THE NEGOTIATOR (1998)
Rating: 3.0 stars (out of 4.0) ******************************** Key to rating system: 2.0 stars - Debatable 2.5 stars - Some people may like it 3.0 stars - I liked it 3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie 4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out ********************************* A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Written by: James DeMonaco, Kevin Fox
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey
Synopsis: Samuel L. Jackson plays ace Chicago police hostage negotiator Danny Roman. Unknown to Danny, corrupt cops in Danny's precinct are running a scam involving faked insurance claims. They kill Danny's partner and friend, and frame Danny for the murder.
Danny's not an investigator, but as an expert in hostage negotiation, he knows all about taking hostages. Danny finds the corrupt Internal Affairs man whom he think is responsible. Desperate to prove his innocence, he captures the corrupt official and two office personnel and holds them hostage in their Chicago office, hoping to wring out a lucky confession. The police besiege the office building, trapping Danny inside with the hostages. Thus begins a tense standoff involving SWAT teams, FBI, gunfights, and clever negotiations.
Opinion: THE NEGOTIATOR is a successful balancing act between hostage crisis and slam bang action flick. Because the main situation takes place in a small space involving hostages arguing with their captor, THE NEGOTIATOR sometimes feels like a tight theater piece. But the drama is interrupted by timely action sequences. (The authorities periodically break in with escalating firepower, and Danny desperately outfights them to buy more time to prove his innocence.)
Danny hopes that either the bad guy might confess, or else enough evidence to prove his innocence might be found laying around the office. But the creative twist in THE NEGOTIATOR occurs when an intriguing third possibility arises. Holed up in the office, Danny refuses to negotiate with anybody accept Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey), a steadfast police negotiator from a non-corrupt precinct. If he can just convince Sabian of his innocence, Danny might be able to get outside help. Similarly, if he can win some of the office hostages over to his cause, he might be able to enlist their aid. Danny's ability and resources for proving his innocence become a game of negotiation.
THE NEGOTIATOR is about corrupt cops. In the beginning of the movie it seems the heroes are trying to discover who is stealing from police pension funds. But by the end of the movie, pensions funds are forgotten, and the crime seem to be all about insurance fraud. Confusion about the nature of the actual corruption is my only small complaint about THE NEGOTIATOR. Ignoring the minor the scam confusion, THE NEGOTIATOR is an otherwise well-acted, satisfyingly taut, mouse-versus-cat thriller. It's the only chess game in town that comes with theater-style drama in addition to SWAT teams, grenades, and police helicopters.
Reviewed by David Sunga July 31, 1998
Copyright © 1998 by David Sunga This review and others like it can be found at THE CRITIC ZOO: http://www.criticzoo.com email: zookeeper@criticzoo.com
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