The Negotiator

The Negotiator is a 1998 American action thriller film directed by F. Gary Gray. It stars Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey as Chicago police lieutenants who are expert hostage negotiators. The film was released in the United States on July 29, 1998, receiving generally positive reviews from critics and grossing $88 million worldwide. Plot Lieutenant Danny Roman, a top hostage negotiator for the Chicago Police Department's east precinct, is told by his partner, Nate Roenick, that according to an informant whom he refuses to name, members of their own unit are embezzling large amounts of money from the department's disability fund, of which Danny is a board member. Nate tells Danny that his informant hasn't told Internal Affairs because he thinks they might be involved as well. Later on, Danny goes to meet Nate but finds him dead, shot in the head. A squad car arrives on the scene within seconds, considering Danny a prime suspect. Matters become worse for Danny when IAD inspector Terence Niebaum, whom Nate's informant suspected of involvement in the embezzlement, is assigned to investigate the murder. After the gun that killed Nate, which is found in the lake next to his car, is linked to a case Danny had worked on, Niebaum and other investigators search the Roman house and discover papers for an offshore bank account with a deposit equal to one of the amounts of money embezzled. Danny is forced to surrender his gun and badge, and his colleagues are skeptical of his protestations of innocence. With embezzlement and homicide charges pending, Danny storms into Niebaum's office to confront him. When the inspector refuses to cooperate, Danny takes Niebaum, his administrative assistant Maggie, Danny's commander and friend Grant Frost and con man Rudy Timmons as hostages. With the building is evacuated and placed under siege by his own CPD unit and the FBI, Danny issues his conditions: he wants his badge back, the locating of Nate's informant and killer, a department funeral if he dies and the summoning of Lieutenant Chris Sabian, the city's other top negotiator. Danny believes he can trust the methodical Chris, because he talks for as long as possible, sees tactical action as a last resort, and being from the CPD's west precinct eliminates him as a suspect in the disability fund scheme.