Hostage

A small-town police chief (Bruce Willis) faces a home invasion in which three punks are holding a family hostage; worse yet, someone has kidnapped his own wife and daughter and will kill them if he doesn’t get what they want out of the house. The film gives evidence that Robert Crais’ original novel was more psychologically complex, but Doug Richardson’s script sticks to skimming the surface and keeps getting tangled up in its own convoluted story, while director Florent Emilio Siri keeps the action surging along, even if it means letting a few plot threads dangle. Willis does his grimly determined best, ably supported by Kevin Pollak and Jimmy Bennett as two of the hostages, and Ben Foster and Jonathan Tucker as two of the punks. The most striking scene, though, is the opening credits designed by Laurent Brett.