The opening sequences are pretty good. Danny Roman (Jackson) is the Chicago Police Department's best hostage negotiator and we find him in a relatively simple negotiating situation with a crazed ex marine holding his own daughter at gun point, demanding that his estranged wife be brought to the scene so she can witness him blow his own head off. Time is against Roman. The gunman is getting trigger itchy and the scene commander is getting itchy to send in the SWAT.

Roman makes the unprecedented and rather dangerous move of entering the room with the gunman on a pretext, to lure him to the window so a sniper can take him down. The plan naturally works and Roman is a hero, again.

From here, the roller coaster goes down hill for 10 minutes or so. Roman learns from his partner that some of their colleagues and so-called friends are pilfering money from the department's pension fund. The partner is killed and Roman framed for it, looking at a long stretch behind bars.