Danny Roman (Jackson) is one of the top hostage negotiators in Chicago. His job is to make sure that everyone gets out alive. But he is quickly caught in the middle of a murder investigation and is accused of embezzling the retirement fund. To get himself out of this hole he decides to take some hostages, including the internal affairs investigator in charge of his case. He refuses to talk to anyone except Chris Sabian (Spacey). Sabian tries to quickly defuse the situation and to talk Roman down. But his task is hampered by the other police at the scene, some of whom just want to run in with guns blazing to bring the siege to a quick end.

The Negotiator is a well above average action/thriller. For the most part the plot makes sense, and there are some nice twists and turns along the way. The one problem with this movie is the brain dead move of Roman to take hostages. It's not like he has ever seen a hostage situation work out as a win for the hostage taker! And yet he decides the best way to get himself out of his dilemma is to take hostages and issue threats and demands. Jackson performs well as the honest cop falsely accused, but doesn't really add anything to what is by now a fairly standard clich in the annals of cop movies. Spacey is better as the other negotiator, giving a convincing performance as he comes to believe that there may be something to Roman's claims of a conspiracy directed at him. In all, one of the better films of last year, and well worth watching.