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Customer Reviews of The Negotiator

The great Samuel L. Jackson stars as a hostage negotiator who is framed for stealing money and murdering his partner. The equally great Kevin Spacey plays the hostage negotiator Jackson calls in to talk to after he takes hostages and tries to prove his innocence. The scenes between Jackson and Spacey are very intense as one tries to outwit the other. The late J.T. Walsh is at his creepy best as the crooked I.A.D. officer. If your looking for a smart and entertaining thriller, look not further.

Above average production saves a by-the-numbers script
Despite it's production values, NEGOTIATOR barely resonates the amount of action and suspense that it tries to display. Samuel L. Jackson plays a police negotiator being framed by an unknown ring of cops stealing money from their local retirement fund. In desperation, he takes a few people from the internal affairs department hostage after a heated confrontation goes from bad to worse.

Kevin Spacey is another police negotiator assigned to "talk him down," to surrender. As the saying goes, the war of wits begins as Jackson tries to convince Spacey of his innocence, and Spacey tries to subtly trick Jackson into surrendering.

Unfortunately, this is the sort of film where you can predict the ending long before the end credits roll. The reasons for this is clear : Spacey is never convincing as a worthy opponent for Jackson because we already know that Jackson's version is the truth.

What saves the film from complete mediocrity are the above-average production values and the star power of Jackson, Spacey and David Morse (who is never quite convincing as a tough-as-nails police officer).

If they had shot this movie from Spacey's perspective : A man who enters a situation neutral to previous events, perhaps they would have generated the suspense that they had so badly wanted. Jackson would have then portrayed the desperate but determined man he seems to be, spouting off paranoid rants about being framed. Not only would that have been believable, but it would have also been suspenseful as Spacey realizes the man might be correct. As it stands now, THE NEGOTIATOR thrills simply through routine action scenes and star power.

The Negotiator (1998)
Director: F. Gary Gray
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, Ron Rifkin, John Spencer, J.T. Walsh.
Running Time: 135 minutes.
Rated R for violence and language.

When the director has the lucky chance to work with not just one, but TWO of the most exceptional modern actions of the past decade, he should have been licking his chops in anticipation. Director F. Gary Gray (whose previous work was with Ice Cube and Chris Tucker in "Friday") uses the likes of Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey to his advantage, creating a fast-paced action-drama that uses both actors as chess pieces that are intertwined in a suspenseful race against time.

Jackson stars as an extremely successful hostage negotiatior who loses his partner in an accident. When he is framed for the accident as murder, he takes matters into his own hands by taking hostages himself. Kevin Spacey is the top-of-the-line officer assigned to assist the police department with consultations with Jackson, only to find himself in the most unique hostate situation he has ever encountered. Both must learn to trust each other, with Jackson attempting to find the true answers about his partner's death and Spacey trying to keep his incredible reputation in tact.

Gray does a fine job using the intense script (which unfortunately does have a few logical lapses), producing a motion picture that possesses all the essential ingredients to be a successful and enteraining flick. Jackson is very good in the lead role, while Spacey is as his usual best. Although F. Gary Gray was lucky enough to have excellent people for support, he does a fine job pulling off one of the better action thrillers of the year.