Hostage (2005) Critic Reviews
Metascore®:
Based upon 15 Critic ReviewsHighest Rated
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Made with energetic flair and no small dose of violence, mercifully handled with discretion, Hostage exemplifies taut, confident filmmaking.Read the full review
The mechanics of the final showdown are unexpected and yet show an undeniable logic, and are sold by the acting skills of Willis and Pollak.Read the full review
My new theory is that Willis' own aesthetic soul is more old-world than he knows, and that he works best with directors who either are (Luc Besson) or might as well be (M. Night Shyamalan) European.Read the full review
Hostage has suspense and momentum.Read the full review
If Hostage looks a lot like a state-of-the-art French "policier" minus the pesky subtitles, the effect is purely intentional.Read the full review
Hostage is really about sleek Bruce - buff, bald and clean-shaven - as he goes to town on two sets of assailants.Read the full review
What sends this initially tense thriller over the precipice is a plot scheme that never knows when enough is enough.Read the full review
It's a B-flick all the way, but it has no pretensions to the contrary, and that's some kind of refreshing.Read the full review
By the time the film escalates into a suitably ridiculous Grand Guignol finale, all connection to reality has been severed.Read the full review
But by the time Willis's character saves this considerably long day, it's filmgoers who will no doubt feel like prisoners, as a movie that promises to be a taut nail-biter devolves into the kind of silly, overblown climax parodied so beautifully by Robert Altman in "The Player."Read the full review
