The Negotiation begins on a sunny afternoon. A beautiful woman dressed in pink strides into frame looking disgruntled. Walking beside her is a balding man old enough to be her father, questioning her clothing choices. “You can’t dress like this here,” he says. “I was in the middle of a date,” she replies unperturbed while wiping off her cherry red lipstick with a piece of tissue. They enter a caravan of sorts. In it, there’s a younger gentleman and lady, eyes transfixed on computer screens. She undresses nonchalantly. It makes the older man slightly uncomfortable, but tells you a lot about her character: she isn’t self conscious and she means business. On comes the police jacket. Ha Chae-yun (Son Ye-jin), is a crisis negotiation officer and unfortunately for her, shit, as they say, is about to get very real. A double hostage situation she’s tasked to get under control ends in a bloodbath when the SWAT team (under the orders of an inept police captain) ambushes the negotiation despite Chae-yun’s instructions. Everyone dies, including the two innocent hostages.
This is an interesting setup for a film. While the fundamentals aren’t exactly groundbreaking — we’ve seen hostage negotiation films before, from Dog Day Afternoon to Inside Man — the gender swapping does pave the way for a narrative with a unique perspective. (Then again, the film is directed by Jong-Seok Lee, a man. So, how fresh can the gender swapping perspective really be?)
There are certain facets to cinematic hostage-negotiation that can be explored with a woman at the lead. Unlike men, women can exude a kind of maternal warmth. Also, unlike men, women can use their sexuality to manipulate or distract. (Note my usage of the word ‘can’ and not ‘will/does’.) Anyway, when the meat of story kicks in, I became very, very curious. After the traumatic incident, Chae-yun is pulled back in for another case. This time, a Korean arms dealer based in Thailand is holding captive the aforementioned police captain and an investigative journalist. It’s up to Chae-yun to communicate with the abductor through a computer screen, no less, and diffuse the situation. It is exactly my kind of movie, on a surface level at least.
Why then does The Negotiation sound better than it plays out? For one, the writing goes from interesting to implausible to WTF with every reveal — oh boy are there plenty, each more convoluted than its predecessor. What could’ve been a simple and effective story focused on Chae-yun going mano a mano with Min (the arms dealer played by Hyun Bin), devolves into a mess about the police, military and some billionaires conspiring against… and this is the point where I ran out of the cinema, bought a whiteboard and started drawing up a mind map. You know, the ones with colourful strings running all across it, as you see in those awesome detective movies. We’re told that the journalist isn’t actually a journalist, the police captain isn’t exactly a good guy, the villain isn’t necessarily a bad guy, Thailand may not be Thailand and I’m merely scratching the surface here. And this is before the film veers into tear-jerking melodrama involving flashbacks and orphanages which do nothing but add another layer of convolution. By which I was like Charlie Day in that meme everybody loves.
There are times, though, where a film can get away with flawed writing. Another Asian film comes to mind: Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru, also by a first time director, Karthick Naren. That film too has a number of plot points that don’t come together as seamlessly as one would like (though, admittedly, there, I merely wondered if things didn’t add up, here, the lack of logic slaps you in the face harder than an Asian parent when you bring back an A-minus for math). The difference is, Karthick Naren directs the shit out of his film. There is mood; there is texture; a sense of atmosphere. Every sequence, even the seemingly mundane ones, is CRAFTED in a way that will keep you on edge. I watch a film like The Negotiation and wonder what exactly does debutant helmer Jong-suk Lee brings to the table. The film lacks a strong sense of style or director’s vision. It seems to be tonally inconsistent too. Our characters interact in a manner that suggests it’s a self-serious film, the peppy musical score says otherwise.
Neither Chae-yun, nor Min are interesting characters (the performances are fine; the characters whose shoes these actors step in, are bland). Chae-yun starts to empathize with the villain behind the screen, but it isn’t in a meaningful way (exposition does not count), nor is it in a ‘I’m-pretending-to-care-just-to-get-the-job-done’ manner. As it stands, it’s just more pointless melodrama between two very good looking people.
Perhaps that’s the entire point. To get two good looking actors on screen together and tango in this mindless entertainment. And on that front, it does succeed to a certain extent (only to a certain extent. The film isn’t loud, snappy or fun enough to be a kickass mindless entertainment vehicle). But a piece of thrilling cinema, this is not.
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