Right ok doke here is another movie review on this blog and this one harks back to 1998 as it will cover the action thriller, The Negotiator, which stars Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey in the lead roles. And with that let's get the bullet proof vests on and have a look... (well not literally of course) ;-).
So the film is set in Chicago and starts with top hostage negotiator, Danny Roman (Jackson) who manages to defuse a hostage crises at the start of the film involving a man who holds his daughter hostage. Later on Danny at a party for one of the fellow officers, meets with his partner, Nathan Roenick (Paul Guilfoyle) who warns that large amounts of money have been taken from the department's disability fund. Danny is also a member of the board to do with the fund and Nate warns him that other members may be involved too and that he has an informant but he keeps quiet about who it is. Danny agrees to meet Nate later on, but when he does he finds Nate has been murdered and the police arrive quickly afterwards. And from here things go from bad to worse for Danny as Internal affairs take over the investigation of the murder, which is lead by Inspector Niebaum (J.T. Walsh). Niebaum's investigations soon uncover that Nate was murdered by a gun recovered from a case that Danny had previously worked on, also as they search Danny's house they find evidence of an offshore account, which has amount of money that matches an amount embezzled from the fund. After this comes to light, most of Danny's fellow officers refuse to believe his innocence and his police chief, Al Travis (John Spencer) asks for Danny's gun and badge.
Danny is soon faced with serious charges, which leaves him little choice but to go and question Niebaum at his office about the fund and the possibility of his being set up. Niebaum however refuses to listen and as Danny is about to be turfed out the office, Danny takes Niebaum hostage along with his admin assistant, Maggie (Siobhan Fallon), police commander Grant Frost (Ron Rifkin) and a con-man Ruddy Timmons (Paul Giamatti). The building is soon put into lockdown with the police (which includes his own police unit) and the FBI securing the area. Danny then contacts the police to inform them of his conditions, which include finding Nate's informant and to summon another top hostage negotiator, Chris Sabian (Spacey). Danny requests Sabian as he is outside the whole matter and is also known to negotiate as long as possible without using force. As Sabian arrives on the scene a long night lies ahead for everyone as Danny tries to get to the bottom of who set up him and do what he can to try and clear his name before his own people try to take him out....
The Negotiator to this day is a still a very effective thriller and it features a fine cast as well as two great performances from the leads. And while it isn't the most probable of storylines the fact it is so well paced and put together is what helps The Negotiator be an engrossing film. The hostage setting also allows for the action set pieces to be effectively set in the one place and it almost has the feel of a Die Hard film (except with the cop being the terrorist, well sort of!) especially there is a slightly claustrophobic feel given that everything is centred around Niebaum's office. The story itself was said to be partly based on the pension fund scam that took place in the early 90's at St Louis Police Department. Although for me the pension fund scam is the least most interesting aspect of the film and its action and set pieces are what really make the film work in the end.
So moving onto the performances everything is top notch as the film has a great cast, starting with Samuel Jackson, who is terrific in his role as Danny Roman, a top negotiator who is framed for a murder he did not committ and he ends up having to take drastic measures to try and clear his name. Jackson has quite a few highlights in the film such as the scene where he questions Niebaum once he has taken him hostage and he can tell instantly that Niebaum is lying. And in the scene Danny says "I know you're lying cos I'm reading your eyes. A quick lesson in lying, see this is what us real cops do! And what neurophysiology tells us if your eyes go up to the left then your accessing the visual cortex, which means you are telling the truth. So if your eyes go up and right then you are acccessing the brain's creative centres and we know you're full of shit!". Samuel's scenes with Kevin Spacey are also riveting as they both work really well off each other and their scene is very good together. And Samuel has a great line where he tells Sabian why brought him here and says "When you're friends betray you, sometimes the only people you can trust are strangers". And in the scene where he talks to one of his own unit's members, Farley, who becomes nervous when he tries to talk Danny down, eh toys with Farley and asks him "Now did you ever dress up as a little school girl and get your ass spanked??!". And as he threatens to kill someone if Farley say no again, which he does, Danny yells "NO?! You just cost someone their life, Farley! Game over!" and he fires his gun and then shouts into his radio "You can't talk me down! You can't make me change the deadline. NOW GET ME SABIAN!!!". Also in the scene where he talks to his wife, Danny tells her he promises he won't pull anymore crazy stuff as a negotiator and he says to her as he takes her hand "You see this? That is the bus. You see the bus? That's crazy on the bus!".
Kevin Spacey is also terrific as the other hostage negotiator, Chris Sabian, who tries his best to defuse the crisis. Spacey's best scenes come with his one to one encounters with Jackson or when they talk on the radio. Their first scene as they talk to each other on the radios sets the tone of their relationship very well, when they talk about Shane and how Sabian reads biographies and Danny says "Well you shouldn't believe everything you read in books" and Sabian replies "Well I don't just read one book on a subject. I try to read different books to get the facts and decide for myself". Spacey's first scene in the film is quite amusing as he tries to talk his wife out of the bathroom who takes offence at a remark her daughter said, and Sabian sighs saying "You know I once talked a man out of blowing up the Sears tower but I can't talk my wife out of the bedroom or get my kid off the phone!". And Spacey shares another good scene with Jackson after the police attempt to make their first assault and fail, and he says to Danny "Oh I'm sorry did you want something?! Do you think killing a man gives you the power to negotiate with me? That it will give you time? Don't you fuckin count on it! Right now I'm the only thing between you and a whole army just itching to walk in here and take you out! So you tell me something, Danny. Why should I get in their way?! Make me believe why I should deal with you ever again??!".
The supporting cast are also great which includes J.T. Walsh who gives a rather sinister performance as the Internal affairs investigator, Niebaum, who Danny captures and questions during the seige. This was one of J.T. Walsh's last performances of his career as he sadly passed away in 1998, the year of the film's release. Paul Giamatti is also really good in his role as Ruddy Timmons, the con-man who is one of Danny's hostages. Giamatti also get's some good dialogue in the film such as the scene where after he has been taken hostage, he sits on the floor, handcuffed and he says to Danny "Once you familiarise yourself with the chains of bondage you prepare your own limbs to wear them. Abraham Lincoln said that and I believe him. So you have gotta get me the fuck out! NOW!!". And also later on when Danny tells them that they have apparently found Nate's informant, Ruddy yells in relief and says to Niebaum "Yes! Inspector, fuck you very much!". Ron Rifkin is also very good in his role as Commander Frost, who Danny takes hostage and Danny asks him what he thinks and Frost says "I don't know what to think, Danny. But I'll tell you this, Danny boy. What you're doing isn't helping".
David Morse is also good in his role as the gruff and hotheaded Commander Beck, who is in full favour of taking Danny out. And he get's some good moments such as when he attempts to make an assault on Danny and he tells one of his sniper men to take a shot if he get's Danny in view and one of snipers say he has a shot, but is reluctant to take it and Beck yells "Don't tell me copy! Just pull the fucking trigger!". And he also raises his concerns to Sabian over how Danny will manipulate the situation as he is one of them, and he says "He's gonna fuck with every single fuckin one of you, cos he knows how YOU work!!". And finally John Spencer is also very good in his role as the police chief Al Travis, who is forced to give up Danny as the charges of murder are filed against him.
As for the pointing people to their spots and telling them what to say guy (i.e. the director!) F Gary Gray does an excellent job here as he skillfully builds up the suspense as the film progresses. And despite the film clocking in at 2 hours and 20 minutes it never really drags and Gray also manages to keep the pacing fairly tight as well as doing a fine job with the film's action scenes. The film's music score is also very worthy of note as it was done by Graeme Revell and its a very good score which is both suspenseful and dramatic and is perfectly suited to the film's intense tone.
So getting onto the flaws and niggles bit of the review: does The Negotiator have any worth moaning about??? Well yeah it does have one or two. The main problem with The Negotiator is simply once again having to suspend your disbelief as to how improbable the whole situation is, as while Danny is innocent of murder, he IS guilty of taking hostages and creating a hostage crisis! Although this is even acknowledged at one point in the film by Sabian who says "There are ways to prove your innocence. This is hardly one of them". No shit! And despite Danny having created a hostage situation and his old police buddies went even as far as trying to take him out during the film, after Danny has cleared his name at the end, they are still willing to sweep the whole hostage crisis under the carpet as though it never really happened as far as Danny was concerned! And trust is almost immediately re-established between Danny and his fellow police officers, which is pretty silly and far fetched to say the least!
I also thought the film's ending was a bit lame (PLOT SPOILER AHEAD!!) with the showdown at Niebaum's house and the corrupt cops showing up, as Danny taunts them he in effect get's them to admit their own culpability in the scam. And Sabian's bluff with Frost at the end is also pretty daft and I don't believe for a second that Frost would accept that Sabian has become a turncoat as well, and surely he must know that Sabian is bluffing, as the man is a negotiator after all! Yet somehow Frost doesn't twig this and he ends up getting caught and arrested by his own men. Also there is a misconception in film's that if you shoot a computer that you won't be able to retrieve data off it from the hard drive, which is what Frost does to Niebaum's computer in an effort to destroy any of the wiretaps he was alleged to have on it. When in the fact I'm sure you could open up the computer and take out the hard drive and probably put it in another computer and it will work (or in any case the data is retrievable, which is my point).
But despite all those niggles aside, The Negotiator is still a very entertaining and gripping thriller which is certainly worth watching, especially as it has a great cast, good action scenes and even a good soundtrack.
So on that bit right there, I shall say byee for now.
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