iHostage (2025)
Directed by: Bobby Boermans
Premise: Based on true events. A gunman enters an Amsterdam Apple Store and takes a hostage. Police mobilize while a group of civilians hide in the store’s supply closet.
What Works: iHostage is a procedural drama and as that it succeeds. The movie has a lot of characters. It centers on the hostage and the gunman (Admir Sehovic and Soufiane Moussouli) holed up in an Apple Store, but the story also prominently features a hostage negotiator (Loes Haverkort), a police commander (Marcel Hensema), first responders, and a group of civilians hiding on the store premises. These various characters are weaved together effectively. We get a sense of how the actions of one group impacts the others and the filmmakers balance their screentime. The crosscutting of the action compounds the drama and the filmmakers include a lot of personal details while focusing the narrative and keeping up the momentum. As a procedural, iHostage is a portrait of professionals doing their jobs. There is a lot of technical detail in the way the law enforcement characters cope with the situation which gives the picture credibility. However, the characters of iHostage possess a human fallibility that distinguishes this film from law enforcement television dramas like Law & Order and CSI which tend toward melodrama. The gunman is not portrayed as a monster but there is something desperate and unstable about him that makes the situation unpredictable and frightening. The law enforcement characters are tough but they aren’t presented with the bravado we sometimes get in Hollywood productions. The filmmaking style suits the movie. It’s shot in a realistic and gritty way, occasionally using handheld cinematography, and the look of the film supports the storytelling.
What Doesn’t: iHostage tells a compelling drama but as a terrorism story it doesn’t do much else. Superior films about terrorism, especially stories based on true events, generally comment on the motives of the terrorists or the way this violence exists in some larger social context. There are hints of that in iHostage. The fact that the story takes place in an Apple Store hints at globalization and technology. The negotiator speculates that the gunman is mentally ill and this outburst may reflect a failure of the state. The movie doesn’t go any further than that. The lack of meaning is evident in the ending which feels hollow. After the climax, the film follows its various characters home but there’s not much sense that anything has been won, lost, or affirmed.
Disc extras: Available on Netflix.
Bottom Line: iHostage is a compelling procedural drama. It’s a little light on substance but this is a tense drama with a humanistic touch.
Episode: #1045 (April 27, 2025)