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Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, Lilly Taylor, J. T. Walsh, Ron Rifken, David Morse, John
Spencer, Paul Giomatti. Directed by F. Gary Gray
Lieutenant Danny Roman (Jackson) is a highly decorated police officer who specializes in hostage negotiations. He's willing to go overboard just enough in a hostage situation to get the job done. After a particularly tense crisis is averted by Danny's efforts, his partner tells him the police disability fund has been raided, and that police in their own precinct and Interal Affairs cops are involved. But he's not sure who it is, except that the head of Interal Affairs may be involved. After Danny leaves his new wife (Taylor) to meet his partner for further information, Danny finds him shot dead. Worse yet, Danny's caught standing over the body, and with incriminating evidence planted in his files at home. He is indicted for murder and theft of the funds. Danny tells his Chief (Spencer) and his superior and friend Frostie (Rifken) he's been setup, but they don't know whether to believe him or not. Backed into a corner, he takes the head of Interal Affairs (Walsh) and some others hostage in an effort to find who set him up. And he demands that he deal with a negotiator from another division who is a stranger he knows by reputation, and thus someone he may be able to trust, Chris Sabien (Spacey). Danny is desperate to prove to Chris he's been framed - Chris just wants to get him and the hostages out safely. But the trigger-happy SWAT leader (Morse) and the lurking FBI are itching to go in guns-ablazing and take him out, so Chris is under the gun to reach a peaceful solution before all hell breaks lose. The premise is not that original - a large helping of Die Hard and The Fugitive where an innocent man is being framed and pursued, and that man doesn't know who to trust. The Negotiator was originally written as a Sylvester Stallone vehicle, and both Spacey and Jackson signed on when Stallone dropped out of the project. With Stallone's recent string of dumb, boring action turkeys (Copland excepted), it certainly was a lucky break that he left the project. Spacey doesn't show up until about a third into the film, but he and Jackson make the film with exceptional acting and chemistry. The script is not anything out of the ordinary. There are nice comedic touches here and there, and occasional bits of memorable dialogue, but the film succeeds because of an accomplished cast of actors not usually seen in action movies. Rifken, Spencer, Walsh and especially Morse give strong performances. The exceptional Lilly Taylor is fine, but a bit wasted in the underwritten wife role. But the movie is elevated by the performances of Spacey and Jackson. Fairly standard action dialogue is delivered with conviction that enables you to believe what is going on, despite a few implausabilities in the script. The main characters are fleshed out in a way uncommon to most action-adventure blockbusters. And the film carries on with a brisk pace for the full 2 hours plus. This is a summer action film that is worth seeing.   |