A Pinoy Blog About Nothing

Hostage is a Bruce Willis movie. Not only because he stars in it and that he’s one of the producers but also, it’s a movie you’ve seen him in twice over. Think of it as Die Hard: The Pre Retirement Years.

That’s not exactly a fair and accurate assessment but any person who have seen any movies in the past 10 years would get the gist. It’s an action movie in the mold of the Die Hard series yet without the cartoony violence, over-the-top villains and the humor. This movie is devoid of any humor you’d expect from Willis. Willis in Hostage is Serious with a capital “S”. Hell, he had a few crying scenes and a few panicky scenes mixed in with the requisite lone hero with gun-blazing scenes. It does however feature a memorable psyhotic villain albeit he doesn’t come close to Alan Rickman. It’s Willis in his movie hero best and that’s not exactly bad.

I wouldn’t say it’s a bad movie though. It is a good looking movie and the acting is passable. It’s entertaining enough to recommend on DVD if you’re stuck inside the house on a rainy day or bored out of your wits figuring out which reality/talent show not to watch.

The story of a semi-retired hostage-negotiator (Willis) caught in a shadowy conspiracy has enough thrills to make it a compelling watch. But again, it doesn’t offer anything you haven’t seen before. They do have a lovely opening sequence which I haven’t seen since the opening credits of Catch Me If You Can.