Hostage
—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections
As Hostage opens, negotiator Jeff Talley lies on top of a building and speaks on the phone to a man in a house below. He tells the man that things can still be worked out, that no one needs to die. On the other side of the building, a man holds up a sign indicating that officers have a clear shot. Talley responds by holding up a sign saying no one needs to die today and continues to talk with those inside.
Soon, however, the captor begins to yell that it’s too late. He shouts a frantic prayer, thanking God for His grace and asking for His forgiveness. Talley runs towards the house, shouting through the man’s prayers, telling him that only God should decide who lives and who dies, pleading with him to wait so they can pray together. Then gunshots explode.
From here the movie skips forward one year. Talley goes from well-known LA hostage negotiator to small-town sheriff. But before he knows it, Talley faces the same sort of situation he tried to leave behind—a family held hostage. The plot thickens, more characters join the action, and the story takes off through its requisite score of gunshots, blood, explosions, chases, and fiery symbolism. As a whole, the movie is not much more than an average action flick. Through its variety of characters, however, the fairly predictable plot presents characters and viewers alike with a startling concept: being held hostage is not necessarily equivalent to being held at gunpoint, and control can come in many forms.
Inside the house, the Smith family is literally held hostage. With guns, knives, and fists, they are shown that they are no longer in control, and that they had better obey. Even as the men inside the house hold the guns and knives, however, they are just as deeply in bondage as their captors. From the beginning of the escapade, they are driven by the logic of “this happened, so we must…� Their desire for revenge takes hold of them first. Fear of consequences takes hold of them next. Pasts filled with mistakes, with crimes, and with one perfect recipe for a psychopath eliminate all hope and destroy any belief in redemption. And at the end of it all, the belief that there is no way out holds a gun to their heads and tells them that it must only get worse.
Even beyond the initial hostage situation, issues of control persist. Both Talley and the Smiths are threatened not only by the rough young men in the house; they are also held hostage by Mr. Smith’s business, his partners’ determination to get what they want, and their disregard for anything or anyone in the way.
From captives to captors, everyone involved in the hostage situation must face something that seeks to control them—a gun, a past, a mistake, a fear, an order, a resolution. Like everyone in the movie, we also must face the reality that at one time or another, there has been, is, or will be someone or something that will hold us hostage just as much as a criminal with a gun. Maybe it is our past, something we have done or something that has been done to us. Maybe it is our identity. Maybe it is what we see our life to be. Maybe it is not even inside ourselves, but outside, putting invisible binds around our hands and knives to our throat and telling us there is no other option but what is before us. In the face of such control, however, the question that lies before both the characters in the movie and us is—Will we choose to be controlled and give up or will we hope and strive to be set free and live?
As a hostage negotiator, Talley’s job is to remind everyone that this question has not already been answered. His role is to convince desperate captors that their only way out is not death and to ensure the freedom of every hostage. To Dennis Kelly, voice of the captors, Talley is “the man,� the one who has the power to get what they want, to get them out, and to set them free. To young Tommy Smith, Talley is the commander of his favorite video game, determined to save his world, and giving him the courage to be a hero and do what needs to be done to get free.
Just as both hostages and captors look to Talley for freedom, we also have someone who is ready and waiting to set us free. With a bond of love even stronger than Talley’s love for his family and a will to save more intense than any risk-taking action hero, Jesus desires our freedom so much that He sacrificed Himself so that we could break from from the consequences of our mistakes and whatever despair surrounds us. More than a hostage negotiator who might get us time in prison instead of a coffin, He offers us complete freedom from everything that holds us hostage. Even greater than the commander of a video game, He offers us not just hope but a life of meaning on earth and in heaven.
The choice is ours. It is not too late. God has offered us his grace. God continually offers us forgiveness. The question is: Will we even pick up the phone to listen to the voice on the other end? And if we do, will we choose to believe in the hope He offers and actually give Him a chance to set us free?
—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections
—Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections
As Hostage opens, negotiator Jeff Talley lies on top of a building and speaks on the phone to a man in a house below. He tells the man that things can still be worked out, that no one needs to die. On the other side of the building, a man holds up a sign indicating that officers have a clear shot. Talley responds by holding up a sign saying no one needs to die today and continues to talk with those inside.
Soon, however, the captor begins to yell that it’s too late. He shouts a frantic prayer, thanking God for His grace and asking for His forgiveness. Talley runs towards the house, shouting through the man’s prayers, telling him that only God should decide who lives and who dies, pleading with him to wait so they can pray together. Then gunshots explode.From here the movie skips forward one year. Talley goes from well-known LA hostage negotiator to small-town sheriff. But before he knows it, Talley faces the same sort of situation he tried to leave behind—a family held hostage. The plot thickens, more characters join the action, and the story takes off through its requisite score of gunshots, blood, explosions, chases, and fiery symbolism. As a whole, the movie is not much more than an average action flick. Through its variety of characters, however, the fairly predictable plot presents characters and viewers alike with a startling concept: being held hostage is not necessarily equivalent to being held at gunpoint, and control can come in many forms.
Inside the house, the Smith family is literally held hostage. With guns, knives, and fists, they are shown that they are no longer in control, and that they had better obey. Even as the men inside the house hold the guns and knives, however, they are just as deeply in bondage as their captors. From the beginning of the escapade, they are driven by the logic of “this happened, so we must…� Their desire for revenge takes hold of them first. Fear of consequences takes hold of them next. Pasts filled with mistakes, with crimes, and with one perfect recipe for a psychopath eliminate all hope and destroy any belief in redemption. And at the end of it all, the belief that there is no way out holds a gun to their heads and tells them that it must only get worse.
Even beyond the initial hostage situation, issues of control persist. Both Talley and the Smiths are threatened not only by the rough young men in the house; they are also held hostage by Mr. Smith’s business, his partners’ determination to get what they want, and their disregard for anything or anyone in the way.
From captives to captors, everyone involved in the hostage situation must face something that seeks to control them—a gun, a past, a mistake, a fear, an order, a resolution. Like everyone in the movie, we also must face the reality that at one time or another, there has been, is, or will be someone or something that will hold us hostage just as much as a criminal with a gun. Maybe it is our past, something we have done or something that has been done to us. Maybe it is our identity. Maybe it is what we see our life to be. Maybe it is not even inside ourselves, but outside, putting invisible binds around our hands and knives to our throat and telling us there is no other option but what is before us. In the face of such control, however, the question that lies before both the characters in the movie and us is—Will we choose to be controlled and give up or will we hope and strive to be set free and live?
As a hostage negotiator, Talley’s job is to remind everyone that this question has not already been answered. His role is to convince desperate captors that their only way out is not death and to ensure the freedom of every hostage. To Dennis Kelly, voice of the captors, Talley is “the man,� the one who has the power to get what they want, to get them out, and to set them free. To young Tommy Smith, Talley is the commander of his favorite video game, determined to save his world, and giving him the courage to be a hero and do what needs to be done to get free.
Just as both hostages and captors look to Talley for freedom, we also have someone who is ready and waiting to set us free. With a bond of love even stronger than Talley’s love for his family and a will to save more intense than any risk-taking action hero, Jesus desires our freedom so much that He sacrificed Himself so that we could break from from the consequences of our mistakes and whatever despair surrounds us. More than a hostage negotiator who might get us time in prison instead of a coffin, He offers us complete freedom from everything that holds us hostage. Even greater than the commander of a video game, He offers us not just hope but a life of meaning on earth and in heaven.
The choice is ours. It is not too late. God has offered us his grace. God continually offers us forgiveness. The question is: Will we even pick up the phone to listen to the voice on the other end? And if we do, will we choose to believe in the hope He offers and actually give Him a chance to set us free?
—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections
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