The Negotiator

The Negotiator opens with a tense hostage situation that is extremely well-directed. A man is pressing a shotgun to the head of a little girl as Danny Roman (Jackson) attempts to talk him down, risking his own life. At the end of the ten minute scene, the audience lets out their breath. You'd think they'd been holding it the whole time. After that scene, we get the obligitory set up for the focus of the film. That calm sequence lasts another ten minutes. Then hold on to your wigs and keys, folks, because the next hour and fifty minutes takes you on one hell of a ride.

Danny Roman is a top-notch hostage negotiator who has been accused of killing his partner and embezzling funds from the department. In a last resort attempt to clear his name, he takes hostages on the 20th floor of the Chicago Federal Building. His demands are that in eight hours, the informant be found, the muderer be found, and he be let off the hook. The catch is that Chris Sabean (Spacey), a prime negotiator from Chicago's west side, must act as the mediator. Roman knows the man's strengths, and believes that since his friends have turned on him, that only a stranger (one of equal mind) can be trusted.

F. Gary Gray, a student of the MTV style of movie directing, does a much better job than most of his peers. Though The Negotiator occasionally feels like a spinoff of The Rock, Gray does some fantastic work. His greatest achievement is keeping the audience on the edge of their seats for nearly two hours. Once the film gets going, it doesn't let up. There is a constantly moving camera (which adds tension to any film), but it is very subtle and takes small, slow movements to build up the adrenaline thwart. Some of The Negotiator's best moments come from the dichotommy created from having a major negotiator dealing with his contemporaries. One scene early on is extremely funny, and it breaks the ice between characters. In a sequence reminiscent of Jules' "What does Marsellus Wallace look like?!!" interrogation from Pulp Fiction, Roman educates an inexperienced cop on what NOT to say during negotiations. Paul Giamatti, a two bit crook in the wrong place in the wrong time, provides excellent comic relief as well, with the film's best lines by far.

The two leads provide nothing less than their best as the two strangers who know each other well. Jackson runs the gamut of emotions and does them all with integrity. Spacey, who seems to pinball back and forth between psycho and good guy in his career, manages another fine turn as a take-charge smart cop. J.T. Walsh, who died shortly after the film wrapped, ends his filmography with another perfect scumbag. But he never broke from that pattern, and he too turns in a fine performance. Who better to play the loathesome heavy? Though the ending is a bit anti-climactic, The Negotiator is as good as any in its genre. It equals Die Hard and Lethal Weapon in it's strength and originality. (Though there is a fair share of "borrowing" from previous films.) And there is no doubt that we could use another Spacey/Jackson pairing real soon.

Nick Amado