The Watchman (Hostage)

## The Watchman

### Quote

When this white phone rings, it'll be me with further instructions. If you deviate from the plan one little bit, I will kill your wife. And then I will kill your child. But when I have what I want, you get your family back.

"**The Watchman**" is one of two main antagonists (alongside Marshall Krupcheck) of the 2005 film *Hostage*.

In contrast to the more reckless and violent petty criminal Mars, the Watchman is a mysterious, cold and ruthless career criminal.

He was portrayed by Kim Coates, who also played Tig Trager in *Sons of Anarchy*, Zachariah Kull in the *Scream Team*, Bennett Sinclair in *Resident Evil: Afterlife*, Agent Carter in *Smallville*, and Hector in *Tangled: The Series*.

## Biography

Accountant Walter Smith has been laundering money for a mysterious revolutionary criminal syndicate through offshore shell corporations. He was preparing to turn over a batch of important encrypted files (recorded on a DVD) when he was taken hostage by a group of juvenile delinquents.

During a hostage situation the syndicate calls The Watchmen on the phone. To protect such incriminating evidence from discovery, the syndicate orders someone known only as "the Watchman" to kidnap Jeff Talley's wife and daughter. Talley is held hostage in his police car by some of the kidnappers and ordered to return to the hostage scene and stall for time until the organization can launch its own attack against Smith's house.

With his service pistol stolen by the kidnappers, Talley heads to his home, only to find it vandalized and his dog killed. Talley takes a bag full of guns, including a Kimber 1911 that he used on the LAPD SWAT, and his Glock 26 subcompact backup pistol. While trying to handle the situation he finds that Jeff dragging Walter's unconscious body to the ambulance and starts getting angered at Jeff while they both argue over the phone, he tells Jeff ("This isn't Los Angles Jeffery, you don't want another dead child in your conscience so keep your shit together"). In another scene The Watchman tries calling officer Mikey in the hospital about Walter and starts to get worried. Talley attempts to gain access into the house to get the encrypted DVDs and learns that one of the hostage takers, Mars, is an impulsive killer who could turn on the hostages and his own accomplices at any moment. Mars does, in fact, kill Kevin, just when Kevin is about to release the kids to the police. In fear that Walter is dead, the syndicate from the Watchman sends fake FBI agents to recover the DVD and they storm the house while Jeff isn't allowed to go in or out of the house and the men are only allowed to get the DVD. It all goes down when Mars is stabbed in the cheek by Jennifer. She and her brother flee. They lock themselves in the house's panic room. Talley hears the children screaming as they flee. Mars throws a Molotov Cocktail at Talley, destroying his patrol car. Mars begins to kill the majority of the fake FBI agents using his pistol and multiple Molotov Cocktails but is shot in the side by the only surviving agent. The agent tracks down Talley and the children, demanding to be given the encrypted DVD. Talley gives him the DVD, but only after being shot in the torso. Mars reappears, distracting the agent long enough to be killed by Talley. Mars prepares to throw the last bomb and kill everyone in the room. He collapses to his knees, weakened by the wounds in his torso and blood loss. He makes eye contact with Jennifer, with whom he was infatuated, then drops the Molotov Cocktail. Mars dies, setting himself on fire and vanishing in a pillar of flame. Talley retrieves his shotgun and shoots the glass waterfall, which douses some of the flames and allows Talley to safely evacuate the hostages as the house burns down. In the ambulance The Watchman gets furious about what happened to those counterfeit feds, but Jeff tells him to "shut up and listen to this" and finds that Walter is still alive, "What now?" Jeff replies. The Watchman agrees to send Walter and injured Jeff to let his family go. He and Walter Smith then go to the inn nearby a mountain in California where Talley's wife and daughter are being held hostage by the Watchman and other masked men. Smith, set free by Talley and grateful for his own family being saved, shoots the Watchman in the head with Talley's Glock 26. This allows Talley to kill the other masked gunmen with his SWAT-issue Kimber 1911. After the other four gunmen are killed, Talley empties the last four rounds in his pistol into the Watchman's corpse to make sure he is dead. Talley then tearfully embraces his family and drives off across the mountains.

## Trivia

* The Watchman can be viewed as the main antagonist of the film because Mars only interacted with Talley once, whereas the Watchman tried to kill his entire family.
* The Watchman's face is never seen, his name is never revealed, nor is the type of criminal enterprise he works for. It is possible that the Watchman was an important member of the syndicate, or possibly just the hired muscle in charge of the dirty work.
* The Watchman's sidearm is a Colt Python with wood grips and a nickel finish.