Pânico na Torre

A master criminal takes over the Eiffel Tower, holding the mother of the President of the United States hostage. The criminal demands a $30 million ransom or the tower will be blasted into oblivion Smith threatens to blow the tower and First Mum up if they don't pay 30 million. Smith doesn't realise that Sabrina Carver (maud Adams) and CW Whitlock (Williams) are undercover agents for a peacekeeping organisation called UNACO led by Malcolm Philpott (Douglas Fairbanks Junior) who have been tracking the villain for years and they begin to sabotage the heist.

A more lighthearted UNACO thriller ( based on Alistair Maclean's story idea) when compared with the ones starring Pierce Brosnan, which were more serious and intense and action-packed. Hostage Tower doesn't have much bullets flying, but it's more of a caper, and is too leisurely in pace and casual in attitude. It's not a great adaptation of a solid book, but it isn't entirely bad. It features some exciting climbing down the tower sequences and good villainy by Keith Dullea. Billy Dee Williams as CW Whitlock is good, so is Maud Adams as Sabrina Carver, however Peter Fonda looks a bit ill at ease and looks like he doesn't know why he's there. Douglas Fairbanks jnr adds a dash of style as the UNACO leader.

Mr. Smith is the world's most sorted out criminal, cunning and extravagant as he has eluded justice by hiding his true identity. Now he wants to pull off a big job, as he recruit's a team of fellow criminals that each has a speciality important to the job. Before knowing what it is, they must complete a training course where they discover it involves hijacking the Eiffel Tower for a $30 million ransom.

What a cast! Such an atypical plot! Groovy soundtrack! But alas those good intentions equal something that's mostly a lacklustre caper film with numerous fluff. Plenty of time is spent toiling and waiting around for things to happen, as the calculated situation is set-up, but never does it fully capture the danger and suspense until the last few minutes. It can be off-putting with its talky script and when things do occur the action is light-weight. Sometimes its comic nature feels oddly placed. Then again this was a made for TV enterprise. Gladly it's the performances that add colour. So did the infallible lasers. Watch it go to work on a soccer ball! Peter Fonda, Maud Adams, Keir Dullea, Billy Dee Williams, Britt Ekland, Celia Johnson, Jack Lenoir, Rachel Roberts and Douglas Fairbanks Jr all have their moments. Fonda and Adams worked off each other nicely… so did Dullea and Ekland. Interesting combinations. Although Dullea suave manner was sometimes laughable. Holding a city to ransom might just sound textbook, but the choice of location is inspired. However I wished they did a little more with the idea, then with the approach they took. Still it does get better as it goes along, even if it plays out in very contrived circumstances.

Just forget John McLane and replace the Nakatomi Plaza by the Eiffel Tower and you'll have some kind of a John McTiernan's masterpiece, but of course at a lesser scale. It is rather light minded story from an Alistair Mc Lean's novel, also in the line of Walter Wager or Colin Forbes, masters of adventure, crime and spy thrillers from the sixties and seventies, involving masterminded plots of huge hostage plots, stories that took place during a decade of the international terrorism. A period when you fond many books, novels speaking of those topics; only few of them were brought to the big screen, unfortunately. In this one, the "criminals" are the main characters and the audience can't prevent to feel empathy for them, to wish them to get away with it, unlike DIE HARD for instance, where the hero, white knight was the true lead. Good feature indeed for such a second rate big budget film. maybe a greater director would have been useful though. Plus, Keir Dullea - Smith - in the mastermind evil leader looks like Bill Sadler in DIE HARD 2 - Colonel Stuart - one of the most terrific and horrible bad guy ever shown on screen. He has nearly the same face, same look, same eyes. Frightening cold iced eyes.

I don't know why I should have expected any different - this is a TV movie, after all - but my goodness, does it carry some weird flavors. I was expecting a sincere crime thriller and what I got instead was a peculiar lighthearted playfulness, centering the antagonist, recalling a modern heist film (e.g. 2003's 'The Italian job,' or the reimagined 'Ocean's 11' and its sequels). Keir Dullea in particular comports himself with a strange exuberance that's set apart even from his co-stars, as though he thinks he's in a different movie altogether, while Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. And Rachel Roberts bear a joviality more appropriate for a TV series like 'Get smart' or Adam West's 'Batman'; watching Billy Dee Williams attempt a fake French accent is just rather flummoxing. I appreciate John Scott's original music, with some themes being especially fetching, but his compositions are really kind of all over the place, sometimes keeping a tone that feels appropriate but often not. As 'The hostage tower' climbs toward the 45-minute mark it begins to adopt airs more akin to what I had been anticipating, but still the oddities remain in many ways. This is enjoyable, but almost as much as a curiosity as on its own merits.

The characters, dialogue, scene writing, and even to some extent the production design and art direction carry the preponderance of the more colorful ideas here, though in fairness, even with that in mind there's much that's done quite well, too. It's fun to know that the project was able to film in Paris and on the Eiffel Tower itself, and beyond this, I really do appreciate the sets, props, weapons, and other contributions of those behind the scenes. Even at their most cheeky I do admire what the cast brought to the show, and they're clearly having a good time - and what a cast! Any stunts and effects are very well done (even the lasers), and though few, moments of action are executed well. And for that matter, silly genre flick that this is, it's nonetheless written well, telling a complete and reasonably compelling story while suitably weaving together the earnest thriller with the less serious-minded elements. Likewise, it's well made from a technical standpoint, with director Claudio Guzmán tying the varied parts together with a practiced hand.

Mind you, with all this said, there's not really anything special about 'The hostage tower.' Made for television or otherwise, there is no shortage of little flicks like this one, and unless you're a particular fan of someone involved, this feature is not at all likely to stand out in a crowd. Yet it's built purely for easy entertainment, and if one does happen to come across it, there are far worse ways to spend one's time. Bearing no especial faults - only, no especial advantages, either - it's a decent enough way to pass a lazy evening, and maybe that's all the more it needs to be.

In this partly written Alistair MacLean adaptation, Mr Smith (Keir Dullea) gathers a team together to capture the Eiffel Tower and kidnap the mother of the US President. Among the team are Mike Graham (Peter Fonda), Sabrina (Maud Adams) and CW (Billy Dee Williams). Unknown to Mr Smith, Adams and Williams characters are undercover for Philpott (Douglas Fairbanks Jr) who has been trying to capture Mr Smith for some time. Graham, who is a bit of a renegade helps Sabrina and CW rescue the President's mother and stop Mr Smith from blowing up the Eiffel Tower.

Whilst nothing exceptional it is nevertheless entertaining enough and perfect for a Sunday afternoon.