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The
Negotiator
***1/2
Cinema
Releases - November 27, 1998
Rated on a 4-star
scale; USA; Directed by F. Gary Gray. Written by James DeMonaco and
Kevin Fox. Starring Samuel
L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, David Morse, Ron Rifkin, John Spencer, J.T. Walsh,
Regina Taylor.
I should have been tearing my hair out during
the opening passages of "The Negotiator", and if it had been
produced with any less skill, I would have been. It contains the tired cop-movie
opener of a well known maverick emerging victorious over an impossible situation.
The obligatory follow-up, in which everybody congratulates the hero as they
get drunk and watch themselves on the evening news, and the captain warns
that same hero: "Gotta watch yourself... one day these crazy ways are gonna
get you in a lotta trouble!" The scene where a main character is framed for
a hideous crime, and -- gasp! -- his friends are "in on it"! The gun-and-badge
scene, in which the guy turns said items in. And, believe it or not, we even
get lines to the effect of "I'm gonna find out who killed my
partner!"
Perhaps it was the production value -- the wonderful
photography of Russell Carpenter, the slick editing of Chris Wagner; perhaps
it was the refreshing presence of fine actors -- such as Samuel L. Jackson,
David Morse and J.T. Walsh; probably it was positive reviews I had read before
seeing the movie -- but for some reason, I not only sat through the
aforementioned scenes without complaining, but with the sneaking suspicion
that I was going to see a good movie. Correct.
"The Negotiator" is terrific Friday-night
entertainment, a film that combines storytelling skill with breathtaking
examples of pure filmmaking so well that, in an attempt to describe the
experience, some people will no doubt use the words "dumb" and "intelligent"
in the same sentence. If it does not match up to the level of Jan De Bont's
1994 masterpiece "Speed", the film which it seems most directly modelled
after in terms of structure, no matter -- the fact that it earns comparison
with that film already sets it apart from most Hollywood action
fare.
Jackson plays Danny Roman, a hostage negotiator
in the Chicago Police Department, who was the hero in all the hero clichés
I discussed in my opening paragraph. After the frame-up, and clear indications
from those responsible that they have both the intention and the opportunity
of successfully following that frame-up through, he becomes deranged, and,
in a moment of frenzy, decides to take hostages, so people will listen to
him.
In this movie, the idea of taking these hostages
isn't as dumb as it seems -- the particulars of the set-up make it plausible
that this dangerous game could get Roman the information he needs. The cops
come, but the cops necessary to deal with hostage negotiation are all people
Roman knows well, and can no longer trust, so he refuses to deal with anyone
but Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey), a very rare acquaintance of Roman's, a
professional, and someone from another precinct -- unlikely to have interests
to protect by being an enemy to him.
Since these men are so good at what they do, experts
challenging each other in a tense situation, and they are intelligent enough
not to try and fool each other, the negotiations are very interesting. Add
the fact that actors Jackson and Spacey give Roman and Sabian a convincing
insider chemistry, then consider that the rules of the game are allowed to
keep changing with masterfully slight twists in the tale, and what you have
in "The Negotiator" is a highly enjoyable thriller.
Many of these tense thrills are action-packed,
such as when the anti-Roman conspirators try to sneak assassins near him
behind Sabian's back, and Roman ruthlessly defends his position like an army
general. And many of them are more character-based, thanks to the likeability
of Jackson, who makes Roman someone who we desperately hope won't go too
far. The film also has some beautiful little speeches, like when Roman gives
an internal affairs inspector (the late J.T. Walsh) a lecture about the "tells"
of a liar. And if you'll permit me to rejoice, perhaps pettily, in what
I found to be something of a wonderful little anti-establishment victory:
It's ever so satisfying to see a black hero in an A-list American action
movie outsmart a lot of white villains.
COPYRIGHT©
1998 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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