`THE NEGOTIATOR' WALKS TIGHTROPE BETWEEN TALK, ACTION.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Daily News Film Critic

Imagine a chess game among savages and you've got ``The Negotiator,'' a movie that often builds interest and suspense only to deflate it by inserting some big, dumb piece of violence that's completely unnecessary to the business at hand.

The filmmakers are trying to sell this movie as an intelligent, character-driven piece - a breath of fresh air for those looking to escape some of the season's more mindless fare. Unfortunately, ``The Negotiator'' too often resorts to the same contrivances, cliches and overblown atmospherics that characterize summer movies. Trying to please everyone, it ends up satisfying no one and, in the process, wastes a couple of terrific star turns by Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey.

``The Negotiator'' begins promisingly enough, introducing us to Chicago's top hostage negotiator, Danny Roman (Jackson), by showing him in his element. Roman thinks nothing of risking his own life and talks his way into an apartment where a deranged father is holding his daughter hostage. The tense situation is quickly and nimbly defused, and Roman finds himself in a familiar place - as the lead story on the evening news.

The headlines aren't so good later on, though, as Roman stands wrongfully accused of some pretty heinous crimes. Hours before being hauled off to jail, Roman storms up to the 20th floor of the Internal Affairs headquarters and confronts his accusers. Push comes to shove, guns are drawn, and, before you know it, the famous hostage negotiator has taken a few hostages of his own.

Of course, Roman doesn't want to hurt anybody. He just wants to clear his name. And it's convenient that among his captives are a secretary with expert knowledge of the Internal Affairs computer files and a petty thief whose specialty is electronic fraud. To buy time, Roman demands to deal with another well-known hostage negotiator, Chris Sabian (Spacey), a man famous for smooth-talking criminals into releasing their prisoners.

Director F. Gary Gray (``Set It Off'') comes up with some clever ways to couple the two negotiators, men adept at mind games and truth-bending. But instead of trusting his premise and his actors (not to mention his audience), Gray and screenwriters James DeMonaco and Kevin Fox resort to stunts and explosions straight out of ``Die Hard.''

There are far too many genre cliches on display, too - the seething media onslaught, the wailing sirens, the omnipresent helicopters, the rotting paranoia about authority. All these elements culminate in an inflated, contrived ending that reduces much of the good will that the movie had worked hard to establish.

It would be nice, too, if Jackson and Spacey had something more to work with than stock characters, although, to their credit, they bring conviction and passion to their performances. The late J.T. Walsh is also on hand, playing Roman's Internal Affairs adversary with the requisite mixture of aloofness and vile behavior.

THE FACTS

The film: ``The Negotiator'' (R; violence, language).

The stars: Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey.

Behind the scenes: Directed by F. Gary Gray. Screenplay by James DeMonaco and Kevin Fox. Released by Warner Bros.

Running time: Two hours, 18 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Two and One Half Stars.