American Hostage (2015) User Reviews

One of the worst

[stamron · 3/10 · 24 August 2016]

One of the worst movies I ever saw, if not the worst. It seems that some people are taken of the streets and asked to 'act' in this movie. if you look up the actors in IMDb it is obvious that these are not real actors, there's just a small and incomplete summary.

With a good story the movie would still have been OK, despite the acting. Unfortunately the story doesn't make it any better. This really is a pity because there could have been a good story and message in this movie for everyone.

The music matches the lack of acting and the lack of a good story, it is very disturbing from start to end.

I could not watch it until the end.

Orders are orders

[nogodnomasters · 3/10 · 18 October 2017]

A group of Muslim immigrants, now US citizens, take two American soldiers hostage in Tampa. Asad (Atiq Rahman) is the head of this small family group which suffered loss in Baghdad from US bombings as well as having a relative held in Guantanamo. They demand the release of all prisoners at Guantanamo in exchange for the two lives. They take orders from an Iman in the US. The plot includes bonding with the prisoners and internal conflicts within the group.

I am not exactly sure if the point was to scare Americans or give terrorists ideas. The acting was fair, but the whole drama and dialogue was boring... we are not that much different, blah, blah, blah....individual soldiers don't hate Islam etc. It didn't introduce anything new to the conversation above a seventh grade class room discussion. I am sure a lot of people will find it "thought provoking" and "fascinating." Guide: F-word. No sex. Davina Reid flashes calves and hair.

Poor low budget movie

[jason_cresswell · 3/10 · 1 April 2017]

I watched this film hoping with the ratings 7.1/10 it would worth while. I agree with Stamron & Sina's comments, what a waste of my time. Unless you have an 1h 40min of time you wish to waste, I would avoid this movie like the plague. It's obviously a low budget movie as the acting is pretty poor, not convincing at all. Thumbs down to this

Are you sure you are not drunk??!

[graysina69 · 2/10 · 17 September 2016]

really??! 7.5 out of 10??! are you sure you are not drunk??! Based on IMDb ratings i chose this movie to watch, but again it is approved to me not all ratings can fetch you the dream. a real catastrophe; no matter the cast or the scenario or acting. this movie should be shown to students as a sample of "how not to make a movie!". the angles of shooting, the way actors or actresses looking at each other and specially the funny stress controlling actions. Anyway i thought maybe the voters were drunk while rating! so i tried to get drunk and watch the movie! but you know what?! i couldn't get further than 10 minutes. To people who still have not watched this; DON'T!

IMDb should have a category like "B-Grade movie" ...

[CAve777 · 1/10 · 24 August 2016]

... under the title.

When you see this, you can go "Ah, now I know what to expect", so you don't get caught when a few hundred others have watched a movie with blinkers on.

Or, maybe they should link in with Box Office Mojo & show the budget of the movie, directly under the name ... another "Ah, N/A means it's so low (read=bad) that they too ashamed to put a budget on". Yes, I actually searched for it there and it wasn't found. And yes, I know that not every movie is on that site.

Overall, don't waste your time. I'm guessing every person involved in this movie voted and hence (at time of writing this) the 384 voters were slightly biased, or high on something.

Watch at your own peril ...

Thought provoking and exploring the gray of who's right and who's wrong

[mc-68304 · 6/10 · 28 August 2016]

The plot is a group of Muslim immigrants take two American soldiers hostage in Florida demanding the release of all prisoners at Guantanamo in exchange for the two lives.

Let me first of say that you can't compare this to an indie film made for a couple of million bucks. It's a pretty good movie considering its budget of $100000 according to IMDb.

The acting was very good, especially Atiq Rahman who plays the main terrorist character of Asad. Charles Garcia playing the main hostage did a great job. I was most impressed by the acting of Thibault White who portrays his psychological breakdown beautifully. The plot includes bonding with the prisoners, conflicts within the terrorist group, cultural differences and a love story between Asad and Fahdah played by Davina Reid. The love story was not explored to its fullest potential.

The whole drama and dialogue was fascinating and thought provoking. Especially the conversations between the hostage Donald Young played by Charles Garcia and the terrorist Shahin played by Shrey Neil. Although we've seen stories like this before it's never quite done like this. This movie tackles the fact that there's always 2 sides to a story. It's explores that gray area of who's good and who's bad that we rarely see in movies. Most movies have a clear cut good guy and a clear cut bad guy. This is a movie tackles a serious subject beautifully with a couple of big surprises at the end.

I was never bored. If you like movies that explore differences in culture and that show a different perspective that this one is for you.

Final verdict. This movie is worth watching and considering its budget I give it 6 stars.

Great acting and excellent showcase of a disruptive message

[arvind-madhuban · 10/10 · 11 August 2016]

Great Movie from start to finish. It delivers a true message and is definitely a must-watch movie.The story behind this movie takes the audience on a great journey. I really recommend to see this movie and I am looking forward to the director's future work. The actors showed great acting and keeps the audience engaged. The story is great and shows topics within our society and is more relevant than ever. It shows a disruptive message and shows a different perspective on of the most important world problems. The characters in this movie are great displayed and helps the audience to understand how our problems are relevant for all of us.

contemporary indie movie about terrorism

[mc-17235 · 6/10 · 18 October 2016]

This is a contemporary movie about terrorism where two soldiers are taken hostage. The film has 3 main story lines, basically concentrating on how the terrorist got to this point. There is one scene that will make you cringe in your seat. As far as the script goes, the dialogue was really good and interesting. Especially between the character of Donald Young and Shahin, one of the terrorists. I disagree with some of the other reviewer. Yes these are unknown actors but they did a good job, especially Atiq Rahman and Charles Garcia. Also the movie didn't look cheap at all. I mean you can tell that this is low budget indie film. But it's well done. It definitely kept my attention. Also the ending was a pretty big surprise. I would say it's worth watching.

Underated indie film

[johnnyjaystar · 7/10 · 7 April 2020]

This movie is actually very underrated considering what's going on in today's crazy world with all the false flags and hoaxes since 911. The movie is a bit slow but watch till the end just to find out that's the movie is about a plot by deep state actors using these Arab patsies for their own agenda. Trust the plan. WWG1WGA. Q!