- Starring
- Suranne Jones, Ashley Thomas, Martin McCann
- Creator
- Matt Charman
- Rating
- TV-MA
- Genre
- Drama, Thriller
- Release date
- Aug 21, 2025
- Where to watch
- Netflix
Overall Score
Rating Overview
Rating Summary
In the Netflix series Hostage, a high-stakes crisis unfolds when a group of armed assailants seizes a prominent public figure and demands steep concessions, thrusting a seasoned negotiator into a tense battle of wits. As the clock ticks, the negotiator must navigate complex motives and hidden agendas to defuse the situation and save lives, all while facing mounting pressure from authorities and the media.
Hostage REVIEW
When you ask yourself if our subscriptions are Worth it, remember that I sat through four hours of this so that you wouldn't have to.
Hostage is a sloppy and sputtering thriller that suffers from Star Wars Prequel Syndrome, prattling on endlessly with limp and predictable dialogue and unoriginal soap opera drama all delivered by unbelievable women in roles meant for men. Other than that, it's great.
A gimmick is rarely sufficient in and of itself to carry a narrative, and the modern gender swap is particularly weak tea to carry a four-hour story. Yet, that's exactly what Hostage attempts to do. It gives us the same old, a world leader's spouse kidnapped for ransom/political vengeance by a military person/group who was wronged by financial cutbacks and a diminished sense of importance, drama that we've seen a million times. Only this time, women are the political leaders and men play the damsels in distress and tawdry love interests.
It's all so lazy and tedious, and none of it is helped by its uneven pacing, MIDI-generic music, watercrest dialogue, and vomit-inducing handi-cam cinematography.
Whatever Netflix paid for Hostage was too much.
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James Carrick
James Carrick is a passionate film enthusiast with a degree in theater and philosophy. James approaches dramatic criticism from a philosophic foundation grounded in aesthetics and ethics, offering insight and analysis that reveals layers of cinematic narrative with a touch of irreverence and a dash of snark.
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