
Today's movie The Siege was produced and released in 1998 and in a very eerie way foreshadows the eventual terrorist attacks on September 11th. In this case New York City is essentially being held hostage as a group of terrorist cells go online and begin reigning down destruction on America's most famous city. Leading the F.B.I. team in charge of the investigation is Anthony Hubbard (Denzel Washington) who is partnered with his Muslim friend and fellow agent Frank Haddad (Tony Shaloub). Along their way the two men cross paths with Elise Craft (Annette Benning) who clearly has ties to multiple intelligences agencies as well as a personal connection to the attackers. As if this wasn't enough things become even worse when the government declares martial law and sends in General William Devereaux (Bruce Willis) to handle the situation like a military man. Now with the clock racing it's up to Hubbard to avoid the military and find the remaining terrorist cells.
If it sounds like there's a lot going on in this movie it's because there is. While most modern movies about catching terrorists focus on catching a head honcho or one particular bomber this movie is about catching a whole group of people so you're really not given a chance to catch your breath. Not to mention the attacks happen so frequently you're going to wonder what is going to happen next.
Aside from the tension the action is relatively basic and features Denzel doing a fantastic tuck and roll move before taking out a terrorist that's holding a elementary school hostage but the reason this movie hit home for me is because it's a movie that is now more relevant than it was before.
When this movie was made the idea of a major terrorist attack or multiple attacks especially ones capable of claiming thousands of lives seemed unthinkable. Now with many years behind us and our mistakes well known this movie reminds us that it probably could have been avoided. Much like the Taliban it turns out our government had some covert involvement in the terrorist cells and that is the only common element that they share. In fact most of the terrorist anger is derived not from a hatred of the United States but feelings of betrayal.
The one thing that I wasn't sure that I liked about this movie was how they handled the attacks themselves. Now I know most people who see as many movies as I do can agree that attacks on children are rare. In fact, chances are if you're watching a movie about murder and a child is involved the child is more likely going to be the one committing the murder than being the victim unless it's a slasher flick. Here there are at least two instances when terrorists are stopped before they can kill children or intentionally avoid killing children in some sort of gesture of good faith before taking a hundred lives. At best it seemed inconsistent and at worst it felt unintelligent.
I also felt that the movie intended to use extremes to make its point rather than going with realism. For instance thousands of soldiers occupying New York City. The image is powerful to be sure but after awhile I just felt like they were trying too hard for their own good. It's kind of like a horror movie that gets most of its scares by throwing a blood thirsty monster on-screen right when the music crescendos. You'll jump in your seat sure but you knew what was going to happen.
The most effective moments you'll find are subtle moments. For instance, if you want to see a group of people face persecution, hearing someone rant and rave about how much they hate another race or group of people isn't effective after awhile. Because while that racism exists the subtle prejudices are the ones that are most effective. The prejudice that hurts you personally isn't someone yelling about how you're wrong. Real prejudice is in the eyes of someone who doesn't fully trust you because of how you look or what you believe even if they've known you for years.
So who should watch this? Well those you like the action-thriller genre should enjoy this because the acting is strong and the plot feels like it was written two years ago rather than ten. Those looking for an action blockbuster are a bit out of luck because those I've seen this in the action movie section of my resident electronics retailers they are wrong. This is a thriller. There a couple of notable explosions and one or two shootouts but not enough to constitute a solid action film. It is a flawed film but the story is compelling enough to keep you interested and if you saw this DVD at a store for 2.50 wouldn't you grab it too?
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