When Lieutenant Danny Roman, a negotiator, is framed for the murder of his partner, Nate Roenick, he decides to take the law into his own hands. By assembling his own group of hostages, and making his own set of demands, Roman hopes to prove his innocence to his colleagues, and find out who really murdered his friend.
"When your friends betray you, sometimes the only people you can trust are strangers."
Movies that include the setting up of an innocent person usually tend to bug me, especially toward the beginning of the film. I find the actual setup extremely hard to watch. Can't explain why. The thought of everyone turning against you because of something you didn't do... Perhaps I put myself in the "innocent's" place, but I really don't know. I suppose it just makes me uncomfortable. However, having said that, the payoff that usually occurs at the end of these movies is awesome and totally worth the uneasiness of the start.
The Negotiator is a very entertaining, fast paced, action-thriller. It contains a bit of everything, which is exactly what the best action films do. I recommend it to all who love a good action flick.
I just have to bring this up: During these types of films, script writers generally forget that people need to use the restroom every so often; however, the writers of The Negotiator did not forget this, so I'd like to say thank you to James DeMonaco and Kevin Fox for remembering this little fact of life.
"You were wrong about me. What if I'm right about them?"
There are alot of similarities to Die Hard (1988) in The Negotiator; so many so that I won't bother going into it. But, as Die Hard is my favourite film, I had little problem with this. I imagine the writers of this film are also Die Hard fans, and probably used it for inspiration. No harm done. If anything, the film benefited from its Die Hard resemblance.
One thing I must mention about The Negotiator is its ending, or, more to the point, what should have happened after the whole ordeal was over. **Spoilers ahead** Right, what happens at the end of the feature is that Roman does indeed prove his innocence, and, we are lead to believe, that everything returns to normal. I take issue with this. You see, despite the fact that Roman was not guilty to begin with, by the end of the film, he was guilty of many things. Really, he could have been arrested and jailed for a number of crimes. I mean, he held people hostage a gun point, he destroyed a government building; these are crimes punishable by jail time. I highly doubt that the same people willing to believe Roman to be a murderer, and send him to prison for that, would think twice about sending him to prison for crimes he actually committed. Anywho...
Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey are both completely believable as Danny Roman and Chris Sabian, respectively. Jackson has one of the best resumes in the business, and this film fits in perfectly with that. As far as Spacey is concerned, he's one of the best actors currently working, and it's always a pleasure to see him onscreen. The rest of the cast is full of faces you recognize but names you don't. They, too, are all very good in their roles.
The Negotiator is exciting, and very suspenseful. I had a really good time watching this film. 8/10
Trivia: The Negotiator was originally written to star Sylvester Stallone in Kevin's Spacey's role of Chris Sabian, and Kevin Spacey in Samuel L. Jackson's role of Danny Roman. However, when Stallone, thankfully, turned down the role, Spacey decided to switch roles, and Jackson was then brought in to play Roman.
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