‘Free the hostages. Or everyone dies.’
Rogue Hostage is a 2021 American action-thriller film about a former Marine who has to fight back against a gang of terrorists.
Directed by Jon Keeyes (The Survivalist; The Harrowing; Element; Phobia; Doom Room) from a screenplay by Mickey Solis, the movie stars Tyrese Gibson (Fast and Furious franchise; Transformers franchise; Morbius), Christopher Backus (Among Friends), John Malkovich (The Survivalist; Ava; Velvet Buzzsaw; Bird Box; Shadow of the Vampire) and Michael Jai White (Black Friday; Take Back; Assault on VA-33; The Crooked Man).
Plot:
Single father and former Marine Kyle Snowden (Tyrese Gibson), on a routine stop for his job in Child Protective Services, Kyle finds himself and a group of innocent customers trapped inside his stepfather’s store…
Reviews:
“Average is the first word that comes to mind with Rogue Hostage. The shady CG gunfire is a huge disappointment for me. You can do better, DTV filmmakers. Tyrese holds his own, but it does take some time for the film to get going. Add in a subplot with a little kid and you know what direction your film is heading in.” Bulletproof Action
“Director Jon Keeyes doesn’t seem particularly interested in establishing the physical space or using it to generate suspense, and the cheap-looking CG visual effects and choppy shaky-cam certainly don’t help matters. Impressively, the performers — not just the two leads, but others, too — seem to be the only ones giving a little more than the bare minimum…” Common Sense Media
“Rogue Hostage is undeniably bad, but worse, it takes itself far too seriously. That’s a tonal toxin for something this blatantly cheap (An explosion, for example, is communicated by some cardboard boxes falling, although there are some digital flames later, to be fair) and unwittingly goofy.” Mark Reviews Movies
“Rogue Hostage seems almost determined to make itself as void of thrills and entertainment as possible. There’s capable performers on hand and the 30-odd names attached as either producers or executive producers is enough to lure you in with a false sense of contentment, but, almost defiantly, they’ve worked in unison to forge a clumsy, forgettable film that’s best left as a slain victim.” Midgard Times
“Trying to put into words how awful Rogue Hostage is proves to be a daunting task, but I think its deployment as a “Redbox Exclusive” tells you everything you need to know about this snooze fest […] The only rogue hostage being taken here is the poor soul who accidentally assumes this movie can be a fun Saturday night diversion.” The Only Critic
“The few action scenes we get aren’t worth sitting through Rogue Hostage’s tedious and talky first hour. Maybe if Keeyes and Solis had put as much effort into giving the film some unique twists as they did creating the web of connections between the characters the results would have been better. And filmmakers need to find those unique twists because the time has passed when you can toss out a generic, low-end Die Hard clone and expect audiences to care about it.” Voices from the Balcony
Release:
In the UK, 101 Films will release Rogue Hostage on DVD and Digital on 26 July 2021.
Cast and characters:
Tyrese Gibson … Kyle Snowden
Christopher Backus … Eagan Raize (as Chris Backus)
John Malkovich … Sam Nelson
Michael Jai White … Sparks
Brandi Bravo … Clove Martinez
Luna Lauren Velez … Sunshine
Holly Taylor … Mikki
Zani Jones Mbayise … Angel Snowden
Carlos S. Sanchez … Manny (as Carlos Sanchez)
Fedna Jacquet … Rainey
Aleksander Vayshelboym … Terry (as Aleksander Vashelboym)
Charlie Sara … Shane
John D. Hickman … Jeb (as John Hickman)
Susannah Hoffman … Sophie
Adrian Alvarado … Sligh
Trailer:
