BEFORE: The loose connection to last night's film? Samuel L. Jackson, who starred in "Die Hard 3". Actually I switched things up again, I'm still trying to watch "Heat", but I stayed up way too late last night (aka early this morning) playing "Grand Theft Auto 3" for the umpteenth time. I forgot how much fun that game is...
THE PLOT: In a desperate attempt to prove his innocence, a skilled police negotiator accused of corruption and murder takes hostages in a government office to gain the time he needs to find the truth.
AFTER: Irony abounds as the man who's usually counted on to defuse tense hostage situations is forced to cause one, in order to prove his innocence. Samuel L. Jackson (last seen in "Iron Man") plays Danny Roman, one of Chicago's top negotiators - so he knows all the tricks, the ins and outs of police tactics and strategies.
Fortunately Chicago has TWO top negotiators, so they call in Chris Sabian, played by Kevin Spacey (last seen in "Superman Returns") to negotiate with the negotiator. This is what's called "Hollywood logic", like hiring a thief to catch another thief, or going to see a serial killer to get advice on catching another serial killer.
Roman has been accused of murder and some financial scandal, which involves the police pension fund, or insurance fraud, or something... Note: if you can't sum up a movie crime in one sentence, then you might be making it too complicated - why not dumb it down so the people at home can follow along? Anyway, there's been some impropriety, and Roman's partner has been killed - and the masterminds behind it all are either dirty cops, or possibly dirty internal affairs cops.
The crafty nature of this film lies in the casting - in addition to the big stars like Jackson and Spacey (the concept here seems to be to throw Capital-A actors in a room and let them act their way out of it...) all of the cops, IAB cops and FBI agents are played by great character actors - the kind who have made their bones playing both good guys and villains. So, we don't know which cops are on the take - hell, it could be all of them!
There are some nice twists, but in the end perhaps there were a few too many characters, it could have been simplified. But then I guess we'd have fewer suspects to choose from...
Also starring Paul Giamatti (last seen in "The Illusionist"), David Morse (last seen in "The Rock"), Ron Rifkin (last seen in "The Sunshine Boys"), John Spencer (also last seen in "The Rock"), J.T. Walsh (last seen in "Pleasantville") and Siobhan Fallon (last seen in "Charlotte's Web"). Oh, and I almost forgot the two guys from "CSI", Paul Guilfoyle (last seen in "Air Force One") and Robert David Hall (last seen in "Deal of the Century")
RATING: 6 out of 10 flash grenades
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