The Negotiator: Critic Reviews

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.

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.

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.

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

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

The Negotiator deserves a place among the best action/thrillers of the year. This is a Dog Day Afternoon for the '90s.

This highly incredible story lives and dies on its leading performances, so it's a damn good thing someone hired Jackson and Spacey to go toe to toe. [Blu-ray]

...may lack a certain degree of common sense but makes up for it with plenty of excitement and suspense.

What makes this talk-heavy actioner work is the intriguing battle of wits between two formidable, intelligent opponents.

A boring script filmed by a fine director and great actors is still a boring script.

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

Jackson and Spacey, et al, demonstrate that even the most pedestrian script can be elevated by good acting.

I'm glad Warner Bros. has gone back to making movies instead of theme park rides.

Though it adds nothing new to the genre, The Negotiator is a showcase for its actors and, as such, is a rare breed these days.

An entertaining, if familiar, action/thriller.

Mais um bom filme de acao - e so.

This implausible, turgid, suspenseless storyline resists both fine acting and Gray's overwrought MTV chops.

Todos los que salimos de la funcion teniamos la misma idea al respecto: jamas creimos que fuera tan buena.