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. The plot involves a Chicago cop, expert in the art of hostage negotiation (Jackson) who finds himself blamed for the murder of his partner after he confides in him that monies are being stolen from the department disability fund and that it's an inside job, involving cops and officers from Internal Affairs. Jackson does an excellent job playing the bull in the china shop; a newly-married high energy risk taker working to calm down his 'crazy' antics to assure peace in his marriage. Just as he thinks he's got it, he's accused of murdering his partner and decides to take the law in his own hands, managing to overpower an entire building full of armed police officers, taking hostages in an impulsive act of desperation. This is when the film goes into unrealistic plot twists-Jackson repeatedly controls and bullies the police department,… more »

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. The plot involves a Chicago cop, expert in the art of hostage negotiation (Jackson) who finds himself blamed for the murder of his partner after he confides in him that monies are being stolen from the department disability fund and that it's an inside job, involving cops and officers from Internal Affairs. Jackson does an excellent job playing the bull in the china shop; a newly-married high energy risk taker working to calm down his 'crazy' antics to assure peace in his marriage. Just as he thinks he's got it, he's accused of murdering his partner and decides to take the law in his own hands, managing to overpower an entire building full of armed police officers, taking hostages in an impulsive act of desperation. This is when the film goes into unrealistic plot twists-Jackson repeatedly controls and bullies the police department, special task force and FBI until the entire city of Chicago is at his mercy, unable to bring him down despite repeated efforts to take him out. Enter Kevin Spacey, another talented and expert 'negotiator', and the two characters go at it out-talking and out-negotiating each other through the crisis. Jackson and Spacey do wonders with their characters, and the strong performances make up for the lack of believability in the script. There's plenty of action, violence and emotional charge - everyone in the movie is effective