The Negotiator

(Warner Bros.)

F. Gary Gray's film has Samuel L. Jackson in the sketchy role of a Chicago Police hostage negotiator who finds himself framed for the murder of his partner and has to take his own hostages to unravel the conspiracy against him. Kevin Spacey, slick and mostly ill-used, is the fellow hostage negotiator he haggles with. The two actors, who demonstrate the kind of crisp chemistry that once sparked Gibson and Glover in Lethal Weapon, should have tried to negotiate a better vehicle.