (so much for the state-of-the-art security) but don't gain control before one of the Smiths triggers a silent alarm. And before you can say Patty Hearst, the Smiths are taken hostage, Bristo Camino's bravest are on the way, and the home's security system is used to lock the building down. Jeff Talley's worst nightmare has invaded his sleepy little town, a hostage situation.
He has a fallback position, yielding the site to the Ventura County SWAT team, but soon after making that decision, he's forced to reconsider. There is a Macguffin, a DVD on which Walter has written some encrypted files, and the shadow organization wants it. They want it so badly that collateral damage and deaths are of no consequence to them. As was made clear in the film's theatrical trailer, Talley's wife and daughter are kidnapped and they, too, become hostages. If Talley doesn't retake control of the Smith house and prevent anyone from entering or leaving until the shadow organization can mount an operation to recover the disc, his wife and daughter will be killed.
The complexities of the various opposing forces within the context of Talley's guilt and fears for his family make for compelling action melodrama. What could have been a rather conventional good versus evil crime drama, takes on an intricacy that drives the story forward, both emotionally and physically. The filmmakers do fall back on some action cliches that involve secret passages and precociousness, but for the most part, the plot is well structured, taught, and compelling.
Willis is quite good here, projecting the emotional conflicts that drive him and haunt him. He's desperate to save his family, but his guilt over his previous failure in L.A. compel him to save the children trapped in the mansion. Director Florent Siri maintains a pace and tone that will keep the viewer totally involved and invested in the fates of the protagonists. The intense climaxes - yes, there are two - are dynamic, satisfying, and reasonably logical. And in the end, we may realize that we've been manipulated by visual tricks and plot devices, but the journey is sufficiently involving that you simply don't care.
The Video: How Does The Disc Look?
The film's theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is presented in anamorphic video. This is a better transfer than I've been made to expect fro Miramax. Halos are present, but for the most part, have been suppressed to the point of being unobtrusive. There is a slight softness, limiting the resolution visible in finely grained textures, but small object detail is quite good. There is considerable manipulation of the palette, but when flesh is shot in natural light, chroma tint seem spot on. I saw no chroma noise or smearing. Much of the film takes place at night and frequently, large swatches of the screen become featureless voids. I suspect this was an artistic choice to keep the audience on edge, not allowing them to ìseeî into the darkness to know what's there. I didn't notice any macroblocking or mosquito noise. Although this transfer isn't up to the high standards set my other compression houses, it is a step up from the typical Miramax product.
The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?
The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is excellent. Highly immersive, the surround channels are frequently active. Helicopters fly around the theater in nicely executed continuous pans. Directional cues both startle and support the onscreen actions. Definitely enable EX decoding to enhance the experience. Satisfyingly deep bass is present, felt as well as heard. Sound effects have a gratifying kick, particularly gunshots - highly visceral. The effective score by Alexandre Desplat raises and maintains the tension, striking just the right note of urgency. The score is conveyed across a braod soundstage with moderately pleasing fidelity. The dialog is distortion-free throughout.
The alternate language is in French. Optional subtitles are in Spanish and English, for which Closed Captions are also included.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
The disc opens with a collection of trailers: Sin City (1:51); the unrated cut of Scary Movie 3.5 (0:48); and Cursed (1:42). The presentation is in non-anamorphic video. They may be skipped and saved for later; they are available in the Sneak Peeks feature along with Dracula III Legacy (0:58); Hellraiser Hellworld (0:56); and, The Prophesy series (1:24).
The featurette is called Taking Hostage Behind the Scenes (12:39). This full screen promo could have been pure self-congratulatory EPK but for two redeeming qualities. We're given a a few brief hints concerning the nature of the house that became an essential character in the film. And we hear from ex-SWAT member and negotiator Peter Weireter, who acted as technical advisor for the film. I found his comments concerning the nature of his work and the guidance he provided somewhat interesting.
There are six Deleted Scenes that, when played using the ìPlay Allî option, have a total runtime of 4:48. Most are extended scenes; a few will be new to you. One, Meet Flores, creates a considerably different image for Bruce Willis's Jeff Talley. These scenes may be played with and without director's commentary and it's here that we learn what you might have deduced from watching those scenes: cut for pace and to avoid telegraphing plot points more effectively made later.
Oddly, despite what appears to be extensions of existing scenes in the previous section, here we have Extended Scenes as a separate feature. There are two. In the first (1:15), Talley's despair is greatly enhanced. In the second (0:46), is a terrific example of how the excising of a few seconds within a sequence can change its emotional tone. Any more details would reveal more than you should know before seeing the film.
Director Florent Siri may be heard in a feature-length commentary. Although he does reveal some details of how he shot the film, his approach is overwhelmingly to describe the nature of the plot and the motivations of the characters. I think I'm beginning to understand why so many directors fall into the trap of stating the obvious during their commentaries. Since movies are overwhelmingly not shot in sequence, directors must be able to convey scenes and character motivations to his players as he shoots. That knowledge or analysis is probably so well ingrained that falling into such descriptions almost come automatically. Unfortunately, once the film is edited together and we've watched in the intended order, such amplification is rarely needed.
The 113-minute film is organized into eighteen chapters.
Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?
There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.
Final Thoughts
Hostage is a tense, entertaining action drama that features a subdued and believable Willis, having left his smart-ass smirks behind. The DVD sports a pretty good transfer with a great audio track. The supplements are not bad, either. This is fine escapist entertainment. Recommended.
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