The Siege (1998)

Load of rubbish!!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Five years after the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, this film came out ... supposing what would happen if radical Islamic terror became so frequent in New York City that the U.S. government would declare martial law there. Included in that scenario was the detention of Muslims in New York City ... along the same lines as the detention of persons of Japanese ancestry (including U.S. citizens) during World War II. Not so strangely, this movie and others along the same lines (ie., 1994's "True Lies") drew heavy criticism from the U.S. Muslim community for portraying the religion, as a whole, in a bad light. This criticism became so forceful as to make Hollywood "re-think" such movies. Example? The Tom Clancy novel, "The Sum of All Fears," dealt with Islamic terrorists. But when Hollywood got their hands on it in 2002, the Islamic terrorists were re-cast as Neo-Nazi terrorists for the movie."The Siege," however (major spoiler alert), had one component that infuriated the Muslim community ... namely the character Samir who, at first, was painted as a peaceful mainstream Muslim - but who later turned out to be the last member of his own domestic terror cell who, in theory, was granting student visas to other Muslims who were entering this country (only to become terrorists themselves). In short, Samir was the one kind of person that scares a lot of mainstream Muslims and all other persons, regardless of their religion -- a person who feigns the role of a moderate Muslim but, in reality, is a domestic terrorist.Just a personal historic tidbit. On S.E. Clinton Street in Portland, Oregon, there's a small mom & pop style grocery store that has been around for many years. But back during the early years of World War II, it was owned and operated by a Japanese-American family (Mr. Funitake, his wife, and their teenage son). My mother went to high school with the son. When the detention of persons with Japanese ancestry took place, government officials rounded up the Funitake family. Initially, they were scheduled to be detained in an internment facility with others of Japanese ancestry. But when these officials inspected the store (a store on the bottom floor with their living quarters on the 2nd floor), they found Japanese military documents, shortwave radio equipment, and an extensive collection of shipping manifest data - detailing all shipping into and out of the Port of Portland. In short, the Funitake family (at least Mr. & Mrs. Funitake) were Japanese spies.While this doesn't excuse the wholesale internment of persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II, it does point out an equally painful fact ... that sometimes, the government hit "paydirt." And in this film, Samir is an example of that paydirt ... normally innocent-looking people who are in the United States with "ulterior motives" detrimental to the health/life of mainstream Americans of all origins/faiths. On top of that, you have to remember one of Samir's last comments ... that his terror cell was not the "last" terror cell.So, all this leaves people in an ethical quandary. On one hand, you have the American mindset that tells you internment of people based on ethnic origins and/or religion is wrong. But on the other hand, you have to ask yourselves how many lives have been spared by "finding" this paydirt. Which is the "greater good?" Surely, the Funitake family wasn't alone - that there were other Japanese spies on U.S. soil during WWII. And just as surely, peaceful appearances among our nation's Muslims can be deceiving - at least sometimes. It's a tough nut to crack and, hopefully, our nation will figure out "how" to crack it without too much collateral damage.Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, and Bruce Willis played their roles in a spectacular manner. But kudos goes out to Sami Bouajila (Samir) for his portrayal of the person "believed" to be peaceful who turned out to be a domestic terrorist. And special kudos go out to Tony Shalhoub who played Denzel Washington's FBI partner (of Middle-Eastern descent) ... whose own son becomes a victim of the detention. This would be a tough topic for any movie to handle in today's world ... but it was handled well in this pre-911 film.

This movie follows a thrilling series of escalating terrorist incidents set in New York city.The feel is of a police/action movie. Denzel Washington is a squeaky clean police chief who is the reliable hero of the hour. He can turn his hand to negotiating, gun-toting and plain old hard-talking. As the terrorist incidents escalate, the tensions in how to respond to the threat escalate to fever-pitch.Washington's character is accompanied by Bruce Willis, who plays a general that prefers a direct approach to fighting the terrorism, and Annette Bening as a CIA spook. I didn't think either of these two put in convincing performances - this is Washington's movie really.It's a pre-9/11 movie and for those of us used to modern shows like Homeland, The Siege's depiction of the CIA, torture, and the terrorists themselves can seem unsophisticated and sensationalist. But accepting its limitations, it actually puts quite a strong ethical foot forward. The debates on implementing martial law, the CIA's fraternising with the enemy, and the racial profiling of suspects - are all tackled reasonably well.The Siege is not a perfect film but it is exciting, thought-provoking and very watchable.

"Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither." Benjamin Franklin, 1755 (paraphrase)I remember when I first saw the trailer for this movie in the theater. I was immediately really excited, as I had a sense of what the movie was going for - a warning of what could happen in our free country under the right conditions. I applauded this because it is a lesson that was extremely important but not well understood in 1998.When I finally saw the movie I was not disappointed. The issue of Muslim extremism was handled very well. While some Arab-Americans may have felt offended by this I think the viewers understood that this was a tiny percentage of the Muslim community, and it was better for them to recognize this in order to distance themselves from the extremist.However, the real issue and prophetic warning of this movie was not about Muslim extremism at all, but about how our citizens were capable of going collectively insane over a tragedy and throwing away our freedoms in the name of safety, and the tragic consequences of such a short-sited decision. Bruce Willis was exceptional in this as he truly warned everyone of the consequences and was reluctant to accept."The Siege" became all the more important and frighteningly prophetic after the events of 9/11. The U.S. did go collectively insane, and our fears were exploited to serve neoconservative special interest that we never would have agreed to otherwise. I hope interest in this movie is renewed for this all important warning for the future."Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." - George Santayana, 1905 (paraphrase)

After the abduction by the US military of an Islamic religious leader, New York City becomes the target of escalating terrorist attacks. Anthony Hubbard, the head of the FBI's Counter-Terrorism Task Force in New York, teams up with CIA operative Elise Kraft to hunt down the terrorist cells responsible for the attacks. As the bombings continue, the US government responds by declaring martial law, sending US troops, led by Gen. Devereaux, into the streets of New York City.....Its a topical film for sure, and it was made before the tragedy in New York, and for fans of the film, its a good job, because there is no way it would me made today, it's just too close to those events.But regardless of its political message, and its patriotism, it's just too dull in some places, and even though Washington is as good as ever, and Willis plays a convincing hate filled General, it just doesn't deter you away from the blandness of the outcome.Plus the fact that after the visually stunning scene with the bus, it's as if Fox has said to the producers 'look guys, you've had your big key scene, any other incidents with the film will be cutaways, or a noise in the background', and that is just what happens.And Benning is totally miscast in this, whenever she utters anything specific to her job, or becomes authoritative, the film verges on parody.But its worth watching for its message about xenophobia, the impressive set piece, and of course, Washington.Good, but bland....