This is particularly unexpected since the plot is so simple and straightforward that even a modest turn around the 1-hour mark fails to convey significant gravity. Somehow the film zips along, and before you know it two-thirds of the length has passed. And - I assume on account of a lack of means to film multiple takes, and/or Todd's inexperience as director - the acting is mostly characterized by either a flummoxing casualness, or delivery and comportment that's a little too hard-boiled and on the nose. "Good guys" and "bad guys" alike illustrate an astounding lack of intelligence or foresight at one time or another. Cynthia Rothrock is arguably the most high-profile name in the ensemble, and has a bigger supporting part, but goes to waste since she's given little to do in the first place, let alone any opportunity to employ the martial arts skills that made so many of her earlier movies so much fun. Sadly and famously struggling in the latter days of her life and career, it may or may not surprise to learn that former child actor Dana Plato joins the cast - yet only in a very small role. A passing instance of sexism is gratifyingly repudiated by another male character, only for that tinge of thoughtfulness to be countered by the emphatic and unnecessary use of homophobic and racist slurs. But it's wholly evident that for whatever money the production companies ponied up to make 'The hostage' happen, a lot of the cast and crew must have provided their own personal vehicles, folding tables, wardrobe, house decor, and perhaps even some of their own money - such as to rent a moving truck as a stand-in for a mobile law enforcement command center. Writer Zac Reeder, director Bryan Todd, and all others on hand made an effort, more or less. Scene writing tends to feel very blase and by the numbers, imparting only glimmers of the impact or meaningfulness that it should. Dialogue struggles to feel real or believable, and there's only so much personality to go around between all the characters in the feature. While bearing storytelling potential, wide swaths of the narrative could be recycled from daytime television as much as from major blockbusters, and no few ideas are heavily used tropes or outright contrivances. Some of the props, effects, and action sequences look reasonably decent, while others scream inauthenticity in light of the dire lack of resources, poor timing, and inconsistency of depiction. I do think 'The hostage' is enjoyable, but to say that it requires open-minded generosity is a fabulous understatement. The spaces that were used for filming, and in which scenes are set, and the design of computer graphics that we see in passing, all cement without question that the filmmakers were likely making the best they could of what they had to work with - and make us wonder how long we can possibly maintain suspension of disbelief. I wish to cast no aspersions on "key makeup artist" Horst Sarubin, but that contribution to the feature could perhaps best be described as "perfunctory" given the very plain visage and sartorial arrangement of those before the camera, one could be forgiven for thinking off the cuff that the cast was pulled right off the street. That belief is reinforced with somewhat brusque editing, and a certain stringent bareness in the production design, art direction, and orchestration of every scene that greets us. Tinny sound design, flat cinematography) and the happenstance of a frame rate that gives imagery the appearance of live television, the film immediately impresses as quite low-budget fare. Kral's score is, the dramatic chords that accompany the needlessly embellished opening credits, interspersed with the opening scene, come across as more than a little over the top.
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