Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, Regina Taylor, John Spencer, David Morse, Ron Rifkin, Paul Giamatti, Siobhan Fallon, J.T. Walsh
The Negotiator is a film that works in the moment. We are absorbed by the drama and the tension as it unfolds. After the film is over, we realize it doesn't hold up under logical scrutiny. Fair enough. But as we watch it, we are drawn in to the high human stakes involved.
Danny Roman (Jackson) is a decorated Chicago PD hostage negotiator who, as the film opens, successfully deals with a hostage situation and shares some beers with his police buddies at a local bar. Within 24 hours, Danny's partner is murdered and the blame for the murder and for the looting of the police pension fund falls on Roman's shoulders. He is soon to be arrested and disgraced. Danny maintains his innocence and insists he is being framed. In a desperate, last-ditch effort to prove it, Danny takes over a federal building and holds some of the people in it hostage. One of them is an inspector (Walsh), who may know more about the possible frame-up then he lets on.
Danny does not want to go to jail, although even if he manages to prove his innocence, he still created a showdown with the Chicago police and the feds while holding people hostage AND putting lives at risk AND causing untold amounts of property damage. The guy will surely go to jail for something, even if it isn't for murder. No matter. Danny demands to have the showdown negotiated by fellow negotiator Chris Sabian (Spacey), who doesn't work in Danny's precinct and who only knows Danny by reputation. Sabian's reputation as a negotiator is as famous as Danny's. We see early on how Chris controls the situation and keeps track of all of the information available for use later on. He and Danny are experts and it is fun to see them try to out-negotiate each other.
I won't reveal much more, since the plot twists and turns in much the same way as the characters' perceptions of what is really happening. Sabian is at first a neutral party only interested in bringing the crisis to a swift resolution, but he soon realizes there may be a plot against Danny afoot, which brings a whole other element of suspense. Jackson is at his raging best. It is wise to take him seriously when he makes threats. Spacey is cool, but assertive and won't be pushed around. He is usually the smartest guy in the room who knows all of the angles, but here there are some things he doesn't know and it is refreshing to see him trying to figure it out like the rest of us.
Perhaps Danny is using a shotgun to kill a mosquito by starting up the hostage crisis, but then again we wouldn't have a movie if he didn't. The Negotiator is skillfully directed and nearly relentless in ratcheting up the tension. The movie doesn't depend on the outcome of fist fights and gun fights, but instead on characters trying to out maneuver one another and use their brains instead of their brawn. The ending is satisfying, if not a little farfetched, but overall The Negotiator is intelligent and suspenseful, although I would have liked to have seen how Danny could possibly manage to avoid going to the slammer.
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