If you think that Bobby Boermans's new crime thriller is titled iHostage because it's about someone who gets into trouble due to an Apple device, think again. The movie is called iHostage because a man walks into an Apple Store in Leidseplein and takes someone hostage. I found this connection amusing, which is definitely not the response Boerman wants from the audience. Then again, you can't help but laugh at the fact that something like iHostage is a feature film when its "material" looks like a news headline. The story is based on a true incident that happened back in 2022 when a 27-year-old man named Abdel Rahman Akkad attacked an Apple Store in Amsterdam. This hostage-taker is dead, and no one knows why he launched that attack. A few of the hostages, on the other hand, were rewarded for showing bravery during the tense situation. In the film, Ilian (Admir Šehović) and Mingus (Emmanuel Ohene Boafo) look like those award-worthy hostages. Mingus is merely defined by his kindness and bravery (he, along with three other people, hides in a room that's situated across the elevator), while Ilian's life is given a semblance of emotional weight (he has come to Amsterdam to earn money so that he can fulfill the wishes of his wife). These traits, these backstories, are thin and fail to provide the characters with distinct personalities or presence. I don't know exactly how much of iHostage is fact and how much of it is fiction, but all of it is suspenseless and uninteresting.
Not all real-life stories deserve to be converted into a show or a film, which is something iHostage illustrates effectively. The entire motivation of this 1 hour and 40 minutes thriller is that it wants you to read about the real incident. And once you read the online articles, you realize that Boerman probably wants a pat on his back for his fidelity to the actual events. Hasn't writer Simon de Waal heard about "creative liberty?" Couldn't he have invented or embellished a few more things to keep you interested in the film? How about giving us characters worth rooting for in the movie? The people on the screen look as cold as those gadgets in the store. And it's impossible to derive conventional pleasures from a story where the hostages never seem to be in danger or agony. Ammar (Soufiane Moussouli) isn't aware of Mingus and the characters who hide with him, but it also feels as if he doesn't know anything about the hostages who find shelter upstairs in the building. As far as Ammar knows, Ilian is the only person in the store, and despite giving many warnings, he never does anything that makes us jump from our seats or allows us to consider Ilian's safety.
iHostage, as a film, feels so purposeless and boring that one begins to suspect that the movie was made to prove why, in the 2025 World Happiness Report, The Netherlands ranked 5th among the happiest countries globally. I mean, all the hostages survive, and the perpetrator dies. The police officers expertly tackle the situation, and one of them even leaves his family midway to handle the ongoing incident. Meaning: The law officers in Amsterdam are dedicated to their duties and take the safety of the citizens seriously. iHostage also bats for Team Apple. The company swiftly handles the issue related to the store's electricity, and an Apple Watch helps diagnose a character at one point. Sure, Ammar complains about being wronged by the system, but he is also mentally unfit. The real-life culprit, meanwhile, was found guilty of possessing illegal firearms, and there were harassment cases lodged against him. Meaning: Don't take his rants seriously. The problem is in the individual, not the system. iHostage is a travel advertisement in the body of a crime thriller.
Final Score- [2/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times