Negotiate this (The Negotiator (DVD))

Member Name: cmh4135

Product:	The Negotiator (DVD)
Date:	24/08/09 (71 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Draws you in

Disadvantages: Need to suspend belief

++ FILM ONLY REVIEW ++


The combination of Samuel L Jackson and Kevin Spacey should be enough to tell you that this action-packed thriller is likely to be good - and good it is.

Roman (Jackson) is a police negotiator and a damn fine one at that. He's not one to play quite by the rules but he gets the job done. In a dramatic turning of the tables Roman finds himself on the wrong side of the hostage wall - as the hostage taker. Enter Sabien (Spacey) a negotiator from across State. Hand-picked by Roman, Sabien is the one who, ultimately, holds the future and the life of Roman in his hands. There's more than a hint of "Metro" (Eddie Murphy) about The Negotiator but the punch that the latter packs is far, far bigger.

Despite the two big names (and boy, do they give this film their all) this is not a film that depends solely on the two main characters. Excellent performances by David Morse (Commander Beck) and J T Walsh (Niebaum) help to drive the action along at a pace (despite Niebaum being tied to a chair for most of the action), and, until the final page turn, one is left as in the dark about the real turn of events as Roman and Sabien. It's no surprise that the two leads dominate the action and, this is perhaps one of the failings of the film, or maybe one of its savings - the other characters simply pale into the background when our heroes are on screen making it rather hard, at times, to follow the background story. This adds both to the confusion, but also the tension in the film as one's understanding of the truth is stretched.

This is a story of mistrust, lies and fabrications - the very tools that a negotiator would use, only this time it's not Roman who is spinning the web. It's a film full of twists and turns that, despite a rather pedestrian baseline manage to keep the audience guessing. The suspense is, in part, created by some excellent direction (Gray) and cinematography (Russell Carpenter). Darkness is used to great effect (yet one can always see what is going on) and our own beliefs and assumptions are toyed with in a dramatic way. Gray's directing puts us in touch with the characters allowing the audience to be manipulated in a way rarely seen in an action film.

Despite a run time of over 2 hours I didn't feel myself clock watching and that, for me, was good - particularly for a film of this type where there's not a huge journey to be undertaken.

The score by Graeme Revell is so fitting of the movie, surrounding and involving the audience in a remarkable way. It complements rather than detracts from the action and yet remains a very complete work in its own right.

There's a feeling of action hero about the whole film despite there not being a hell of a lot of action from our main guy. Having said that, I think it makes the film a whole lot more accessible to go down this route rather than the pure psychological tennis that could have been played between our two negotiators. The film is undeniably Hollywood make-believe. It's tense but no psychological thriller. It's about bangs and flashes rather than intellectual debate. You'll be asked to suspend belief more than a few times and, at times, this feels rather lazy. It's still a mighty good film though!

I think that had this film been made with two other leads it would have been, at best, average. However, given the vigour with which Jackson and Spacey attack their roles and the obvious sparking into life that this lend to the other cast members this is one film that proves that you can suspend belief and yet end up believing.


Worth watching.

Summary: A very watchable film with some cracking performances