Stuck in Iowa

The Plot
Here’s my short take on the movie… There’s a guy with a wife and teenage daughter. He’s an old hostage negotiator turned desk-bound police chief in a suburb and his family relationship is on the rocks. The suburbs are safe and not much crime happens. That is until three mischievous teenagers decide to follow a rich (and corrupt) accountant to their home way up in the hills. The kids take the family hostage but they didn’t know the accountant had to make an information drop for some rich evil guys. These bad guys see the chief on TV so they take HIS family hostage and forces the chef to either rescue the rich family or recover a disk for them. The movie was tense with some drama and the past catching up to the chief and there was some good action scenes and sup rises. A lot of the movie was predictable but I wasn’t expecting it to end the way it did.

Things I Learned From This Movie
- wealth always comes at a price
- going from an action packed negotiator to a police chef in a boring suburb will make you sad
- tell a little kid that he’s an action star in a video game and he’ll get a little too much into the role
- never do criminal activities with a strange guy you met two weeks ago
- everybody drives an SUV in the burbs, including the police
- having your wife and kid kidnapped and held at gun point will fix your ‘on the rocks’ problems and make you a tighter group
- when somebody says “wait in the car” it never happens
- Tuesday is usually low crime Tuesday
- during a hostage situation that lasts hours, nobody ever needs to drink or eat anything
- teenagers aren’t very good kidnappers

My Rating: 3 out of 5

Final Thoughts
It’s a renter for a Sunday afternoon.

Movie Details
Hostage (2005)
Cast: Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollak, Jonathan Tucker, Ben Foster, Jimmy Bennett, Michelle Horn, Marshall Allman, Serena Scott Thomas, Rumer Willis
Director: Florent Emilio Siri
MPAA Rating: R For strong graphic violence, language and some drug use

Links
http://www.miramax.com/hostage/