Teaming for the first time Kevin Spacey and Samuel Jackson, arguably the two best actors of their generation, in perfectly fitting roles is a shrewd move and the best element of this fact-inspired but overwrought thriller

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Sep 11, 2006

A hybrid action-drama featuring the choreographed pyrotechnics of director Gray and a battle of words between contrasting hostage negotiators Jackson and Spacey.

| Jan 26, 2006

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 25, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000

The movie's a thriller that really hums along, and I was intensely involved almost all the way. Only now, typing up my notes, do I fully realize how many formula elements it contains.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000

The Negotiator falls short of greatness by a country mile; it's too chatty for its own good sometimes. But it's still a solid shoot-'em-up.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 1, 2000

ike Mr. Jackson, Mr. Spacey cuts an impressively cryptic figure even when dealing in platitudes, and the two stars do get to make the sort of declarations that rarely crop up in everyday life.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 1, 2000

"The Negotiator" slogs on for two hours and 20 minutes, and there's hardly a real laugh or a genuine thrill in it.

| Jan 1, 2000

To the extent the setup allows Spacey and Jackson to go head to head, it's a good thing. But there are other elements in the film that aren't nearly as interesting or satisfying.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 1, 2000

Just about everyone in The Negotiator is either blowing off steam or holding it in, and that's the movie's chief pleasure. The action is really a pipeline into audience fantasies-of restraint and release, of hot-blooded aggression made cool.

| Original Score: B+ | Jul 29, 1998