In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.

[EX Q]: i do n't appreciate it when a thriller manipulates the viewer into thinking the plot is interesting , when in fact it 's ludicrous .
in the case of the general 's daughter , the plot is more than capable of intriguing you to a certain point .
but at this juncture in the story , the movie begins to fall apart like a crumbling cookie .
this predictable summer thriller is only sporadically involving , and that is unfortunately not enough to compensate for all of it 's detailed flaws .
get past one moment early on where john travolta exercises his southern accent , and you 're likely to survive this entire movie .
travolta plays criminal investigations divisions officer paul brenner , who 's working undercover at a military base when another situation arises : the apparent rape and murder of a young female officer ( leslie stefanson ) .
it turns out that the victim is the daughter of general joe campbell ( james cromwell ) .
let the investigation begin .
with the assistance of fellow cid investigator sarah sunhill ( played rather on - the - sidelines by madeleine stowe ) , brenner uncovers what appears to be an intricate and bizarre homicide case .
things begin to get marginally engrossing when we meet colonel moore ( james woods ) , a former commanding officer of the deceased who has a few secrets up his sleeve .
woods submits another scene - stealing performance here as he oozes authority , surrounded by clouds of smoke emitted from his cigar .
with echoes of his supporting role in true crime , in which he duked it out with clint eastwood in enjoyably profane verbal exchanges , he makes every moment believable .
here though , the intense dialogue comes care of confrontations with travolta , as the two send mindful , knowing glares across the room .
there are many scenes such as this in the general 's daughter , in which the veteran cast performs splendidly under pressure , but the circumstances that tie these meetings together are difficult to absorb .
director simon west ( con air ) , shows a watchful eye of delivering a stylish looking thriller , but he fails miserably when it comes to the intellectual part of it .
the general 's daughter is , more often than not ,
a predictable and unexciting mess .
it does not help matters that the plot is virtually actionless , dragging it 's heels all the way at a mind - numbing snails pace .
a few brief action scenes , marvelously handled in the editing department , show that the movie could have delivered such a more proficient package .
from a director who does such a great job of staging explosions and miraculous stunts , i suggest west should stick with mindless , rip - roaring action features and attempt to avoid future projects like this .
still , the movie is certainly not without it 's merits .
the acting is very good from the majority of the experienced cast .
the performances range from commanding ( travolta ) to electric ( woods ) to stiff - as - a - board
( cromwell , who does n't show off his real talents here ) .
madeleine stowe manages to hold her own for a while , but as the female lead in an action - thriller , she does n't pull through sufficiently .
one of the problems with the execution is that it 's very predictable .
>
from minute one , i had few doubts about the identity of the killer in question .
the script even unwillingly points him out for us , using familiar techniques to hide his guilt until the unmasking toward the end .
in all fairness , we 've seen many of the devices used in the general 's daughter put to greater effect in other films .
the secrets behind the girl 's mysterious death are explained gradually , but by the resolution we have tunneled through so much malarkey that it feels unnecessary and surprisingly silly .
the general 's daughter is not a terrible movie , and it is involving enough to sustain a viewer 's attention span for a certain period of time .
but it just could have been so much better .
[EX A]: N

[EX Q]: movies based on video games , such as street fighter or mario bros . , have never generated much interest at the box office .
but when the first mortal kombat movie came out in 1995 , it did surprisingly well .
with a simple story , a pulsating soundtrack , and lots of awesomely choreographed fight scenes , the movie moved quickly and displayed lots of energy .
it got my vote for ' the movie where i expected the least and got the most ' .
and , if you have n't had the opportunity , i would definitely recommend that you see it on video .
in the world of mortal kombat , based on the popular arcade game , dark forces from outworld try to infiltrate earth 's realm with the ulimate goal of total conquest and the destruction of humanity .
the mortal kombat refers to a competition , fought by human mortals against outworld 's minions , which if won , will guarantee earth 's safety for another generation .
mk2 picks up almost immediately after the humans return victoriously from competition .
despite their victory , however , a gateway has somehow opened , and outworld continues in its quest to conquer earth .
outworld 's warriors include an impressive collection of fighters , including shao kahn , mintoro ( a centaur ) , sheeva ( a four - armed ogre ) , and sindel .
earth 's mortal warriors , under the leadership of the benevolent god , lord rayden , includes liu kang , princess kitana , sonya blade and jax , who must fight against outworld 's forces .
it 's an easy enough premise , but unfortunately ( very unfortunately ) , the writers try to do too much with the movie
.
it is only a video game , after all , but the on - screen version tries to go beyond it 's comic book boundaries by adding depth , a conceptualization of self - worth , and worst of all , a love story .
this becomes very awkward , because all of the players are fighters and nothing more .
they are likable and impressive when they are showcasing their martial arts and fighting skills , but look extremely awkward and uncomfortable when they are required to actually act .
this becomes embarrassingly apparent
, for example , as the movie tries to develop a romantic bond between liu kang and princess kitana .
the original mk was smart in letting the players do what they do best .
they spoke little , but fought a lot .
thus , the movie was easy to digest .
however , mk2 tries to give these players a certain amount of depth , an element that was lacking in the first movie , but the attempt here fails miserably .
this uneasy feeling is readily apparent , for example , whenever you hear lord rayden speak .
not only does he talk in riddles and offer enigmatic ( e . g . useless ) advice , but he speaks so slowly as if to simulate infinite wisdom .
try reading this half as fast , and you 'll hear what i mean .
but the movie is not a complete fatality .
fight scenes are well - choreographed , highlighted by terrific acrobatics and agility .
and players of the game will be rewarded with the inclusion of practically every character from the video game , although their screen time amounts to nothing more than a cameo .
even if you 're not familiar with the video game , each fighter has their own costume and unique weaponry to easily differentiate themselves .
but it 's just too little of what movie - goers and especially fans of the game will expect .
oddly , the inclusion of the human element actually pollutes the purity of the mortal kombat essence . and the poor acting results in a muddled movie that offers the viewing audience little chance for survival .
( i am now talking very slowly as if to simulate infinite wisdom ) .
rent the first one , but the sequel is for kombat fans only .
[EX A]: N

[EX Q]: the police negotiator is the person with the entirely unenviable job of going into ground zero and attempting to talk a dangerous criminal out of doing whatever he or she intends to do .
lives are often at stake , and the criminal is usually armed and most likely mentally unstable , prone to turn on the negotiator at a moment 's notice .
the negotiator must therefore be something of an actor , psychologist , and sham artist , in addition to being a police officer ; he must be able to think on his feet and either work toward the goal of ending the confrontation without violence , or failing that , must be prepared to facilitate the conclusion of the crisis through firepower .
most of all , the negotiator must be able to enter a situation with as little intelligence about the scenario as possible , and quickly gain control of the situation , dominate the conversation , and influence the perpetrator into thinking that the end of the conflict is what he really wants .
it takes a pretty smart person to do that .
but what if the hostage - holding criminal is just as smart ?
what if he 's also able to think on his feet ?
in fact , what if he also knows all the tricks to turning the situation to his favor ?
it is this circumstance which forms the basis for f .
gary gray 's the negotiator .
in this film , police negotiator danny roman ( samuel l . jackson ) is tipped off by his partner to corruption within the chicago police force .
when his partner turns up shot to death and internal affairs finds incriminating evidence in roman 's home , roman becomes the prime suspect of both embezzling from the police disability fund and murder .
faced with the scorn of most of the police department , and under close scrutiny by the media , roman is forced to turn in his badge in one of those typical scenes in the captain 's office .
i do n't quite remember if the captain actually said , " i hate to do this ,
but . . . " , although it would n't surprise me if he did .
luckily , the film soon shakes off the conventionalism and concentrates on the interesting premise mentioned above .
after being offered a take - it - or - leave - it deal by the district attorney , roman resolves to prove his innocence by walking into the office of internal affairs inspector niebaum ( j .
t .
walsh ) , taking him and others hostage , and proclaiming he has been framed .
although roman 's actions seem forced due to the compressed nature of his motivational build - up , gray redeems himself by involving us with the negotiations between roman and fellow police negotiator chris sabian ( kevin spacey ) which soon ensue .
jackson , while a superb actor , is miscast in the role of roman .
the actor has become so popular , and so often identified as a protagonist ( notable exceptions can be found , such as in jackie brown ) , that we as an audience have a difficult time believing he will carry out his threats .
the script also clearly sets him up as the good guy who is only trying to prove his innocence .
how can we believe he 's going to shoot a hostage ,
no matter if the hostage tried to kill him earlier ?
unfortunately , this preconception saps the film of some of it 's would - be suspenseful moments , and anything good left in those scenes is largely attributed to jackson 's acting ability
.
almost every time he 's in a scene , jackson steals it without looking back .
when spacey appears , the film has already run about a third of its course .
his is an interesting character .
made out to be some kind of negotiating superman
, our first look at him has him hopelessly trying to get his family moving to set out on vacation .
"
i can talk a man out of blowing up the sears tower , but i ca n't talk my wife out of the bedroom or my daughter off the phone , " he says .
when he gets the call to action , however , he quickly changes gears and becomes the man we expect him to be .
soon , his character has to negotiate not only with roman , but also with the swat commander ( david morse ) who is itching to send in a team to take roman out , all the while keeping wary of the fbi agents who are waiting to take over the operation , should negotiations fail .
this complex set of pressures are reflected well in sabian the negotiator and spacey the actor .
as the second protagonist , spacey measures up nicely .
gray
really lucked out with this cast .
david morse as commander
beck , ron rifkin as commander frost , and john spencer as police chief al travis are all more than competent , and can hold their own in scenes with jackson and spacey .
the only problem is the bit of typecasting that results from these choices : morse played a similar role in the rock , rifkin played the d .
a . in l . a . confidential , and spencer played a police detective in cop land .
with the level of acting , however , this can be forgiven .
also in the supporting cast , paul giamatti as rudy , one of the hostages , is notable for the comic relief he provides .
his character is initially so slimy , and giamatti himself just looks so shifty , that you expect to laugh before he even says anything .
fortunately , this does n't distract from the seriousness of the rest of the film , but instead provides some nice breathers from the level of tension which gray manages to sustain throughout .
j .
t .
walsh , as the suspicious internal affairs inspector , clocks in with one of his final performances .
sadly , the talented but underrated actor passed away in late february of this year , and the soon to be released pleasantville will mark his last film .
walsh appeared in dozens of movies such as good morning vietnam , backdraft , and nixon .
for one of his best performances , check out sling blade , in which he plays a mental patient sharing a ward with billy bob thornton .
when jack nicholson accepted his best actor oscar in march , walsh was one of the men to whom he credited his success ( the actors performed together in a few good men ) .
the negotiator is actually dedicated to walsh , and while inspector niebaum may not have been his best role , it certainly characterizes the type of character for which walsh had become most famous for playing .
in the end , the negotiator has a plotline that parallels it 's reality .
we 're served with the premise that two equally deft negotiators are battling each other to resolve the conflict in the manner which will suit each of them best .
as an audience , we 're also given a situation where two wonderfully talented actors are thrown into a movie , and we 'd like to see if one will dominate the film .
both provide some pretty good entertainment .
[EX A]:
P

