You Don't Negotiate With A Negotiator (The Negotiator (DVD))

Member Name: Great_reviewer07

Product:	The Negotiator (DVD)
Date:	07/08/09 (74 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great story, lots of pulse-pounding action

Disadvantages: Story slows down in the middle

Danny Roman (Samuel L.Jackson) is a Lieutenant hostage negotiator with 20 years of experience on his side. In a scene unassimilated to the main storyline we witness Danny doing what he does best; when a criminal holding a shotgun has a hostage, Danny offers himself as a hostage in order for the police to save the hostage and kill the criminal. Danny is a highly respected negotiator who has many friends in the police who he thinks will always have his back no matter what.

That's until his partner Nate is assassinated in his car whilst waiting for an informant. Danny is the first on the scene therefore is taken in for questioning however it soon seems that Danny is more than just a witness and becomes their only suspect. He protests his innocent but the evidence against him is mounting quicker than he can comprehend. Therefore Danny, in a moment of madness, reverts to what he does best. He uses his expertise to take a group of hostages into a room in the Internal Affairs building. If no one wants to believe that Danny's innocent he's going to make them sit up and take notice of the conspiracy of which he is convinced of...

This is a film that I hadn't heard of up until a few nights ago, this was showing on TV late one night and it was only by chance that I noticed it was on, on a whim I decided to record it not knowing what to expect. The plot synopsis sounded intriguing but I seem to have a love/hate relationship with hostage movies, there have been some fantastic ones in the past (Die Hard) however on the other hand there have been terrible ones which always make me approach these sorts of films with an air of scepticism because of their ability to swing both ways in such vast ways.

Luckily The Negotiator is leaning towards the Die Hard quality of hostage films, don't get me wrong it's by no means a classic and will never be known as one of the great action movies however I found this movie to be absolutely fantastic. This exceeded all my expectations by far and it ended up being one of the best films of this sort that I've seen in a long time. For a film this good, that seems to have been well received by other people too I was surprised that I hadn't heard of it before, it's a shame when a film of this quality slips under the radar and the terrible films that continue to be shown on TV on a regular basis are given the prime time slots.

The main reason that I decided to watch this film was simply because of the name that I read, that name being none other than Samuel L. Jackson, he's a phenomenal actor and over the years has become one of my favourites. He doesn't have to rely on looks to make great movies, his acting ability speaks for itself and he's one of the most talented and forthright people I've ever seen on the big screen. He has an excellent charisma about him that instantly lights up the screen and he has an uncanny ability to deliver crisp one-liners that will no doubt make the audience laugh even if it's just at the delivery. He's brilliant in this film and was the highlight for me, I highly doubt that I would have liked this film half as much if anyone else had filled the part simply because no one can fill his shoes. His character of Danny is extremely likeable, when we're introduced to him we're introduced to a man who's dedicated to his job, wants to save as many lives as possible, is respected by his colleagues and is loved unconditionally by wife. There's nothing not to like about this guy therefore when we witness the murder of which he is not responsible for we get behind him and back him all the way the find out the truth.

Kevin Spacey co-stars and is excellent in his own way however is overshadowed by the superior Samuel L. Jackson. Kevin Spacey's character is also likeable and you know from the off-set that he's going to be a character that goes by the book and is a straight down the line sort of guy. The thing that I didn't like about his character though is that he doesn't have a lot of depth to him, when we first see him he's sorting out an argument between his wife and his daughter which makes the audience instantly warm to him. However I was expecting to learn more about his character and his background as the film progressed by unfortunately this didn't happen.

The film runs for approximately 139 minutes, I found this to be a bit long and about half way through the plot becomes a bit bogged down and stale only to pick up after a bit however the film would have held my attention more if it were a bit shorter. A few of the scenes, entertaining as they were, were simply there to fill time and weren't completely necessary for the storyline meaning that if we have missed out on them it wouldn't have made even an iota of difference.

I felt that the story was great however with a little bit more depth it would have been superb, fortunately the action manages to fill in the cracks concerning the storyline but it still would have been a plus if we had a little bit more information regarding the conspiracy. The way things are revealed half way through the film really grips your attention however dribs and drabs of information fed to us through a straw does the film no favours because although we're getting snippets of information it doesn't let the audience make an assumption on who could be the culprit, instead leaving us on tenterhooks until the very end with a very good and long awaited ending which I have to say is definitely worth the wait.

Despite the few cracks in the story this is a fantastic thriller which will undoubtedly have you hooked from start to finish. The acting is superb, the storyline is riveting and despite the long running time the ending is perfect. If you haven't seen this then it's definitely one to look out for.

The DVD is currently available from play.com for £4.99, which is a bargain for a film this good.

The special features include:
Trailer
On Location: Behind the scenes Documentary

Summary: A fantastic action movie