Hostage (film)

CIA retired agent Brian Mills ( Liam Neeson ) is trying to get closer to his daughter Kim ( Maggie Grace ), whose mother, Lenore ( Famke Janssen ), is divorced. Currently, he, along with several partners, is engaged in the field of private security activities and, under short-term contracts, carries out activities to ensure the safety of large concerts with the participation of international stars and other one-time tasks of a similar nature. Kim, meanwhile, lives with his mother and wealthy step-father Stuart St. John ( Xander Berkeley ).

At the beginning of the film, Brian saves the life of the famous pop singer Shira ( Holly Valance ), who was trying to kill a crazy fan. Kim dreams of becoming a singer, which she only told her father (her mother believes that she had long forgotten about this), and Brian shares this story with Shira. She gives him the phone of her vocal teacher as a thank you for saving her. Brian decides to give it to Kim the very next day, but she unexpectedly asks her father to sign her permission for a tourist trip to Paris , where she will go with her friend Amanda ( Katie Cassidy ). Brian reluctantly agrees, setting a few conditions, but eventually finds out that in fact, Kim and Amanda are going to travel across Europe as a group for U2 . Lenore knew about this, but supported Kim's lie, because she considers Brian to be paranoid and selfish , for whom work in the CIA was more important than family.

However, the trip abruptly turns into a nightmare: Kim and Amanda are abducted from the apartment where they stayed, but Kim manages to call his father and tell the signs of the kidnapper. Brian passes the record to his friend and colleague in his past work, Sam, and he reports that Albanian girl traders are involved in the abduction of girls . Brian now has only four days (96 hours) before Kim finally disappears. Mills decides not to go to the police, but to save his daughter on his own.

Thanks to his professional connections and experience, he goes on the trail of criminals and finds Amanda, but she is already dead as a result of a violent overdose of drugs. Mills, through torture by electric shock, learns from the main merchant, Marco, that the bandits do not keep virgins (which was Kim, which saved her life): they are sold as concubines to wealthy buyers at an underground auction. As it turns out, the activities of these villains all this time were covered up by Brian's old colleague, special agent of the French intelligence service, Jean-Claude Pitrel ( Olivier Rabourden ). With the help of blackmail and threats, Brian finds out from him where the deal will take place, goes there and, at the cost of incredible efforts, finally saves his daughter.

At the end of the film, Brian brings Kim to visit Shira, and she arranges for Kim a test vocal lesson.

Filming, carried out by Luc Besson's Europacorp companies, was predominantly in Paris and partly in Los Angeles ^[8] . Notable spots in the film include Los Angeles Airport , the Staples Center , the Eiffel Tower , Charles de Gaulle Airport and the Paris Bridge of the Arts .

During the installation, Pierre Morel was forced to cut out some scenes in order for the film to be allowed on screens in the USA under the rating PG-13 , which the 20th Century Fox studio insisted ^{on [9]} . For example, in the edited version, Marco’s interrogation scene using nails and an electric wire was significantly cut down, as was the scene in the basement of Saint-Clair’s house. Later, “20th Century Fox” released the original DVD version under the heading “extended version”, which did not go to movie theaters ^[10] .

In the USA, the film was released on the weekend when one of the most popular sporting events in the country, the Super Bowl , takes place in the USA. Despite this, the film raised $ 9.4 million over the first weekend, setting a record for fees for films released during the Super Bowl Weekend ^[11] . In total, the box office of the film amounted to 225.4 million dollars (145 million in the US and Canada and 80.4 million in other countries) ^[1] .

The reviews were mixed: on the Rotten Tomatoes website , the film has a 58 percent rotten rating. Time journalist Richard Corliss said the film showed nothing, "except a dozen battered villains and one killed on the road." Dan Coy of The Washington Post described the film as “a satisfying thriller with a deadly professional as the main character,” comparing the action with films about Jason Bourne . Derek Ellie, a journalist for Variety, spoke of the film as a “killer action movie,” adding that “Besson and Morel wisely prevent the viewer from thinking for a second about unlikely coincidences in the script. From the moment Kim was abducted until Brian arrives in Paris with the next landfill at the airport, the action develops rapidly, as if it were a film about Bond pumped with steroids . Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described the hero Neeson as “a terminator invulnerable to bullets and blows, who uses martial arts to knock out an opponent faster than Mike Tyson in his best years, and simultaneously kill those he did not knock out” ^[13] .

Some critics claim that the film is racist in content, provokes Islamophobia and a negative attitude towards Albanians and Arabs ^{[14] [15] [16]} . The Daily Telegraph called the film “a racist stereotype of Arabs and Eastern Europeans” ^[17] .

The original name of the film is Taken. The most accurate translation is “Stolen”, but in Russian box office the film has the name “Hostage”. This does not correspond to the status of the abducted daughter of the protagonist. A hostage is a person abducted to obtain a ransom or to make any claim. In the film, the girl was kidnapped for the purpose of selling into sexual slavery.

In some countries (for example, in Germany and Turkey ), after localization, the film was called “96 hours” (the same name with the film later released by director Frederic Schönderfer, France, 2014).

• Ghinzu - The Dragster Wave (start of credits)
• Joy Denalane feat. Lupe Fiasco - Change
• The Hives - Tick ​​Tick Boom
• Pauline De Saxe - XTC
• Pauline De Saxe - Inside My Head
• Fredro Starr - California Girls

Since the film was a commercial success, its screenwriter admitted in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that work on the continuation of the action movie is already underway ^[18] . Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen , who played Mills' ex-wife and mother Kim in the film, will play the same roles ^[19] . The film was released on October 3, 2012. The film was directed by Olivier Megaton . The film takes place mainly in Istanbul .

In 2014, the third part was released , directed by Olivier Megaton. Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen reiterated their roles. The plot of the third part, unlike the first two, was not focused on the abduction. The third part received the most negative reception of all, but was also successful at the box office.

In 2015, the production of the prequel television series about the adventures of young Brian Mills during his service at the CIA was announced. His role will be played by actor Clive Standen , known for his roles in the TV series Robin Hood and the Vikings . In addition to Brian, his friends (Sam, Bernie and Casey) will participate in the series from the characters of the film, and Kim and Lenore may also appear. The premiere took place on February 27, 2017.

In 2009, the director Andrei Shcherbin, based on the plot of the motion picture, shot the two-part television film “The Retired” . Action with minor plot changes moved to Russia. The main character performed by Boris Galkin - veteran of the special forces of the Armed Forces Sergei Dedov - rescues his granddaughter, kidnapped during a trip to St. Petersburg . Later, the film appeared two sequels, but with completely original plots.

• In the Castle series, in one of the episodes of the fifth season, the daughter of the protagonist is also kidnapped and taken to Paris. He independently goes to rescue her, and one of his colleagues asks: “So is he Liam Neeson now?”
• In the Flash TV series 22 of the third season, Barry Allen goes back in time to persuade Leonard Snart to help him with one task, because Snart has a “special skill set”. Snart recognizes a quote from the Hostage and notes that this is a great movie.
• In the Deadpool movie, Wade says, "I had a terrible dream with Nisan, as if I had stolen his daughter, and he would be furious." This is a reference to the film.

• "Taken" (English) - the official English site of the film
• "Taken" at BoxOfficeMojo (Eng.) - Box Office Movie Grossing

Reviews

• Hostage (English) on allmovie  
• "Hostage" on the Rotten Tomatoes website  
• Roger Ebert . Review and criticism of the film (English) (January 28, 2009). Date of treatment November 25, 2010.  
• Review of the film "Hostage" , Yuri Lushchinsky (September 29, 2008)
• The film "Hostage" , Zelvensky S. ("Poster", September 4, 2008)
• Review of the film “Hostage,” Alexander Karavaev (October 28, 2008)