Year:
1998
Studio:
20th Century Fox
Movie:
3/5
DVD:
1/5
Teaser
New York City. There's a remote-controlled bomb on a metropolitan bus.
There are no demands and the bomb was not explosive but a paint bomb.
It was only a warning and the terrorists' only message is "release
him". Who are they talking about? And then the next bus explodes, then
a theater and suddenly the Army is called in to enforce martial law.
Now it's up to the FBI to find the terrorists and stop them before the
situation gets really out of hand.
Movie
"The Siege" is a drama with action elements. We have the NYC FBI's
Anti-Terrorist Division, headed by Agent Anthony Hubbard (Denzel
Washington). All he and his team want to do is find and stop the
terrorists, but it's not going to be that easy. Their primary suspect
is a former CIA asset and the CIA (in the form of Elise Kraft played by
Annette Bening) is just not being all that helpful.
Meanwhile the action heats up as the Army is brought in to find the
terrorists. General William Devereaux (Bruce Willis) doesn't think this
is a good idea, but once set to the task he is willing to do anything
to stop the scum. The Army vs FBI approach to solving this problem put
them at odds with each other. And now Agent Hubbard has a great many
things working against him.
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In light of
the events occuring these days, the storyline is not as
far-fetched as it was in 1998. I can see terrorist attacks provoking
some rather draconian measures like Marshal Law and Detainment Camps.
This movie seems to say that bad things would result from that, but it
also shows that with good cooperation it would work. If the FBI, CIA,
and Army worked together then the whole problem would have been solved
with a lot less drama than it was in the movie.
The only loose end in the movie is the terrorist leader that is
captured by the US right at the start. It provides the motivation for
the terrorist attacks and yet it's almost totally ignored. Should the
government kidnap people and was it worth the cost? It's one of those
little things that bothered me a bit when the movie ended.
Actors
Denzel Washington and Annette Bening have the most screen time. Their
characters have a complex relationship and motives and they play those
characters well. Bruce Willis does not have much of a role, which is
kind of surprising because it's still a significant role. Tony Shalhoub
is great as Hubbard's best friend, FBI Agent Frank Haddad. He's playing
a Moslem so he gets to act with righteous indignation against everyone
-- the bad guys for being bad Moslems and the good guys for harrassing
him for being Moslem.
DVD
The movie is in letterbox format (i.e. widescreen in a standard NTSC
frame so it's smaller than normal). The only extra feature is the
theatrical trailer.
Recommendations
It's a fairly ok movie if you like the genre and subject. |