Best movie ever!

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Blistering performances.

I would have given it a 1 but I did finish the movie.Here's what's negative. Starts with BW really laid back negotiating like it's no big deal, and seconds later they're talking about how its tense and they've been up long... then you get to see a dead kid...Lots of bad writing paired with unconvincing acting. Bruce Willis is fine and so is Pollack. But no one else in the whole movie is genuine. Theres also several times the movie takes itself too seriously, specifically the madonna pose at the end...I was curious to see what would happen but very very predictable. The good: Bruce Willis is in it. The house it takes place in is really cool despite the construction making no sense....Anyway I would skip it if I could go back in time...

Overall: The movie is very well done and is definitely recommended.Good: It is a very, very tense movie with great performances all around. The villain is the house is insane, psychotic, creepy and just a plain weirdo but that fits so well. The actor who plays him did a phenomenal job.Bad: The people who kidnap his family's motivations seem pointless and worthless. The ending is awful and feels rushed. Numerous plot holes remain unfixed.Best Part: The scenes involving Mars after he finally snaps are creepy and very cool8/10

If you're looking for an all out action (dare I say 'Die Hard?') type movie then 'Hostage' is not going to tick all the boxes you want it to. It's not what you'd call 'classic Bruce Willis,' i.e. him running around shooting one bad guy after the next (excluding the last quarter of an hour or so). Instead, you get a more 'muted' performance from the balding action man. However, that's not to say that he doesn't bring an air of A-list to what is technically a B-movie.Our Bruce is a burned-out hostage negotiator who has taken a job as a simple sheriff, but his easy life takes a wrong turn when a gang of thugs breaks into a mob boss' accountant's house, taking the hapless pen-pusher's children hostage while the very same mob kidnaps his wife and daughter. Therefore he must use his head (and his negotiating skills) as opposed to his gun to save both families.Like I say, it's not all out action on the scale of Die Hard, but, if you're a fan of Brucie then this is definitely one for your collection. Lately, Mr Willis has made some right duffers of movies and popped up as little more than extended cameos in others. Hostage is definitely not one of those. It is a very definite Bruce Willis affair. If you're looking for an out and out thriller that offers enough thrills and spills to keep you amused for nearly two hours, then this is the one for you.Watchable, enjoyable, possibly forgettable, but fun.

There was an exceptionally good movie here. Bruce Willis turned in a pretty good performance as Jeff Talley. As the movie opens, Talley is an LAPD hostage negotiator, whose job goes wrong when a negotiation he's leading fails, and several people - including a young boy - die. Fast forward a year and Talley has given up as a hostage negotiator and settled in as chief of police in a small California town. Unexpectedly, though, a family is taken hostage after a home invasion by a gang of young thugs, and Talley has to deal with the situation. That could have made a very good movie in itself. It had more than enough suspense and excitement to sustain itself, and it even had a perfectly sinister villain in the off the wall Mars, played by Ben Foster. The movie would have been much stronger had it simply revolved around that story, with Talley dealing with the type of situation he thought he had left behind, and battling inner demons while doing so. But those who made this couldn't leave well enough alone.Adding the plot point about Talley's family being taken hostage by a gang of criminals wanting to get a DVD in the possession of the owner of the invaded home did nothing for me except confuse things. I have no objection to good plot twists, but this seemed an unnecessary add-on to what was a good movie, and it only served to create chaos in the story."Hostage" is exciting. There's no doubt at all about that. But it's also far too chaotic for my taste. (4/10)