Mad City(1997)

Short pooper:
Unhinged and unwilling to face the consequences of his actions and the fact that the whole affair escalated out of control, Sam (John Travolta), despite releasing all the hostages, dupes Max (Dustin Hoffman) into “going to negotiate his safe release”, only to lock himself in the museum and commit suicide, shocking everyone and leaving Max dumbfounded and ashamed.

Longer version:
As the situation develops into a media circus, completed with the presence of several news outlets, curious bystanders, religious peddlers, salespeople, the Police and even the FBI, and complicated by the fact that Max, being able to freely get in and out of the museum, ostensibly “on Sam’s behalf”, was furthering his own stalled career creating what he saw as the news event of the year, an increasingly stressed Sam learns that fellow security guard Cliff (Bill Nunn), whom he accidentally shot earlier, at the beginning of the crisis, has died of his wounds.

Between this and even his former boss-turned-hostage Mrs. Banks (Blythe Danner) making him realize Max is just using him to create public entertainment out of that dire situation, Sam slowly comes to terms with the fact that there will be no positive outcome for him; he will most likely lose his family, will not get his job back and will certainly face jail time or even be killed by the Police. At the same time, things are not as promising as they appeared to be for Max either; Laurie (Mia Kirshner), the young intern accompanying him and stationed outside in the mobile unit, double-crosses him for her own personal gain; and Kevin (Alan Alda), his anchor and long-time rival, openly accuses him of endangering those innocent children trapped inside the museum in the name of a sensationalized story, when Max denies Kevin the chance to share the handling and informing of the events.

The crisis worsens to the point where the Police refuses to reason any longer and issues an ultimatum to Sam, to “release all the hostages in the following five minutes, or else”. A dejected Sam acquiesces and releases all the children and Mrs. Banks; he also asks Max the favour of “going and requesting the Police to lower their weapons, in exchange of Max returning to safely help him surrender”. However, as Max -whom, suddenly, seeing the turn everything has taken, appears to have a crisis of conscience over how he took part in it- tries to plead with the Police for a non-violent end, Sam locks himself in the museum and ignores Max as he begs to open the doors and turn himself in.

Suddenly, Sam detonates the explosives he had on him, committing suicide and causing a colossal blast that knocks everyone present off their feet and partially destroying the grounds. The movie ends with the aftermath of what, mostly due to media manipulation, ended up as a tragedy, reporters hounding Max to get his impression of Sam, while he, disgusted and still surprised, can only mutter “We killed him”.