Line #60 Film/TheNegotiator


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Negotiator1_5014.JPG]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:He frees hostages for a living. Now he's taking hostages to survive.]]
3
4	->''"When your friends betray you, sometimes the only people you can trust are strangers."''
5	-->'''-- Lt. Danny Roman'''
6
7	''The Negotiator'' is a 1998 film starring Creator/SamuelLJackson as Danny Roman, a UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} Police Department hostage negotiator framed for the murder of his partner, Nate Roenick (Creator/PaulGuilfoyle). Nate was murdered when he uncovered serious corruption within their unit. Not knowing who he can trust, Danny turns to taking hostages to find the truth about Nate's murder. Unable to trust his friends, he calls upon a stranger, and fellow negotiator, Chris Sabian (Creator/KevinSpacey), to prove his innocence.
8
9	The film was directed by Creator/FGaryGray, previously known for ''Film/{{Friday}}'' (1995) and ''Film/SetItOff'' (1996). It was not a box office hit, earning about $44,547,681 in the United States market. It was only the 47th most successful film of its year. However, it gained mostly positive reviews and earned both Gray and Jackson a number of awards.
10
11	'''Tropes list contains unmarked spoilers. Please repair if you have a moment.'''
12
13	----
14	!!This film provides examples of:
15
16	* TheAce: Both Danny and Sabian are top hostage negotiators. This leads to an interesting dynamic where both of them are constantly reading each other and generally doing a good job anticipating what the other does, such as Chris not initially bothering to talk Danny down due to how he normally would have expected it and Danny calling Chris out for pretending to be on his side during their first meeting.
17	* ActuallyPrettyFunny:
18	** Adam Beck, the squad leader, who makes no secret of his dislike for Danny even before the set-up, can't help but chuckle silently during the "never say no" scene; a sentiment shared by one of the FBI agents.
19	** Sabian's wife Lisa is upset after their daughter Stacy said her ski clothes made her look "wide". While she's locked up in their bedroom, Chris makes a big show of trying to lecture their daughter (who's also on the phone and ignoring him) to placate his spouse, but keeps laughing despite himself.
20	* AirVentPassageway: The SWAT team uses small vents for running fiber-optic cameras and larger vents for team members. When the title character barricades himself into an office, one of the precautions he takes is to close off the vents as best he can with available materials. [[spoiler: Danny also uses it during his escape from the building.]]
21	* ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement: No police department would '''ever''' attempt a breach without warning the hostage negotiator beforehand, which is what happens when Chief Travis orders a breach attempt while Sabian is talking to Roman. Sabian himself lampshades the fact that this would put both the negotiator and any hostages in danger. [[spoiler:The second time it happens it's justified, as the dirty cops were using the breach as an excuse to kill Niebaum in order to silence him.]]
22	* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Niebaum. He's a corrupt, cowardly SmugSnake and the only reason anyone is sorry to see him go is that he won't be able to reveal the corrupt cops involved with the embezzlement scheme.]]
23	* TheBadGuysAreCops: The impetus behind the entire film and the reason Danny asks for Sabian to be brought in, as he's unsure who within his own precinct may be dirty. Also Danny himself, from the perspective of the honest cops involved.
24	* BatmanColdOpen: Danny gets one to show how good he is at what he does.
25	* BatmanGambit:
26	** Done multiple times by Roman, since he knows through experience how police and SWAT will react to every move he makes; [[spoiler: Roman and Sabian use one together to get the real conspirator to make an engineered confession.]]
27	** Done by Chris which what initially seems like a poor bluff with a fake informant; it's actually a way [[spoiler: for Danny to see right through it then flip it with a bluff of his own by telling everyone on comms that Niebaum is ready to talk. This causes the dirty cops to panic and into action that crumbles the facade that Danny is acting like the guilty party.]]
28	--->'''Danny (to Karen Roman)''': The bluff wasn't just for Danny.
29	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Chris Sabian is as close to ActualPacifist as a cop can get. That said, however, do not test him.
30	-->'''Sabian:''' There are many ways to prove your innocence, [[NotHelpingYourCase this is hardly one of them]]. And now you've taken hostages. You hurt one of them, you burn up any currency you have with me. They're all I care about; your leaving here ''walking'', is a distant second.
31	* BigBadWannabe: Danny initially thinks Niebaum is responsible for all his trouble, and once the hostage situation ensues, he gets a couple HannibalLecture moments to sell him as the villain of the piece. [[spoiler: But he's actually very low on the food chain; he simply found out about the conspiracy on his own. When he confronted the real guilty parties, they bribed him to lose the evidence and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he was quickly eliminated once he revealed the arrangement and became a liability]].]]
32	* BluffingTheMurderer:
33	** [[spoiler: Sabian gets Frost to confess by blackmailing him with the nonexistent evidence.]]
34	** When Chris's bluff with the fake informant fails, Danny opens the walkie-talkie line while on the phone with Chris so everyone can hear that Niebaum is willing to talk about who was in on the embezzlement. A horrified Niebaum had made no such deal, but Danny tells him that's not what the dirty cops now think. [[spoiler: This results in Niebaum revealing what he knows, and the dirty cops breaching to murder Niebaum and destroy the workstation with the evidence.]]
35	* BribeBackfire: [[spoiler:Roenick rejects the same bribe that Niebaum took, forcing Frost and the co-conspirators to have him killed and set Danny up, kicking off the events of the film. It's especially ironic since Frost admits to Sabian that they spent most of their embezzled money setting Danny up in the first place.]]
36	* ButtMonkey:
37	** Farley basically exists [[TheChewToy for no other reason than to get utterly humiliated by Danny]]. The first time his name is mentioned, long before he appears on-screen in any meaningful capacity, is when Danny complains that "Farley fucked up the list!" (Said list being a likes / dislikes inventory for the current hostage-taker -- Farley put the man's dog on the "Likes" side, but the guy hates his dog for barking all the time.) He later on gets humiliated by Danny getting him to repeatedly say 'No', though Danny apologizes for that later.
38	** Also Rudy, who is the hostage that Danny most frequently threatens to shoot
39	* ClearMyName: Danny takes the hostages to clear himself of stealing from his precinct's disability fund and murdering his partner.
40	* ClickHello: When Danny [[spoiler: is making his getaway out of the building to retrieve the files at Niebaum's house, Chris gets the drop on him. Chris says he'll assist Danny to uncover the truth, but any wrong move and Sabian will shoot Danny himself.]]
41	* ClosedDoorRapport: The movie milks this for all it's worth—both Danny Roman and Chris Sabian are introduced doing this. Roman is talking with a gunman. Sabian is talking with his wife.
42	* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: We are first introduced to Chris Sabian as he is failing to persuade his wife to come out of the bedroom in which she has locked herself. Summed up succinctly with this line:
43	-->'''Chris Sabian''': You know, I once talked a man out of blowing up the Sears Tower, but I cannot talk my wife out of a bedroom or my kid off a phone.\
44	'''Lisa Sabian:''' That's because nobody's standing behind you with a big gun!\
45	'''Chris Sabian:''' Yeah well, that's debatable.
46	* CovertDistressCode: At the beginning, Danny flashes hand signals (1, 2, and 3 fingers) to alert the sniper team when to fire. The "1" signal is worked into his conversation with the hostage taker as a "wait a minute" gesture, while the others are displayed with his back turned to the suspect.
47	* CowboyCop: Danny, to Beck's annoyance, though Beck himself has this mentality himself with his gung-ho attitude to just go in and kill Danny first and then ask questions second.
48	* CrazyPrepared: As Beck warns the team, Danny is an expert at their tactics as one of them, and he's able to seal off the room and bunker down to the point that he's able to fend off multiple breaches and keep eyes out of the room on his own.
49	* CurbStompBattle: Well, verbal battle at least, between Danny and Farley. It's not even a fair fight, since Farley is a last minute substitute since their best negotiator is the one taking hostages. Danny reacts with disbelief when Farley calls him up on the phone and he starts on the standard negotiation lines, decides to give Farley a chance to talk him down, and what follows is an emasculating verbal dissection. Danny at least apologizes later for giving him a hard time.
50	-->'''Danny:''' Never say no to a hostage taker. It's in the manual. Eliminate no from your vocabulary, Farley. Never use no, don't, won't, or can't. It eliminates options and leave no choice but to shoot someone. Now lets practice, if you say no again, I'll kill somebody. ... Now, I'd like a sub machine gun so I can blow everyone in here away.\
51	'''Farley:''' [''stammering''] I'll look into that.\
52	'''Danny:''' Good! You're doing good Farley! You ever cheat on your wife, Farley? Don't say no!\
53	'''Farley:''' [''stammering worse now''] I'll have to look into that Danny.\
54	'''Danny:''' You ever... dress up like a schoolgirl and get your ass spanked? [''[[EpicFail Farley tries and fails to come up with a way to say no without using the word]]''] Jesus...[[NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat I got nothing against you dressing up like a little girl]], but I did ''not'' know that about you, Farley.
55	* DestructionEqualsOffSwitch: Used twice in the movie by The Dirty Cops. In the first instance, the IAB workstation is shot by [[spoiler: Allen, Argento & Hellman]] to destroy the evidence. They even avert ComputerEqualsMonitor by targeting the tower, not the monitor, which not only makes sure Danny can't turn it back on, but has a fairly likely chance of irrevocably destroying the data (even if they missed the hard drive, it's not like Danny has the time to disassemble the thing). Later, [[spoiler: Frost]], snaps some floppy disks in half which (allegedly) had copies of the evidence, before also shooting the computer in the same fashion.
56	* DeathGlare: All the cops who arrive to Niebaum's house give one to [[spoiler: Frost]] when they realize that he was the one who masterminded the embezzlement scheme and murdered Nate Roenick.
57	** Danny gives a very chilling one to the hardass states attorney when he makes it clear that he’s VERY unsympathetic to Danny’s claims of innocence, which finally leads to Danny taking the matter into his own hands.
58	* DirtyCop: Several of them. [[spoiler: Allen, Argento, Hellman and Frost form the conspiracy. [[SixthRanger Niebaum takes a bribe to hide the evidence of it]]. Beck, however, [[GoodAllAlong is clean]].]]
59	* DrivenToSuicide: Averted when [[spoiler: Frost]] discovers he's been outed as the conspiracy mastermind and attempts it; he's shot in the shoulder before he can do it.
60	--> '''[[spoiler: Beck]]''': You're not getting off that easy.
61	* EmptyCopThreat: [[spoiler: After the hostages have been released Maggie initially gives Chief Al Travis the silent treatment when he asks where Danny has gone, but relents when he threatens to charge her with obstruction of justice.]]
62	* EngineeredPublicConfession: [[spoiler: Roman and Sabian get Frost to do this by Sabian pretending to be crooked himself, shooting Roman with a "good wound", and blackmailing Frost with floppy disks he alleges are the evidence, while Roman keeps his walkie talkie on to broadcast it to the officers outside.]]
63	* ExperiencedProtagonist: At the onset of the film Danny is a former US Army soldier, a decorated police officer and a top hostage negotiator.
64	* FaceHeelTurn: Subverted when [[spoiler:Chris Sabian pretends to kill Danny Roman for a cut in the villains' profits.]]
65	* FakeKillScare: Twice.
66	** When Farley is trying to talk Danny down, Danny threatens to kill someone if Farley says the word "no." When Farley accidentally say no, Danny fires a gunshot into the air. Rudy confirms moments later that they're all fine and Danny was probably just screwing with [[ButtMonkey Farley]] anyway.
67	** [[spoiler: Roman insinuates over the phone that he killed a hostage to prove that he was serious after a failed SWAT breach. This charade is kept up as a ploy by Roman for some time to gain leverage, before Danny reveals to Chris as he prepares his escape that it was only this trope.]]
68	* FalseFlagOperation:
69	** Inverted and then subverted. Sabian gets a friend to pretend to be the mole to convince Danny to release the hostages and give himself up (and possibly reveal if there are conspirators in the police department). His plan is successful at first, as Sabian has gathered enough information from Danny to know some of the mole's characteristics. But ultimately his plan is foiled when Danny discovers from Niebaum's files who the real mole is.
70	** [[spoiler: The second breach attempt is really just a cover for the corrupt cops to assassinate Niebaum and destroy incriminating evidence.]]
71	* {{Foreshadowing}}: When attempting to force out Niebaum's information by putting him in the killbox room, [[spoiler: Danny tells Niebaum that if the dirty cops killed Nate, they'd kill Niebaum too. Sure enough, as soon as Niebaum spills out what he knows, the dirty cops breach and murder Niebaum.]]
72	* FriendlySniper: [=SWAT=] sniper Palermo is a genial man who chews a toothpick on the job to calm his nerves. He seems reluctant to believe the worst of the WrongfullyAccused Danny Roman, [[spoiler:refusing to take a shot at him, and being one of the only prominent honest cops on the team.]]
73	* GoodIsNotNice: Sabian holds no ill will towards Danny but gives no illusions that he cares about anything other than getting the hostages back alive. At one point, he even pulls a gun on Danny.
74	* HateSink: Niebaum. [[spoiler:He's a corrupt scumbag who took a bribe from Frost and the other dirty cops to lose evidence of embezzlement and then pinned it on an innocent man. He also proves to be a DirtyCoward when the instant he thinks his life is in danger he reveals everything to Roman.]]
75	* HeKnowsTooMuch: First Roenick, then [[spoiler:Niebaum.]]
76	* HeroAntagonist: Primarily Sabian who is the {{Deuteragonist}} of the film, but really the entire team trying to take Roman down qualify because they really do believe that he's a DirtyCop who stole their money and murdered his own partner. Well... [[spoiler: aside from the ones who framed him for it, of course. Also Beck pretty much screams "RabidCop" with his constant attempts to have SWAT charge into the building and shoot Roman, but is one of the few senior officers during the stand-off that ''isn't'' crooked.]]
77	* HeroInsurance: Roman takes several innocent people hostage during the incident as he fights to clear his name. The movie doesn't imply that he will ever face consequences for doing so. Even if you have been framed for theft and murder, taking innocent people hostage is still a crime. It's strongly implied that the hostages would speak on Danny's behalf, and given the misconduct of the [[spoiler: corrupt cops]], it's likely he would come out of it in decent shape.
78	* HollywoodLaw: Per the standard with most miscarriage of justice films, the idea of Danny being framed and surely convicted for the evidence in this film is complete nonsense.
79	** The three pieces of evidence that seems to "blatantly" point to his guilt are: 1. He was caught by the police at the scene of Nate's murder. 2. The gun that was found in the lake was one of three guns that went missing when Roman recovered them from being stolen by someone. 3. The offshore money statements found in his house. In reality, not only could these three pieces of "major" evidence be easily explained by Danny's insistence that he is being set up, but it is all circumstantial at best (He could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, the gun could have been stolen by the villains during the incident, the money statements could have been planted). In the end, it would look very suspicious at best, but most certainly shouldn't be enough to at least convict him unless there is other evidence that is much more explicit. Yet, the movie acts as if there is no hope for him at all.
80	* HollywoodTactics: At the end, when [[spoiler:Frost comes out of Niebaum's house, he is surrounded by other cops on every side. [[TooDumbToLive Who then point guns at him]]. When Beck shoots him, Danny and Sabian are clearly directly behind him. ''Nobody'' has a clear shot without a friendly on the other side. In fact, basic firearms tactics say you should ''avoid'' forming a half-circle around targets for this exact reason.]]
81	* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: The film actually Deconstructs the concept of the Framed Hero finding out who his "real" friends are when things hit the fan. When Danny is ordered to turn in his badge, he gives the standard "You know me better than this" line usually made in this situation, but later on Sabian (correctly) points out that belief in Danny's innocence or guilt in this situation is irrelevant, the cops are ''doing their jobs'' by following the evidence where it leads them (and trying to neutralize an angry man who has taken hostages). [[spoiler: Frost, who is the only one who is somewhat supportive of Danny throughout the whole mess -- even suggesting to Travis and Beck that Danny "may actually believe he's innocent" -- [[BitchInSheepsClothing is really]] [[BigBadFriend the villain who set him up in the first place]].]]
82	* IfIDoNotReturn:
83	** When things are going badly and Danny Roman believes that he will soon be killed by the corrupt cops, he asks Maggie for a favor.
84	--->Will you tell my wife something for me? Tell her I was trying to keep my promise.
85	** One of Danny's demands is for a department funeral if he dies.
86	* InsistentTerminology: Maggie is Niebaum's ''assistant'', not secretary. Backfires on her immediately, as Danny realizes she thus might have more information than he initially suspected.
87	* InternalAffairs: Internal Affairs cop Niebaum is a sinister {{Jerkass}} who is quick to accuse the main character of embezzling from the police disability fund and murdering his partner, even though Danny's DeadPartner questioned Niebaum's trustworthiness before dying. Danny ends up taking Niebaum hostage to try and get some answers, with Niebaum remaining oddly silent throughout most of the ordeal. [[spoiler:Eventually, it's confirmed that after being given the evidence needed to arrest the embezzlers, they bribed him to cover up their misdeeds]].
88	* IsThatAThreat:
89	--> '''Sabian''': I'm the only thing standing between you and an army that's itching to walk in here and take you out. So you tell me something, Danny. Why should I get in their way? Make me believe why I should deal with you ever again.\
90	'''Roman''': I still have hostages. They can still be punished for your mistakes.\
91	'''Sabian''': Was that a threat? Did you just threaten me?
92	* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Danny threatens to push Niebaum (who is handcuffed to a chair) into a room where the bad cops could get to him to get him talking.
93	* {{Jerkass}}:
94	** Beck was a dick even ''before'' Danny was setup. This, plus his gung-ho attitude when the hostage crisis erupts, suggests he's involved in the conspiracy. [[spoiler:[[RedHerring He's not]].]]
95	** Niebaum is this too, being perpetually smug and weaselly.
96	* JurisdictionFriction: Between the FBI and Chicago PD, as the building is a federal one and the FBI allow them jurisdiction [[spoiler: until the mounting list of screw-ups compel them to take over the situation. Then, once Danny is known to have left the building, CPD claims jurisdiction again, even though the FBI could probably have claimed HotPursuit.]]
97	* LargeHam: Samuel L. Jackson goes to town with this after the failed breach, standing at the shattered window in front of the police and news helicopters and shouting for them to "TAKE MY BLOOD!", knowing full well they won't shoot him on national television.
98	* LaserSight: Used by Palermo, the HRT sniper, when lining up a shot on Danny. It both tells the audience he has a shot, and helps justify [[spoiler:the SWAT team putting down their guns and surrendering - they think he's about to be shot]].
99	* LivingLieDetector: Danny gives Niebaum a crash course in how "real cops" pick apart liars. He's rather disconcerted, however, when he flat out asks Niebaum who really did it, and Niebaum says "You" and Danny can tell the guy honestly believes it.
100	* LovableRogue: Rudy Timmons is a two-bit con artist whose rap sheet includes credit card and insurance fraud but he's affable enough and helps Roman piece together the fraud.
101	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: When the crooked cops shoot [[spoiler:Niebaum]] they engage in a drawn out firefight with Danny to make it look like the guy just got caught in the crossfire. Danny points out to Sabian that he has "three shots to center mass", obviously indicating murder. In a nice touch, the shots passed through the target and went into the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet despite the bloodstain in the chair showing the victim was seated, indicating that they came from high up and making it almost impossible that Danny was responsible[[note]]Since Sabian didn't directly witness the firefight, he needs the proof, while the audience saw the whole thing and have no such doubts[[/note]].
102	* MenOfSherwood: The snipers and breaching team who remain on standby during the negotiations are minor characters who show a lot of skill and attention to their job and help keep the situation from devolving. [[spoiler:Some of them are {{Dirty Cop}}s, though.]]
103	* MoodWhiplash: The "Don't say no" phone scene, sharply pivoting from jokes to real anger.
104	* MoralEventHorizon: Played with in-universe. [[spoiler:Danny wants everyone to ''think'' he's shot one of the officers who attempted the first raid, specifically because [=SOP=] requires that breaching is to be held as an absolute last resort if the hostage-taker has proven themselves willing to kill. [[FakeKillScare But eventually he reveals to Sabian that it was staged.]]]]
105	** [[spoiler: At the end, after Beck shoots Frost to prevent him from killing himself, Danny picks up Frost's gun and is about to give him a CoupDeGrace. He looks around and, seeing his wife and all of his friends, hands the gun off to Travis.]]
106	* NoIndoorVoice: It is a movie with [[Creator/SamuelLJackson Sam Jackson]], so we get some more screaming gems such as:
107	** '''YOU WANT MY BLOOD! TAKE MY BLOOD!'''
108	** '''YOU CAN'T TALK ME DOWN!'''
109	** '''I''' '''''AM''''' '''TALKING! NOW DID YOU OR DID YOU NOT EVER DRESS UP LIKE A SCHOOLGIRL AND GET YA ASS SPANKED?!'''
110	** '''YOU ARE''' '''''NOT''''' '''IN CONTROL! THEY ARE!'''
111	* NotHelpingYourCase: Subverted. [[spoiler:At first glance it seems that Danny, who is accused of murdering a police officer, digs himself into an even deeper hole by shooting one of the SWAT officers he takes as a hostage. He faked Scott's death to convince the police that another raid would not be worth the risk.]]
112	* OhCrap: Niebaum after Danny claims that Niebaum is willing to reveal the conspirators of the embezzlement scheme, realizing that he's likely to be targeted to silence him. [[spoiler:Which he was.]]
113	* OneManArmy: During the second attempted breach, Danny manages to outsmart and drive back the entire SWAT team with absolute EASE.
114	* OnlyAFleshWound: Played with. [[spoiler: What really sells Sabian's [[BluffingTheMurderer bluff]] towards Frost is that he shoots Danny in the abdomen. Danny is then shown lying on the floor with blood pooling from under him. Afterwards, Sabian helps Danny out of the house, and Danny is able to stand on his own briefly, although he needs help from several cops to make it to the ambulance and obviously isn't just going to walk it off. In reality, a gunshot wound to the abdomen can cause a great deal of damage, since there are a lot of important organs there (Sabian seemed to be going for a "[[Film/{{Scream}} stay to the side and don't go too deep]]" approach, but [[GunsDoNotWorkThatWay guns are not knives]]). Sabian points out that if Frost had shot him, it would have been worse.]]
115	--> [[spoiler:'''Sabian''': I figured you'd rather be shot by me than by him.]]
116	* OnlySaneMan: Between the JurisdictionFriction between the Chicago PD and FBI agents, the overaggressive attempts by the cops to resolve the hostage situation that results in two SWAT officers being captured [[spoiler:and the actual dirty cops trying to find any excuse to kill Danny]] Sabian emerges as this. He gives out multiple WhatTheHellHero speeches to the cops in particular, reminding them that their top priority should be saving the lives of the hostages.
117	* PetTheDog: Beck get several in the finale. After being a RedHerring for the mastermind and a general jerkass throughout the movie he [[spoiler: shoots Frost to prevent him from committing suicide, helps an injured Danny to the waiting ambulance and orders the street cleared so Danny can be rushed to the hospital.]]
118	** Background character Markus gets a nice one. Towards the finale he gives a pair of keys to Danny while also giving him a trusting handshake squeeze. Not bad considering he initially thought Danny had [[spoiler:murdered Scott.]]
119	** After verbally eviscerating Farley during initial negotiations and briefly making him think Danny shot someone, Danny tells Farley not to feel bad on the following call, acknowledging Farley was too out of his depth in the situation.
120	* ProveIAmNotBluffing: Danny invokes this trope when he shoots one of the cops he took hostage, as protocol dictates the police can't breach if it's demonstrated he will take lives in retaliation. [[spoiler:He actually faked it and the cop is fine, he just needed them to think otherwise.]]
121	* PunkInTheTrunk: Used as a misdirection [[spoiler: with Danny and Chris Sabian escaping from the federal building, after Sabian agrees to help Danny and instructs him to follow. Sabian begins to drive away from the scene, having been relieved of duty, only to be stopped by a checkpoint in case Danny is being smuggled out. They pop open the trunk and find nothing; Chris drives off and picks up Danny, who left the building on foot, several blocks down.]]
122	* PutDownYourGunAndStepAway:
123	** Danny, to a whole room full of cops. The result is a desk covered in guns and handcuffs. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that Danny is a crack shot (which he demonstrates by intentionally missing - by about four inches - a cop who was trying to line up a shot from a high walkway) and is standing in a doorway, preventing anybody from flanking him.
124	** Done later when the cops try an ill-advised breach, but Danny already has Rudy as a HumanShield and willing to shoot his hostage. Frost orders the SWAT members to put down their guns to prevent a loss of life, and Danny tells everyone on comms that the dirty cops have now handed him two more hostages as a result of trying to silence him.
125	* RedHerring: [[spoiler: SWAT Commander Beck seems like an easy pick for the person who is setting up Danny; he is a hardass, no-bull character who wants to immediately take out Roman with a tactical squad, and is played by David Morse, who has made a living playing villainous roles. But he's not. He's only trying to take down Roman because he believes he's the culprit, and he not only arrests the true villain, but also keeps him from committing suicide to escape his fate.]]
126	* RedOniBlueOni: Danny Roman (Red) and Chris Sabian (Blue) for the negotiators; Chief Travis (Blue) and Commander Beck (Red) for the senior officers.
127	* TheReveal: [[spoiler: Frost, who was a largely background character, is the [[BigBad mastermind]] behind of the theft of the disability fund and Danny being framed.]]
128	** [[spoiler: Danny never killed Scott.]]
129	** [[spoiler: Roenick was the informant.]]
130	** [[spoiler: Niebaum took a bribe from the conspiracy to conceal the evidence of it.]]
131	* RightUnderTheirNoses: A rare accidental example. [[spoiler:Danny spends the entire movie looking for the mastermind behind the embezzlement scheme and Roenick's murder. The mastermind in question was Frost, one of Danny's hostages the entire time.]]
132	* RudelyHangingUp: After Roman executes a hostage and calls the negotiator for his next demands, Sabian hangs up the phone on him several times even though Roman still has hostages, both to signal his anger and to make it clear that he will refuse further negotiations if people get hurt.
133	-->'''Sabian''': Relax. He'll call back.
134	* SanitySlippage: Subverted. [[spoiler:Danny only ''acts'' increasingly unhinged after the failed breach, and only pretends to shoot Scott to make the police think it isn't worth risking the other hostages' lives with another breach. He stays relatively cool and in control throughout the ordeal, which is justified since he's a cop with decades of experience in tense situations.]]
135	* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: [[spoiler:Roenick rejecting a bribe offer to keep him quiet about the disability fund embezzlement fund. It's what gets him killed.]]
136	* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight:
137	** Palermo has a clear shot at Danny during a breach and is ordered to shoot, but Palermo believes Danny's innocence and refuses to fire, and is relieved from duty as a result.
138	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Chris wins an early negotiating round on Danny when the latter threatens to kill hostages if Chris leaves. Chris immediately turns heel and leaves, and since Danny's entire plan relies on Chris's outside help, he relents and is willing to give Chris a hostage in exchange for the building's power being restored.
139	* SirSwearsALot: Danny.
140	* SmugSnake: Niebaum, [[spoiler: until Danny finally outsmarts him.]]
141	* TitleDrop: When Travis cedes command to Sabian, with the title drop emphasized:
142	-->'''Travis''': I would like to introduce ''the negotiator'', Chris Sabian.
143	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trailers show that [[spoiler:Sabian eventually sides with Danny]]. By using a line that isn't even ''in'' the final cut of the film!
144	* TurnInYourBadge: Danny is given this order by the Chief before his meeting with the DA. Getting it back is one of his demands. [[spoiler:Sabian gives it back to him at the end of the movie, acknowledging it's one demand he hadn't met.]]
145	* WhatTheHellHero: There are a whole bunch of them. Sabian both gives and receives several throughout the movie.
146	** Beck to Danny, after Danny goes [[CowboyCop cowboy]] during the opening scene.
147	** Danny again, from just about everyone, when he takes hostages.
148	** Sabian to the Chief and Beck after the first breach attempt fails.
149	--->'''Sabian:''' [[WithAllDueRespect With all due respect]], sir, [[BadassPacifist I have kept a zero casualty rate for five years]] precisely because [[LeeroyJenkins this kind of action]] is a ''last'' resort.\
150	'''Beck:''' [[ShutUpKirk This is not your command, Sabian!]]\
151	'''Sabian:''' [[InsultBackfire Yeah, that's right. You know what my command is? To get these people out safely. That's my command!]]\
152	'''Beck:''' Well, you don't know this man, Lieutenant. He's manipulating this whole situation. [[BreakThemByTalking Look what he did to Palermo]]. [[ClusterFBomb He's going to fuck with every single fucking one of you if we give him enough time, and he knows you'll do it, because he knows how you fucking work!]]\
153	'''Travis:''' He's got a point, Sabian. And we ''do'' have a chain of command here.\
154	'''Sabian:''' [[NiceJobBreakingItHero And your chain of command has just given Danny Roman two more hostages.]]
155	** Sabian to Danny after Danny shoots Scott.
156	--->'''Sabian:''' You think killing a man gives you the right to negotiate with me?
157	** Everyone to Sabian after his bluff with the informant fails.
158	** Sabian to Beck, the Chief, and the FBI after the second breach fails.
159	--->'''Sabian:''' I can't believe this, I'm just surrounded by a room of people who wanna go in there and kill him. [[EtTuBrute This is a guy who you called your friend]].
160	* WildCard: Chris Sabian. Because Danny doesn't know how far up the betrayal goes in the precinct, he needs a complete outsider in Sabian to come in and listen to Danny. However, as Chris makes clear to both Danny and the cops, as an outsider, he has no idea about who is really telling the truth, and his only concern are the hostages. He makes it plain to both sides to not make the mistake of thinking he's on their side just because he's on the scene.
161	* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: Danny takes hostages in a federal building just to start, [[spoiler: but is let off the hook once the mastermind is revealed.]]

Context Film / TheNegotiator