Kōshōnin

Kōshōnin is a 2003 Japanese crime TV film directed by Takashi Miike. It was released in other regions under the title The Negotiator or simply Negotiator.

Plot

Three man wearing motorcycle helmets rob a convenience store then abandon their vehicle outside a hospital. A group of people are taken hostage in the hospital and Inspector Ishida and Captain Tohno handle the negotiations. Ishida suggests allowing the three criminals to escape with three doctors as their hostages in order to let the other hostages go free. After this is done, Lt. Ado tries to understand the motive for the crime. He discovers that something else is behind the crime and that the hospital was not selected by chance.

Cast

Hiroshi Mikami as Inspector Ishida
Mayu Tsuruta as Capt. Maiko Tohno
Shirō Sano as Lt. Ando
Kenichi Endō as Convenience store clerk
Masatō Ibu as Ishida's boss
Renji Ishibashi as Counselor Kanemoto
Kumi Nakamura as Mrs. Ishida
Shigemitsu Ogi
Oji Osuga
Kenji Takechi as SAT
Yōji Tanaka

Reception

The website onderhond.com gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars. The review reads, "If you haven't seen too many Miike films yet, this one might come as quite the surprise. The Negotiator is an extremely polished, sane and structured film, one that sticks very neatly to genre conventions and colors inside the lines. Miike goes full for execution here, the coolest thing is that he actually manages to pull it off. No crazy characters, no baffling moments, no typical Miike moments. The Negotiator mixes drama and crime elements and offers a detailed narrative that unravels the rather complex story bit by bit, without ever skipping a beat. Performances are decent, and the film looks polished, so if you love a good negotiator flick, or you want to look beyond Miike's more celebrated film, this comes warmly recommended."