tlavideo.com

Review

A tense, exciting and intelligent police hostage drama with the good guy as the hostage taker, The Negotiator casts Jackson as Danny Roman, a well-respected Chicago cop who excels at his job as police negotiator in hostage situations. When his partner is murdered and Danny is framed, Danny takes a group of office workers hostage himself (in an effort to clear his name), including an Internal Affairs officer (Walsh) who may or may not have information on the cover-up. Enter Chris Sabian (Spacey), another well-respected police negotiator. Thus begins a cat-and-mouse game of words and deeds between the two men as Chris tries to talk him in and Danny tries to get to the truth. In addition to the smart dramatics, another feather in this film's cap is the dynamic pairing of Jackson and Spacey; each actor brings an intensity and flavor to his role. The ensemble cast is equally adept, especially the late Walsh in one of his final roles.