Taglines: He frees hostages for a living. Now he’s taking hostages to survive.
The Negotiator movie storyline. Lieutenant Danny Roman, a top Chicago Police Department hostage negotiator, is approached by his partner, Nate Roenick that according to an informant (whom he refuses to name), members of their own unit are defrauding large amounts of money from the department’s disability fund, for which Roman is a board member. When Roman goes for another meeting, he finds Roenick dead seconds before other police arrive, pinning Roman as the prime suspect.
Matters become worse for Roman when Internal Affairs investigator Terence Niebaum, whom Roenick’s informant suspected of involvement in the embezzlement, is assigned to investigate the murder. After the gun that killed Roenick is linked to a case Roman had worked on, Niebaum and other investigators search Roman’s house and discover papers for an offshore bank account with a deposit equal to one of the amounts of money embezzled.
Roman is forced to surrender his gun and badge, and his colleagues are doubtful of his protests of innocence. With embezzlement and homicide charges pending, Roman storms into Niebaum’s office and demands answers about who set him up. When Niebaum refuses to answer, Roman takes him, his administrative assistant Maggie, police commander Grant Frost, and weak willed con man Rudy Timmons as hostages.
With the building evacuated and placed under siege by his own CPD unit and the FBI, Roman issues his conditions: locating Roenick’s informant and summoning lieutenant Chris Sabian, the city’s other top negotiator. Roman believes he can trust Sabian, because he talks for as long as possible, sees tactical action as a last resort, and being from another precinct eliminates him as a suspect in the disability fund scheme. Sabian clashes with the CPD, but is given temporary command of the unit after they hastily attempt a breach that goes awry, resulting in two additional officers becoming Roman’s hostages.
The Negotiator is a 1998 American action thriller film directed by F. Gary Gray, and starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey as two hostage lieutenants. Other starring are David Morse, Paul Giamatti, Ron Rifkin, John Spencer, J. T. Walsh, Regina Taylor, Bruce Beatty and Michael Cudlitz.
The Negotiator (1998)
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, David Morse, Paul Giamatti, Ron Rifkin, John Spencer, J. T. Walsh, Regina Taylor, Bruce Beatty, Michael Cudlitz
Screenplay by: James DeMonaco, Kevin Fox
Production Design by: Holger Gross
Cinematography by: Russell Carpenter
Film Editing by: Christian Wagner
Costume Design by: Francine Jamison-Tanchuck
Set Decoration by: Richard C. Goddard
Art Direction by: Kevin Ishioka
Music by: Graeme Revell
MPAA Rating: R for violence and language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: July 29, 1998
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