The Negotiator
Widescreen
Warner Brothers

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DVD Review:

Two great actors, Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey, were assembled for this action thriller, and I'm still baffled as to what went wrong. It wasn't a hit when originally released, and I viewed it recently on DVD, and the film is not very good at all. It takes two very fine actors and gives them not much to work with at all. Jackson has the better role, but we don't care enough about his character, or Spacey's for that matter (who comes far too late in the film.) The film is really very bland. There are no surprises. No plot twists. Nothing exciting or interesting. The film also goes on for too long. This is an unpleasant movie. Not really a terrible one, but extremely disappointing considering the talent involved. Warner Brothers has penned this disc part of it's "Premiere Collection." The picture and sound are very good, especially the latter. The menus are very neat-o and there are some exciting extras. We get the theatrical trailer for this film as well as some other Samuel L.Jackson/Kevin Spacey films including "A Time To Kill, "Sphere," "L.A. Confidential," and "Midnight In The Garden of Good & Evil." Notice these are
all Warner Brothers films, all available on DVD. There is also a pretty boring behind the scenes look at the scouting of the locations for the film. Also added to the supplemental material is an interview with a real life Chicago hostage negotiator.

Final Analysis: The extras on this disc are dandy and the overall look of the disc is great, but it's still not enough to save this trite and boring film. It just proves that no matter how many extras you've got, it still won't make a below average film any better. Warner Brothers gets a pat on the back for putting extras on all their films, even the cruddy ones. If only the good films from the other studios would get this kind of treatment.

Film: * * 1/2
Picture: * * *
Sound: * * * 1 / 2
Extras: * * * 1 / 2

GRADE: * * *

Keep the discs spinning,
Filmnut