The Negotiator
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: July 29, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
6
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A triumph of style over story, and of acting over characters. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
This little-hyped thriller emerges as a dark-horse winner by reminding us of how pleasurably exciting a popcorn movie can be when it's populated by actors who are in it for more than an exorbitant fee. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The Negotiator, once it gets going (there's a rather lengthy prosaic setup), is a satisfyingly tense and booby-trapped thriller about the meeting of two relentless minds. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubStephen Thompson
One of the best by-the-numbers thrillers you'll see this year, thanks to a hot-shot cast. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
This tough, crackling thriller from director Gary Gray is one of those rare action movies with something on its mind other than moviestar sneers and incessant big bangs. Read full review
80
The New YorkerBruce Diones
F. Gary Gray, the young director of the 1996 female heist film "Set It Off," runs with a good script (by James DeMonaco and Kevin Fox) and gives us the summer's first action film that's as rich in character as it is in suspense. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)John Haslett Cuff
From the film's bravura opening scene to its cute but bloody conclusion, The Negotiator plays out as tautly as any crowd-pleasing action flick since Die Hard,which it emulates with shameless glee. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Once the initial setup has been accomplished and the film kicks into high gear, it grabs the viewer's attention and holds it for the rest of the running time. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
It's a measure of how pulsating and energetic a visual style director F. Gary Gray has, and how vividly actors Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey come across on screen, that this film is intensely watchable from minute to minute, even though a lot of what's happening doesn't stand up to a moment's scrutiny. Read full review
70
Film ThreatRon Wells
Jackson gives an amazing, nuanced performance as he teeters on the edge of paranoia. Spacey gives a great, toned-down show as I guy who's in over his head trying to find out what the hell is going on. Read full review
70
NewsweekDavid Ansen
It's amazing how a sense of humor can turn a formula film into a frolic. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
This taut crime thriller is a welcome antidote to brainless action extravaganzas in which the mayhem is the message, and rests on two shrewd, perfectly modulated performances. Read full review
70
VarietyEmanuel Levy
The teaming of Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey, two of the most highly regarded actors around, in perfectly fitting roles that call for a battle of wits and wills, proves to be a shrewd piece of casting, and the best element of The Negotiator. Read full review
70
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Fortunately, Jackson and Spacey have enough sassy wit and crackling intensity between them to keep The Negotiator from becoming hostage to its own inanity. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
The Negotiator falls short of greatness by a country mile; it's too chatty for its own good sometimes. But it's still a solid shoot-'em-up. Read full review
60
EmpireNick de Semlyen
Kudos to Anderson and Gilroy for making a low-action, dialogue-heavy geopolitical thriller in this day and age. But aside from finally giving its star some strong material to work with, it doesn’t live up to its promise. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
This is fairly efficient if you can square efficiency with being twice as long as necessary and overly familiar to boot; at least Jackson and Spacey keep it afloat. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Though the film has its basis in an actual event that took place in St. Louis, it takes on the homogeneous look of many other thrillers in which an emergency escalates into a paramilitary operation. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The movie has finesse, and the actors have charm, but there are no surprises. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara Shulgasser
When the mystery is unraveled and the frame-up is revealed, I, personally, had no idea what anyone was talking about. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverPeter Rainer
Instead of the cat-and-mouse cogitations and psych-outs one might rightly expect from this high concept, we're fobbed off with a lot of sub-Die Hard theatrics and stinko plotting. Read full review
30
Washington PostStephen Hunter
A whodunit so bafflingly constructed that you can't even figure out what it is, so the whodun part is superfluous. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The concept of dueling negotiators has strong dramatic potential, but Gray seems more interested in gimmicks and gunshots than in the psychological face-off between sharp-witted foes. Read full review
20
SalonCharles Taylor
The Negotiator slogs on for two hours and 20 minutes, and there's hardly a real laugh or a genuine thrill in it. Read full review
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