The Negotiator
Tags: comedy, suspenseful, neo noir, murder, psychological, mystery, violence, plot twist, tragedy, revenge

Plot synopsis:
Lieutenant Danny Roman, a top Chicago Police Department hostage negotiator, is approached by his partner, Nate Roenick that according to an informant (whom he refuses to name), members of their own unit are defrauding large amounts of money from the department's disability fund, for which Roman is a board member. When Roman goes for another meeting, he finds Roenick murdered seconds before other police arrive, pinning Roman as the prime suspect.
Matters become worse for Roman when Internal Affairs investigator Terence Niebaum, whom Roenick's informant suspected of involvement in the embezzlement, is assigned to investigate the murder. After the gun that killed Roenick is linked to a case Roman had worked on, Niebaum and other investigators search Roman's house and discover papers for an offshore bank account with a deposit equal to one of the amounts of money embezzled. Roman is forced to surrender his gun and badge and his colleagues are doubtful of his protests of innocence. With embezzlement and homicide charges pending, Roman storms into Niebaum's office and demands answers about who set him up. When Niebaum refuses to answer, Roman takes Niebaum, his administrative assistant Maggie, police commander Grant Frost, and weak willed con man Rudy Timmons as hostages.
With the building evacuated and placed under siege by his own CPD unit and the FBI, Roman issues his conditions: locating Roenick's informant and summoning police Lt. Chris Sabian, the city's other top negotiator. Roman believes he can trust Sabian because he talks for as long as possible, sees tactical action as a last resort, and being from another precinct eliminates him as a suspect in the disability fund scheme. Sabian clashes with the CPD but is given temporary command of the unit after they hastily attempt a breach that goes awry, resulting in two additional officers becoming Roman's hostages.
Roman trades Frost to Sabian in exchange for restoring the building's electricity. With help from Rudy and Maggie, Roman accesses Niebaum's computer and pieces together the scheme: corrupt officers submitted false disability claims that were processed by an unknown insider on the disability fund's board. He also discovers recordings of wiretaps, including a conversation that suggests Roenick was meeting his informant before he was killed. Sabian, using the information Roman provided, claims to have located Roenick's informant in a bid to get Roman to release the hostages. Roman realizes Sabian is bluffing when Niebaum's files reveal Roenick himself was the IAD informant.
When Roman threatens to expose Niebaum in an open window, leaving him vulnerable to sniper fire, Niebaum admits that Roenick gave him wiretaps implicating three of Roman's squad mates in the embezzlement scheme. When Niebaum confronted the guilty officers, he received a bribe from them to cover up their crimes while Roenick refused to take it, which led to his death. Niebaum says he does not know who the inside ringleader is, but that he has the taps corroborating the three officers' guilt. The same corrupt officers have secretly entered the room via the air vents under the pretext of being part of a team to take Roman out in case he started killing hostages; upon hearing Niebaum's confession, they open fire and kill Niebaum before he can reveal where he has hidden the wiretaps. Roman single-handedly fights them and the rest of his squad off using the flashbangs he seized from the two officers in the previous failed breach.
Believing that Sabian and the police cannot resolve the situation, the FBI assume jurisdiction over the operation, cease negotiations, relieve Sabian of his command, and order a full breach. Sabian begins to believe in Roman's innocence and gives him a chance to prove his case: while the FBI and SWAT raid the building and rescue the hostages, Roman escapes disguised in a SWAT uniform. Roman and Sabian proceed to Niebaum's house, but are unable to find the wiretaps. The police arrive and the corrupt officers enter the house, but they back off as Frost enters and tries to talk Roman down. Sabian observes Frost discreetly taking one of the guns and realizes that Frost is the ringleader of the conspiracy and Roenick's killer.
In front of Frost, Sabian seemingly shoots Roman dead and offers to destroy the "evidence" they have uncovered in return for a cut of Frost's take. Frost agrees and effectively makes a full admission to his and the other three officers' crimes. When Frost exits the house, he discovers Roman had feigned death and used a police radio microphone to broadcast his confession to the police surrounding the area. Frost attempts to commit suicide but is disarmed and arrested with the other corrupt officers. As Roman is loaded into an ambulance, Sabian gives him back his badge and departs.

Review: When he's framed for a crime he didn't commit, against his fellow police officers no less, he knows that the only way out is to bring in an equally tough negotiator, Lieutenant Chris Sabian played by Kevin Spacey, who's from another precinct and who therefore could not have been contaminated by the bad elements within his own force, which buys him the necessary time to bluff and blindside while he finds the clues he needs to prove he's innocent.
It doesn't have any qualms with taking a far-fetched concept and treating it with absolute seriousness, but unlike most movies that are willing to do this (especially some recent ones involving very large asteroids and very large lizards), it is able to pull it off by combining a tight script with strong, strong acting.If this were a perfect world, Jackson would deserve an Oscar nomination for his performance here.
Samuel L Jackson at his best playing the role as Danny Roman, a negotiator with nothing to lose but all to prove.
However, it gets a much needed injection from its cast, especially the two leads Jackson and Spacey, whose verbal exchanges are exciting and dynamic.The far-fetched yarn introduces us to Chicago hostage negotiator Danny Roman (Samuel L.
Hostage negotiator Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey) arrives on the scene to talk Roman into surrendering his hostages.The ease with which Jackson's character is framed for a crime he didn't commit is hard to believe, and his subsequent decision to take hostages in order to clear himself stretches credibility to the limit.
Jackson then retaliates by using extra-legal means.What makes this movie are the performances by both Jackson and Spacey, with good performances by the supporting cast, including the late J.T. Walsch who made a career of playing heartless and emotionless middle-age men.
All credit must go to Samuel L Jackson for a great performance in playing a specialist police officer who finds himself an innocent fall guy, supported very well by the late J.
Jackson makes his character an actor himself, as a psychopath to the cops he holds at bay and a careful family man to his new wife whilst slowly but surely convincing his hostages of his innocence.
Similar credit for great performances go to Kevin Spacey as the neutral respected negotiator dropped into a tense situation completely blind to events, and I have yet to see a poor performance by David Morse, who followed up this film with another good performance in "The Green Mile".
Lieutenant Danny Roman, just married and quickly becoming recognized as one of Chicago's top hostage negotiators, has his life turned upside down when he's framed for the murder of his partner and embezzlement of his department's pension fund.
Sharp, intelligent thriller should be your run-of-the-mill cop flick, but its plot twists are so convincing, its police procedures so realistic, and its acted with such great conviction that you don't want to miss a single moment of it!
Where did it all go wrong for the poor guy?Samuel L Jackson plays police negotiator Lt. Danny Roman, a hostage negotiator with the Chicago PD who's a nice guy and all-round good bloke.
Facing fellow negotiator Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey), can Danny discover the truth before his one-time colleagues put a premature end to the siege?
Spacey looks a little out of place - he's too nice to play the stone-faced good guy with a mean streak - but his performance supports Jackson's wild-eyed paranoia perfectly.
The biggest problems I found was that the story took a while to get going and when it did, it was actually rather obvious who the villains are.I was actually a little tired of hostage movies after watching the equally brilliant "Inside Man" a little while ago but while that was a little on the slow side, this kept up a cracking pace until the very end.
Jackson is full of perfectly managed rage as Danny Roman, achieving a better performance than the ones he got in other movies where he carried guns, like "The Long Kiss Goodnight", "Rules of Engagement", even "Shaft" and definitely "SWAT".
Chris Sabian appears late in the film, but in the skin of Kevin Spacey he encounters Jackson's craziness and "The Negotiator" elevates itself into a whole different level.
Jackson gives it his all and unexpected things that happen in this movie like the end and when one of the hostages gets shot by a S.W.A.T. member downsides: Kevin Spacey and Ron Rifkin weren't that good to my opinion those are really the only downsidesfor anybody who has not seen this movie yet should definitely go rent it.
OK i had recently seen the negotiator and its almost a 10 year old movie,but needless to say i just watched it recently and i was blown away.I'm a big fan of Kevin Spacey,i believe is one of the greatest actors out there.and Samuel L Jackson is great in this too,we can all forgive him for;snakes on a plane.this is more than a good cop bad cop movie,it involves police corruption,Samuel L Jackson plays a good cop,a veteran whose partner is murdered,he gets set up as a patsy and...,well no way am i going to spoil this.you must watch this to find out what happens.you see both Samuel L Jackson and Kevin Spacey are both police negotiators,and yes both are good guys.also actor JT Walshes last movie,he died when this was released,JT Walsh was mostly known as his role in the Robin Williams comedy/drama good morning Vietnam as the Sargent major who clashed with Robin Williams character.but i cant say enough about the negotiator,i don't know why i never saw it before but there's that old saying better late than never.
Fast paced, well made thriller about a framed police negotiator (Jackson) who takes hostages and demands to speak with a counterpart from another precinct (Spacey).
It's clear to me that Armageddon takes the cake but The Negotiator shouldn't be forgotten being slightly inferior.While The Negotiator wasn't filled with dazzling special and visual effects and didn't have the end of the world premise, it still delivers a high level action packed film with thrills and chills that place you on the end of your seat.Immediately opening up with Samuel L.
Michael really shines in his supporting role as the caring sniper who can't be against a colleague like Danny while Morse really plays the guy that we love to hate just because he's such a jerk.It's got a lot of action for being such a claustrophobic film and mainly having two sets.
The GOOD - The movie sports an interesting cast, actors who usually entertain, such as Kevin Spacey, Samuel L.
I'm not a fan of Samuel L Jackson or Kevin Spacey, but this movie is one of the best i've ever seen!
Anyway, i would like to congratulate to both actors Jackson and Spacey, who have been a great combination as the negotiator in this movie!
Gary Gray (Friday, The Italian Job "2003", Set It Off) made an entertaining, suspenseful, action-thriller with sharp performances by Jackson and Spacey.
After a while, Chris begins to think Danny is innocent, and starts helping him uncover the truth.The Negotiator is a very interesting film that sets up a very interesting plot very well.
The Negotiator (1998)I don't think I expected much more than a standard contemporary police corruption thriller, and this was better than I expected both in the story line (which has a couple great twists) and the acting and pacing (thanks to both Kevin Spacey and Samuel L.
Jackson and Kevin Spacey are both excellent as two police negotiators in this tense, well acted, action thriller.The plot takes off quickly as does the action as Danny Roman (Jackson) is framed for a crime, and he suspects someone on the inside, a fellow officer, is responsible.
Jackson, Kevin Spacey and the late great J.T. Walsh could be all bad, and "The Negotiator" is watchable largely because of its strong cast.
But what could have been an excellent suspense film unfortunately is overlong and ends up feeling like a competent but forgettable TV movie with some bad language thrown in.One of the biggest problems is a thundering, distracting musical score that sounds like every action movie you've seen in the past five years.
It's at this time that the other lead, Kevin Spacey, shows up as the other negotiator and while it's interesting to see these two intense actors perform together all I could think of was when will this be over.
The Negotiator was a action/drama that fails to live up to its build up.Without giving too much away, a top-notch hostage negotiator (Jackson) takes a group hostage when he is framed for a crime and calls in a top-notch hostage negotiator from the other side of town (Spacey) to run the negotiation of his demands.So effectively, we have two top notch actors pitted against each other in a hostage negotiator stand off.
But instead, nothing much is revealed by his periodic investigation (don't forget, he's also managing a hostage negotiation at the same time) and the ending is more or less predictable - even though they threw in a deeply contrived 'twist' right at the end which was BOTH stupid and far-fetched.Finally, I'm getting a bit sick and tired of seeing Stockholm Syndrome feature in every hostage film these days.
The only thing that saves this film is the acting by Jackson and Spacey, with several good supporting performances, too.
Sabian quickly realises that this is no normal situation, and his usual routine simply won't cut it.Now Spacey and Jackson, both give typically great performances, but the movie has a few too many flaws to be a really great one, that said is does have some good action, a few good thrills and a decent script, so if you fancy it, its certainly worth your time.8/10 mainly for Spacey and Jackson..
Unfortunately I discovered, along with many others that have commented here, that the movie's script is overblown, contrived, and asks for way too much suspension of disbelief.After Jackson's partner is killed and he's framed for it, his friends and colleagues turn on him waaaay too easily.
In any case, the confrontations with the police and hostages become sillier and sillier when you realize that this man is trying to prove his innocence.Jackson and Spacey make a good duo.
Standard Hollywood cop/hostage movie gets special credit for some great scenery (filmed on location in Chicago), and some genuine but very sporadic suspense.
The movie also stars that other golden-tongued Hollywood boy, Kevin Spacey, as the cop who at first hesitates but then decides to help Jackson's character.
I really didn't know what my expectations were going into this, since I'd never seen Kevin Spacey in a movie before, and I didn't really know the plot of this film.
A lot.The plot follows top police negotiator Danny Roman (Jackson) as he realizes that he's been framed by one or more people inside the police department, so he takes the people he believes to be responsible hostage, as well as some innocent bystanders who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and barricades himself and them in an office room.
The office raid and shootout, final standoff, and initial hostage takeover scene were all great.Besides some graphic language (it's pretty bad), I loved this movie, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a great action/thriller movie, and especially to fans of the two main actors, as they really make this movie work.
Maybe it's because its two lead normally get linked with other nineties classics, i.e. Samuel L Jackson with 'Pulp Fiction' and Kevin Spacey with 'American Beauty.' Yes, there may not be quite as many explosions and high-octane chases in this one, but it still seems like it should exist in the same (and to use a modern phrase) 'shared universe.'Jackson plays a police negotiator who gets framed for a crime he didn't commit.
Therefore, if you can overlook the fact that this film probably should have been called 'The Negotiators' (plural) it really is pretty good fun.There's always going to be a market for films where you can basically forget about realism and enjoy the action and when you have two leads like Jackson and Spacey, you know they're going to turn in excellent performances.
There are enough other characters they interact with along the way, but you probably won't remember too many of them (with the possible exception of a weirdly-young looking Paul Giamatti) - it's the two leads who you'll remember all the way.It's a simple premise and what little 'extras' to the plot I won't go into for fear of spoiling it, but if you ever get bored of watching Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage saving San Francisco, or Keanu Reeves flagging down buses, you really could get a similar 'fix' of action from spending a couple of hours with Samuel L Jackson and Kevin Spacey..
Jackson and Kevin Spacey,the films plot easily could have been given to any well known action star who would bring in the money but not a great performance,but instead they got Jackson and Spacey,who aren't necessarily action stars,and we get to enjoy this movie much more and feel even more for these characters.I was having trouble finding Jackson's character likable,which he was obviously suppose to be,but he held a bunch of people hostage in order to prove his own innocence,but was committing a crime in the meantime,although I did like seeing him use both personalities as he is great at being both a good and evil character.Action packed and very intense,I would definitely recommend the Negotiator to anyone looking for a good crime drama or action.
Put Kevin Spacey and Samuel L Jackson opposite each other in a movie and your guaranteed great performances and thats this films ace card.
Without that and some very competent suspense building direction this film could have descended into b-action movie hell.Having a hostage negotiator forced to take hostages himself is a nice concept and the director really knows how to ramp up the tension during the negotiation scenes and when Spacey and Jackson are on screen together the sparks do fly.
It seems that Mr Jackson is more of an action/comedy man, while Mr Spacey appears more likely to star in a serious comedy, or serious drama, where you must use every extent of your brain to understand every extent of the film.
Sam Jackson is very good as Danny Roman, a police negotiator, who is framed for a pension theft and has to take matters into his own hands to clear his name.
I mean that after treating myself to the Good (X -Files), the Bad (Godzilla), and the Ugly (Saving Private Ryan--although ugly still very, very unforgettable) this summer at the movies, it was nice to get a movie that got the adrenaline flowing smoothly while somehow managing to keep me guessing right up to the final scene of the flick AND providing me with intelligent dialogue!"The Negotiator" is the kind of film I've been waiting for Kevin Spacey to do.
Jackson and Kevin Spacey in an action thriller together expectations have got to be high, and I'm glad to say that The Negotiator doesn't disappoint at all.
Gary Gray, who is equally at ease here getting the best out of the dramatics as he is at delivering the thrills during the films action sequences, all combine to make an extremely enjoyable and very satisfying whole.The performances in this film are all very well handled with Spacey and Jackson utterly compelling as the two negotiators on opposite sides of the situation, with David Morse, John Spenser, Paul Giamatti and the late J.T. Walsh (in his last screen role) all offering excellent support.
This movie had an intriguing plot, Samuel Jackson and Kevin Spacey portrayed their roles as negotiators excellently.The movie (unlike most others) made excellent use of the SWAT team, and overall there was plenty of action.
Jackson) gives Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey) 20 minutes to talk to him or he's going to kill a hostage.
Its saving grace(s) come in from the performances of Samuel Jackson and (especially) Kevin Spacey, who makes his every scene at least palatable..
The interviewer noticed that Spacey was more happy than when he gave the interview on The Negotiator set, he said that he liked the acting much better on American beauty because it is a good movie, unlike The negotiator.
The story is about a Police Negotiator known as Danny Roman (Samuel L Jackson) who is 'apparently' accused of corruption and killing his partner.
The acting was brilliant especially from Samuel L Jackson and Kevin Spacey who were unarguably the stand-out performers of this film.
The Negotiator is an enjoyable movie-especially if you love good performances by some of today's best actors: Samuel Jackson, Kevin Spacey, TJ Walsh.
I loved the acting in this movie b/c Kevin Spacey is my favorite actor (and he has never failed to give a great performance regardless of the movie's script), while I think Samuel L.
Even though I now own the video on DVD (I own most of Spacey or Jackson's movies), I always forward-fast to the scenes between these two actors rather than watching some of the other weaker elements of the film..
Kevin Spacey, in my opinion, made the movie, because he is such a great actor.
JACKSON) is the best hostage negotiator on the Chicago police force and one day is framed for embezzlement and murder.
Jackson and Kevin Spacey's wonderful chemistry makes this movie work.
This is a one man show.If you like Samuel L Jackson you gonna love this movie.If you don´t I´m not so sure.I saw this film on the cinema a couple of weeks ago.I thought it was great.Samuel and Kevin Spacey are both great.David Morse is also good as the confused SWAT-leader.I also think that it was a little bit to long,and sometimes it´s hard to follow.It´s 7.5 of 10.
Jackson + Kevin Spacey + Paul Giamatti + intelligent script = fun, enjoyable movie.