Mad City

Sam Baily, recently fired from the museum, returns with a shotgun and dynamite and takes the building’s visitors hostage. He locks the doors and coerces the staff and students to stay put while the situation unfolds. The incident instantly turns the museum into a televised crisis.

Max Brackett, a local TV journalist, is in the museum restroom after an interview about the museum's finances. He becomes Baily’s intermediary, directing information to the outside world and the police. His presence drags the event onto a national stage.

Baily accidentally shoots Cliff, a fellow security guard, sending him to the hospital. He fires again, increasing fear among the hostages and showing his deteriorating grip on reality. This act marks a dangerous escalation inside the hostage situation.

Baily grows more unhinged, taking caffeine pills to stay awake and maintaining control over the hostages with volatile threats. The children become increasingly frightened as the crisis stretches on. The museum atmosphere shifts from confusion to danger.

Laurie, a young intern, and Brackett amplify the outside media coverage as Brackett reports exclusively. Their actions feed the growing media circus surrounding the event. The exposure begins reviving Brackett’s career at the expense of the hostages’ safety.

Brackett negotiates with a national network and its star anchor, Kevin Hollander, aiming to secure favorable coverage. He uses the crisis as leverage to gain access and airtime. The dynamic emphasizes the cost of sensational journalism.

Baily expresses a strong desire to return home to his wife and kids, refusing to accept that he might serve jail time. He clings to the notion of a personal escape rather than punishment. The tension between his personal motivation and the legal consequences deepens.

Brackett makes a deal to prevent Hollander from getting the full story, prompting Hollander to publicly accuse him of prolonging the crisis and risking the children. The power struggle among media players becomes a factor in the standoff. The consequences ripple outward to the hostages.

Laurie betrays Brackett, showing she will do whatever it takes to advance her own career. Her maneuvering underscores how far some will go for headlines. The collaboration between Brackett and Laurie fractures under pressure.

With Cliff dead, Baily begins to realize he has lost everything he valued. The personal bonds he shattered are echoed in the casualties of the crisis. The event marks a turning point in his psychology toward admitting defeat.

Police issue a five-minute ultimatum for the release of all hostages. Time runs short as negotiators push for a peaceful resolution. The clock creates a sense of impending violence.

Baily releases the children and Mrs. Banks, signaling a fragile concession but still refusing to surrender. The hostages’ survival becomes a focus of negotiation. The dynamic shifts with this partial release.

Brackett leaves to persuade the police to lower their guns so Baily can be ushered out, effectively being used as a tool by the authorities and the media. He returns to the exterior crowd, his role still precarious. The line between information and manipulation blurs.

Rather than surrender, Baily locks the museum doors and detonates explosives, committing suicide in a final act. The blast collapses the situation and destroys the possibility of a rescue. The tragedy cements the crisis as a media-dominated catastrophe.

The blast scatters debris as reporters converge on the scene. Brackett, dazed, tells the cameras, 'We killed him,' a grim statement about how the media influenced the outcome. The film closes with a somber reflection on sensational journalism’s cost.