I'm going to come right out and admit it; I'm a fan of Julie Benz. Yes, I discovered her, as many of us did, as the battered girlfriend on Dexter. But, I also loved her in Rambo and nearly everything else she's done I've enjoyed. So, when Held Hostage, starring Julie Benz popped to the top of my inbox, I was excited to say the least.

In Held Hostage, Julie plays Michelle Estey, a bank manager who's overcome a very tough childhood to make something better of her life for her and her daughter. One evening, Michelle's life is turned upside down, when her house is broken in to and she's held hostage by a group of men who want her to rob her own bank! They hold her daughter hostage, strap a microphone and a bomb to her and send her in to get the money out of the vault. Of course, Michelle complies and soon it's all over...except that it's not. You see, when police are phoned, they begin to wonder if Michelle was involved in the crime and, after being mentally tortured for 18 hours, Michelle and her daughter are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome! A bad combination, if there ever was one.

Held Hostage begins as a thriller and then devolves into a 'Lifetime' movie, there are even breaks in the movie where commercial breaks are clearly meant to be inserted. Now, is that bad? No, not really, but from the cover of the DVD, it's clear that we're supposed to believe that this is just more torture-porn, and its way more than that! Held Hostage is not just about a crime, it's about the aftermath that we never get to see in those easy one hour TV crime dramas, and it's very good. I'm giving Held Hostage 4 out of 4 cigars, it's a crime drama from the perspective of the victim, something that we probably all need to see a little more of. You can get a copy of this cool movie for yourself by heading over to http://www.image-entertainment.com.