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.
In the midst of an elaborate conspiracy, an expert negotiator is driven to the edge when he's framed for the murder of his partner, as well as embezzling money from his department's pension fund. His only chance to prove his innocence is to take hostages himself, acquire the services of another expert negotiator, and find out who's running the conspiracy before it's too late.—Ted Walters
On the same night Danny Roman (Samuel L. Jackson) received word about a possible pension fund conspiracy going on in his precinct, the friend who sent him the information is killed by an unknown assailant. Roman, an expert police negotiator, is grieving over his death when he finds out he's the prime suspect not only in his friend's murder but in the whole conspiracy altogether. Knowing he's innocent and not ready to leave his family behind, Roman does the unthinkable- take some hostages himself, including a member of Internal Affairs. Because he suspects his own men being in on the fund racket, he demands that the only negotiator he wants is one he's never met: Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey), who willingly takes the assignment. As the two skilled negotiators clash with each other on one harrowing night, Roman attempts to both evade the officers who want him dead, and investigate the answer to the burning question that can clear his name: who killed his buddy?—Macroplanet
Samuel L. Jackson is Danny Roman, a hot shot police negotiator and the man of the hour in the police department. One day he wakes up to find that he has been set up, and now the police are after him. In his panic, he takes control of a building. Knowing all the rules of negotiation, Danny asks for the only negotiator he can trust - Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey). When the police get itchy trigger fingers and want to go into the building shooting, Sabian finds that the only way he can save Danny Roman's life is to go in there and become his partner. Now the police have to deal with both of them.—ShowBob <[email protected]>
As a decorated hostage negotiator, Lieutenant Danny Roman has made a career out of talking down dangerous men who don't listen to reason. But he goes off the deep end himself when he is framed for the murder of a colleague investigating corruption in their department. Convinced that the Internal Affairs office contains evidence that can exonerate him, Roman takes everyone inside the building hostage. Roman demands Lieutenant Chris Sabian, known for his anti-violence creed, be brought in to negotiate thinking it will buy him time. When Sabian's attempts for a peaceful resolution are constantly undermined by local authorities, he begins to suspect there may be method to Roman's madness.—Ronos
Lieutenant Danny Roman is the top hostage negotiator in the Chicago Police Department's east precinct. When he can't talk a hostage-taker into surrendering, he offers himself as an additional hostage and lures the subject into a position where he can be taken down with the minimum use of force, rather than an all-out assault.
Roman is middle-aged and recently married. While celebrating his most recent success, he is approached by his colleague Nathan 'Nate' Roenick, who warns him that large sums of money are being embezzled from the Chicago Police Department's disability fund of which Roman is on the board. Roenick has an informant with whom he was at the Police Academy and served with for a while, but refuses to name him. Later that evening, Roman is summoned via his pager for another meeting with Roenick but instead finds him dead by gunshot wounds.
The case goes badly for Roman when it is assigned to Inspector Terrence Niebaum of the Internal Affairs Division, whom Roenick claimed was part of the embezzling. Furthermore the gun used to kill Roenick was one of three that were part of a case Roman handled in the past: two were recovered but not the third. Documents found in Roman's house indicate that the money has gone to an offshore account of which he denies any knowledge.
Facing serious charges, suspended from the force and rejected by his friends, including Roenick's widow, a frustrated Roman storms into Niebaum's office and, in the chaos that follows, takes him and several others hostage, including his personal assistant Maggie, police Commander Grant Frost and two-bit con-man Rudy Timmons .
With the building evacuated and placed under siege by police and FBI, Roman issues his conditions, his badge, a department funeral if he dies, finding Roenick's informant and killer, and summoning police Lieutenant Chris Sabian, the City's other top negotiator, who talks for as long as possible and sees tactical action as a last resort. Sabian, who has been trying rather unsuccessfully to negotiate peace between his sulking wife and cheeky daughter, arrives on the scene. Roman and Sabian have only met once briefly and know each other through reputation, but Roman wants Sabian because he is from the City's west side, unconnected to the disability fund scheme, and should be one of the few people Roman can trust.
Sabian clashes with Roman's Precinct, particularly commander Adam Beck, but is given temporary command of the unit after they hastily attempt a breach that goes awry, resulting in SWAT officers Scott and Markus becoming hostages and Scott is supposedly killed.
Roman trades Frost to Sabian in exchange for restoring the building's electricity, having been turned off after the hostage execution. With help from Rudy and Maggie, Roman accesses Niebaum's computer and discovers the scheme: corrupt officers submitted false disability claims that were processed by an unknown insider on the disability fund's board. He also discovers recordings of wiretaps, including a conversation between Roenick and his widow that suggests he was going to meet his informant before he was killed. Sabian, using the information Roman provided, claims to have located Roenick's informant in a bid to get Roman to release the hostages. Roman realizes Sabian is bluffing when Niebaum's files reveal Roenick himself was the IAD informant.
When Roman threatens to expose Niebaum in his office's open window, leaving him vulnerable to sniper fire, Niebaum admits that Roenick gave him wiretaps, implicating three of Roman's squad mates in the embezzlement scheme: Allen, Hellman and Argento. When Niebaum confronted the guilty officers, he received a bribe from them to cover up their crimes, while Roenick refused, resulting in his murder. Niebaum says he doesn't know who the ringleader is, but that he has safely hidden the taps corroborating the three officers' guilt. The same corrupt officers have secretly entered the room via the air vents under the pretext of being part of a team to take Roman out in case he started killing hostages; upon hearing Niebaum's confession, they open fire and murder him before he can reveal where he has hidden the wiretaps. Roman single-handedly fends them and the rest of his squad off, using the flashbangs he seized from the two officers in the previous failed breach.
Believing that Sabian and the police can't resolve the situation, the FBI assume jurisdiction over the operation, cease negotiations, relieve Sabian of his command, and order a full breach. As Roman prepares for his eventual arrest, Maggie tells him that Niebaum also worked from his house and could have kept Roenick's wiretaps there. Sabian confronts Roman to warn him about the breach, and Roman reveals that Scott is still alive and gagged with duct tape. Sabian begins to believe in Roman's innocence and gives him a chance to prove his case. While the FBI and SWAT raid the building and rescue the hostages, Roman disguises himself as a SWAT member and escapes through the vents.
Roman and Sabian proceed to Niebaum's house, but they can't find the wiretaps. The police arrive and the corrupt officers enter the house, but they back off as Frost enters and tries to talk Roman down. Sabian observes Frost discreetly locking the front door and taking one of the loaded guns, and realizes that Frost is the ringleader of the conspiracy, the insider on the disability fund's board and Roenick's killer. In front of Frost, Sabian seemingly kills Roman and offers to destroy the evidence they have uncovered in return for a cut of Frost's take. Frost agrees and effectively makes a full admission to his and the other three officers' crimes. When Frost exits the house, he discovers that Sabian only wounded Roman, who used a police radio microphone to broadcast his confession to the police surrounding the area. Humiliated, Frost attempts to commit suicide, but is shot in the shoulder by Beck and arrested along with the other corrupt officers. As Roman is loaded into an ambulance, Sabian gives his badge to him and departs.
