Where to watch The Negotiator
3 Stars
In the midst of an elaborate conspiracy, an expert negotiator is driven to the edge when he’s framed for the murder of his partner, as well as embezzling money from his department’s pension fund. His only chance to prove his innocence is to take hostages himself, acquire the services of another expert negotiator, and find out who’s running the conspiracy before it’s too late.
Sylvester Stallone allegedly had The Negotiator in mind before taking its current form. That would have been a wise career choice for Sly, who passed on the project, providing the opportunity to Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey instead. F. Gary Gray directs the film in a straightforward and clean visual style similar to Andrew Davis’ works. Davis is another director known for frequently using Chicago locations in his movies and specializing in intelligent action thrillers.
The dialogue-heavy screenplay is a two-hander between Jackson and Spacey, who only share a few scenes. For most of the story, Jackson acts off of character actors J.T. Walsh and Paul Giamatti, while Spacey shares his scenes with David Morse and Ron Rifkin. The Negotiator has a 135-minute runtime- due to a lengthy first act that sets up the police conspiracy, which leads to Jackson’s character taking hostages. The film has action and violence, but it’s more interested in the verbal exchanges between great actors than gunplay.
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Written by: James DeMonaco, Kevin Fox
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, David Morse