journal features

movie review - The Negotiator

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Toronto, 1999.03.20

This was an entertaining movie. I've got little to add, though, 'cos it's a little dull. Many of the usual Hollywood shortcuts are taken here: main characters are surprisingly unexplored, even in a movie that does little more than pit two opponents against one another in dialog. Also, the Hollywood habit of aggrandizing every little plot twitch (imagine a chess game where every shift of a pawn comes with shattering glass and shouted, overly clever dialog and clenched jaws) robs the resolution of all of its significance. At the end, you find yourself not overly sympathetic with anyone, nor terribly moved by the conclusion; by then, you're just numb.

This is more or less a rehashing of a theme very common in movies these days, a simple tale of someone (typically a cop) who loses everything (be it wife, partner, or just his good name) fighting against cardboard villains in the period of a day or two. Cop Town and Payback did this better, with more interesting characters, more interesting plot devices, (somewhat) less inane dialog, and better cinematography.

Not recommended.

rand()m quote

The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love, and in order to occupy and distract himself without love he gives way to passions and coarse pleasures, and sinks to bestiality in his vices, all from continual lying to other men and to himself.

—Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov