Moviegoers with a thriller or two under their belts already have their own version of a cheat sheet. Going in, they can assume certain things: The heroes will live, guns will be shot, tense moments will be played out and resolved to make way for other such moments. It’s up to the filmmakers to persuade the audience off the ledge through crafty casting, bigger action, and plot twists so clever they never see them coming.

The Negotiator, directed by F. Gary Gray (Set It Off, Friday) and written by newcomers James DeMonaco and Kevin Fox, takes to the table a pair of fine actors, Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey, a respect for fine details, and a few surprising turns – but just a few. In the end, the deal works down to a draw. Even steven.

At the beginning of the film, Chicago cop Danny Roman (Jackson) is working to finesse a crazed man to remove the barrel of a shotgun away from the head of a little girl. Against department rules, Roman puts himself into the situation, and then saves the day. Later, at home with his new wife, he is scolded for acting so foolishly. Don’t worry, he tells her, he’s done with that sort of behavior and “put crazy on the bus.”

If crazy is on the bus, then exactly what is it that remains with Roman when barely 24 hours later he’s gone and taken his own hostages? In his very own police department, no less.

The previous evening Roman’s beloved partner has turned up dead – just after they had a private conversation regarding missing department funds and conspiracy involving unnamed coworkers and members of internal affairs. That dawn, Roman’s house is swarming with cops who uncover incriminating papers. Roman is going down, but not without a fight. His approach is to use what he knows. He marches into the internal-affairs office and confronts Inspector Niebaum (J.T. Walsh). Guns get pulled and Roman takes Niebaum, a secretary, and a snitch hostage. His requests are simple: He wants to know who his partner’s informant was, what Niebaum’s part in the crime is, and, because Roman doesn’t know whom to trust, he wants everything to be done by Chris Sabien (Spacey), a negotiator from another precinct.

The crux of The Negotiator lies in exactly who is in on the theft. Undecipherable hints are scattered throughout. In the opening sequence, a photo montage of Roman’s cop life is played. There he is at a wedding, surrounded by his fellow cops, and more images show him smiling away where just inches away stand those who’ve either got his back or want to stab precisely there. Could officer Adam Beck (David Morse), the one most against Roman’s methods, be in on the plot? What does the supportive Chief Al Travis (John Spencer) know? And how can Sabien successfully defuse the situation when any number of the cops he’s working with want to see Roman in a pool of blood?