It must have seemed like such a good idea. Take two well-respected character actors and give them both top-billing in a big-budget action adventure. How could it fail ? Both Kevin Spacey and Samuel L. Jackson are well respected actors, having combined critical acclaim working for both independent directors (Jackson for Spike Lee & Quentin Tarantino, and Spacey for Bryan Singer & David Fincher) with sidekick roles in big budget movies. It is therefore a disappointment to find that the potential to frame a tightly constructed psychological thriller around the two should be wasted in return for a routine cliché-laden police drama.
The story opens with a police negotiator, Danny Roman (Jackson), trying to coax an unhinged man to release his hostage (a young girl) in an apartment building. His decision to ignore standard police procedure ensures the girl's release but enrages the commander of the SWAT team, Commander Beck (David Morse). Imagine, the maverick cop whose unorthodox methods save the day while the rest of the force blunder about, following boring old procedure. What I can't understand is why the police don't let the maverick cops write the rule book, since every cop movie clearly shows their way to be the best. Clichés don't come much hoarier than this. Ah, but there's more. That same night, Roman's partner is murdered and evidence is found that points to Roman as the murderer and also as an embezzler of the police pension fund.
Roman knows he 's being set up and, since no-one believes him, he goes to offices of Internal Affairs and takes some hostages. His demand is that the truth about his partner's murder be uncovered. And one more thing; he wants top police negotiator Chris Sabian (Spacey) to negotiate with him. Since both negotiators know every psychological trick in the book, who will win the battle of wills ? One of Roman's hostages is Terence Niebaum (J.T. Walsh), an Internal Affairs whom Roman believes helped frame him and can name the other conspirators. Of course, since the other conspirators are presumably among the police surrounding the building with Roman and his hostages, it is in their interest that Roman doesn't survive the siege.
The whodunit aspects of the movie is the least satisfying part of the movie. In order to keep the audience wondering who is the bad guy, each character performs at least one major out-of character (i.e. unbelievable) action. Would Roman really harm the hostages if he was innocent; would Cmdr. Beck really order his men to riddle the room with bullets if he didn't have something to hide; etc., etc. The interaction between Jackson and Spacey is fun to watch, and their developing relationship is credible. Unfortunately, the story relies on more than its fair share of shoot-outs to prop up the flagging plot, and the story rolls to a slow and shuddering halt reaching its conclusion.
Directed by F. Gary Gray.
| ****** Excellent - An outstanding
movie ***** V. Good - Very enjoyable or engrossing **** Good - Entertaining *** Mediocre - Nothing special ** Poor - A waste of time * Terrible - Complete rubbish |
*** |
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