Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
The police try to arrest expert hostage negotiator Danny Roman, who insists he's being framed for his partner's murder in what he believes is an elaborate conspiracy. Thinking there's evidence in the Internal Affairs offices that might clear him, he takes everyone in the office hostage and demands that another well-known negotiator be brought in to handle the situation and secretly investigate the conspiracy.
The Negotiator is a taut, well-crafted thriller elevated primarily by the electric chemistry and committed performances of Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey, both operating at high intensity. The plot is a solid if somewhat convoluted conspiracy thriller — the hostage-negotiator-becomes-hostage-taker premise is clever but the mechanics get messy by the third act. Cinematography is functional Chicago-urban with nothing particularly distinctive. Novelty is moderate — the role-reversal concept is genuinely interesting but the broader conspiracy template is familiar genre territory. The ending delivers satisfying resolution though leans on some convenient reveals.