![]() And even when, somewhat inevitably, he does what a man's gotta do, and the guns and all-action demeanour come out, the wisecracks stay firmly locked away, replaced by a palpable air of fear and desperation. Right from the intriguing opening sequence, which hints at the bleakness which envelops the movie, Willis' Talley is an interesting character - he-s a truly broken man, more passive and vulnerable than the typical Willis protagonist. Now, Hostage is hardly a spectacular end to this famine (that honour will likely fall to Robert Rodriguez's upcoming comic-book adaptation, Sin City), but this convoluted-yet-fun action thriller does just enough to show that Willis has still got the drop on most of the young pretenders muscling in on his action hero business. Five long years since Unbreakable - the last time we had anything remotely approaching a cracking Bruce Willis movie. Five years of crap like The Whole Nine Yards, The Whole Ten Yards and Tears Of The Sun. "The Hostage" can feel forced and weepy, but it does have its effective spells and the acting is above-average to make you kinda glad you stole away for the ride.Five years. Certain moments in the black and white script can lead to some sequences stalling the pace, especially when it's not focusing on the two thugs and the kid. An overwrought and sappy soundtrack is a bit off-putting, and the music score sounds too generic to sustain or create any sort of feeling and tension. Helping out on the smoky atmosphere, was Ted Mikels' stark photography of the locations of Des Moines, Iowa and a washed-out (I don't think it was on purpose) colour scheme. ![]() Doughten did a sturdily realized job, where his framework is taut and nicely demonstrates few moody and sinister images. Danny Martins is rather decent in the child role, even though at times he got on my nerves, he was a true nuisance and portrayed a frighten face well enough. Lovelace, who has plenty of caustic things to say about his situation. A cranky looking John Carradine pops up as the bumming vagrant Otis P. So you better not cross me" browbeater villain Bull. ![]() ![]() His nervous performance was solid, as the scrawny, slow-witted criminal Eddie, but it was Don Kelly's ominously hammy turn as the "Oh, I can get so angry after a few drinks. Really, this minimalist low-budget production is nothing out of the ordinary, but it was the name of character actor Harry Dean Stanton which drove my interest to watch it. What eventuates from "The Hostage" is dry suspense leisurely springing from a reasonably old-fashion and simplified plot (taken off Henery Farrell's novel) of well-conceived episodic sub-plot developments to gradually lead up to its suspenseful closing. Like the other user-commenter mentioned, this one does have a striking resemblance to Macauley Culkin's "Home Alone (1990)", but without comic humour. Meanwhile his parents have grown worried over his disappearance, and their interfering neighbour claim to see him with a vagrant, which leads everyone chasing the wrong lead. The removalists Bull and Eddie happen to be criminals, and they use the truck to transport a dead body and Davey witnesses the two burying the body. When Davey gets in the way of his parents when they're trying to pack up their belongings to move to another house, he enters the removal truck and unknowingly gets locked it.
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