Customer Reviews

Desperate Hours

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

As other reviewers I picked this movie to watch due to the cast forgetting that particularly Hopkins really only made the big name for himself later in his career.... what a mistake. He plays decently though but were to my surprise overshadowed by Mickey Rourke's very realistic portrayal of a psycopath (in retrospect he does seem to feel right at home in such roles!).
The cinematography was nice showing beautiful scenery from Utah particularly in the beginning making us viewers wonder if this was a nature film we had ended up seeing... totally unclear what the director had in mind including this in a movie covering a hostage taking situation!
The smaller roles were however played poorly particularly the entire police force led by a woman who seemed as if she had been taken straight out of school play.. (You would think they could afford better with the rest of the cast in mind).
The worst part of the movie however was the completely unrealistic choices made throughout... other reviewers pointed several out already such as why the hostage taker lets one of his men go bringing along the body of a random victim, why he lets the daughter leave on a date (while not knowing the police was already onto him!) and last but not least why he choses to engage in hostage taking right after making a spectacularly unrealistic escape from prison!

Candidate for worst screenplay of the past century but compensated slightly by decent acting performances

Sir Anthony Hopkins plays a defense attorney trying to recapture a dissolving marriage. Escaping from court, a career killer, Micky Roarke, takes hostage Hopkins' wife, home, children, and increasingly tries for more. Excellent film on the depths of human spirit. Hope studios re-release!!!

Despite some of the glib, cute, reviews here, the cast is strong, the story is strong, the direction is strong. For the money, it's a purchase you won't regret.

The whole point of the film, as any film, is to entertain. This effort delivers what it promises...a taut, tense drama, that entertains.

No one liked this film because Hollywood NEVER forgives Michael Cimino, and they successfully "buried" him with this film, and the public bought it, as these reviews here show.

It's our loss, but at least we have this DVD.

I had high hoped for this one, but too many contrivances and plot holes made my hopes disintegrate right before my eyes. Rourke and Hopkins do their best to keep this one from completely failing and keep it somewhat entertaining if you don't think about it too much.
Look for it on cable as I can't see sitting through this one more than once.

Going up against an original starring Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March is daunting enough, but Cimino pulls it off in this riveting remake, eliciting outstanding performances from everyone involved (including Shawnee Smith and Danny Gerard as the terrorized children of Anthony Hopkins and Mimi Rodgers). I've never been a fan of Lindsey Crouse (Hollywood nepotism at its worst), but experiencing Cimino's achievement made even her lame attempt at a Mormon Clarice Starling tolerable.

Cimino's forte has always been action, and the film benefits greatly from the famous synergy between the director and Rourke (remember the great Year of The Dragon from the early 80's?). There isn't a wasted frame in this picture, and Cimino puts just the right touches on this updated effort (Kelly Lynch as the steely blonde fembot attorney who collapses into jello in the face of Rourke's malignant sensuality; Rodgers/Hopkins in typical 90's marriage-on-the-rocks; Smith as the sullen teen who disses EVERYone in authority, even the conscienceless killers holding her hostage). David Morse and Elias Koteas tread a fine line in their performances as well, resisting the temptation to descend into Abbott-and-Costello farce as the two accomplices of borderline intellect.

Although Cimino has had his share of failed experiments (who can forget Heaven's Gate?), he more than delivers the goods in this film.

`Desperate Hours' calls us to question why do we do the things we do? Or rather why do these characters do the things they do? Neither the villains or heroes actions seem to make any sense.

The plot: Mickey Rourke in the role he was born to play stars as a brilliant armed robber who escapes from prison with the help of his beautiful girlfriend and attorney Kelly Lynch.

Rourke reunites with his henchmen whom are not as smart as the Three Stooges. Together they head for the suburbs of Utah and hold the state's only nuclear family, Anthony Hopkins, Mimi Rogers and their two kids hostage in their mansion.

FBI agent Lindsey Crouse is hot on their trail with an army of cops to take Rourke down without harming the Hopkins family.

Why it works. As I said Rourke truly gives the performance of his career and a hansom devil psycho. Hopkins and Rogers also work especially Rogers as the house wife next door. We really hate Rourke and we really love the family.

The production quality is also very high. From costume design to photography to editing, to the score which is reminiscent of the 1940s noir thrillers on which the film was based. The production quality really is good enough to make the whole film worth while.

The big flaw the film makers have to overcome is WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? Why is the now freed Rourke only exposing himself of more heat be kidnapping the family. While his stated motive is because he is waiting to reunite with Kelly Lynch, a far better idea would be to hide out unseen. Secondly why is Lynch leading to police right to Rourke's front door? Shouldn't she be hiding too? And if Rourke is so psychotically evil why does he not physically harm the family?

That's the annoying thing. There are many lapses in logic. 1. Rourke escapes from a courthouse cell with Lynch's inner thigh pistol and disables the one single guard on duty.

2. Lynch in police custody plans to pretend to be an innocent. Wouldn't she already be guilty of bringing a gun into the court house?

3. Why is Rourke holding the family hostage if not to harm them?

4. The hostages themselves are equally incompetent. They have many chances to escape and do not. Rourke even allows the teenage daughter to go out on a date with her boyfriend. I think most people would change their plans and give up a date save their family by going to the police.

5. The police themselves are silly. They allow the apprehended Lynch to enter the house and warn Rourke of the hundreds of cops outside.

6. The police rather than using sniper rifles use submachine guns at one point spraying the entire house with bullets with reckless disregard for the family. Yet they hit only one of the criminals.

7. Another odd sequence of evens is when one of the gang is told to get rid of the corpse of the family's murdered Realtor. Was the basement full? Why draw more attention? The criminal draws attention to himself by driving erratically and takes to body out into the country. Instead of hiding he goes to the nearest gas station covered in blood asking for help. The first people he meets are Playmates. His lucky day but what are the odds? He then returns to the shallow grave where he is met by dozens of SWAT team members. How'd they get their so fast? And why are they just waiting around for him to show up?

Mimi Rogers is taken hostage as well as her husband (anthony hopkins) and son and daughter.

This is a riveting movie about how a family deals with the emotions running through them when they are being held hostage.

Definatley one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Definately a strong 4 out of 5.

I would agree with several other reviewers that this is a moving and captivating thriller! In the rare case that home invasions occur, they are absolutely frightening. Rourke is one of the best actors playing a slimy thug. He is very believable and Anthony Hopkins is as usual, brilliant. Michael Bosworth is a seasoned sociopath (Mickey Rourke), and Hopkins provides a great good vs. evil contrast in this one. Probably not for children under 16.

Don't understand why so many critics have given this movie only 1 star? It's not a pointless movie at all I think, the acting is brilliant, and it contains a beautiful, gripping scene where the "villain" played by David Morse is shot in some lake, very poetic done and in contrast the the rest of the set "locked" inside the house of the hostages. The picture-quality, even on DVD and for its' time, is really bad. Other than that it is an entertaining movie worth a peek...

`Desperate Hours' is a good example of how not to make a thriller. The movie is all over the map. It's a map only the writer and the director could conceiveably read. The audience rarely knows where it is at any point in the story.

A beautiful young attorney helps her lover / client to escape from jail. They try to make it look as though the woman was forced to help the guy. The police don't buy it, but decide to let her go, hoping she will lead them to the escapee.
Meanwhile, bad boy and his two buddies decide to take refuge in a house in an upscale neighborhood and to hold the family living there hostage. As if the poor family didn't have enough problems already! The husband and wife are in the middle of a hostile divorce, the house is for sale, and neither the couple nor their two kids wants to be in the house in the first place.

The bad guy is supposed to have a genius IQ, so why does he come up with such an idiotic plan? There's no real reason to terrorize the family, except that there'd be no movie if he didn't. But even in the confines of the house, there's no rational to his actions. [I can't say more without using plot spoilers.] The only characters who are dumber than this guy are the cops. Their plans and actions truly defy belief and only serve to add a lot of gratuitous violence.

Aside from the silly script, the movie also fails as a thriller because the camera leaves the house too often to cover events occurring elsewhere. This eliminates the claustrophobic atmosphere that works so well for many thrillers. It also removes the focus from the trapped couple, played by Anthony Hopkins and Mimi Rodgers. These two actors are the only worthwhile elements of this turgid, pointless movie.