The Siege

1998 "An enemy they can't see. A nation under siege. A crisis they can't control."
6.4| 1h56m| R| en| More Info
Released: 06 November 1998 Released
Producted By: 20th Century Fox
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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The secret US abduction of a suspected terrorist from his Middle East homeland leads to a wave of terrorist attacks in New York. An FBI senior agent and his team attempt to locate and decommission the enemy cells, but must also deal with an Army General gone rogue and a female CIA agent of uncertain loyalties.

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Director

Edward Zwick

Production Companies

20th Century Fox

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The Siege Audience Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Console best movie i've ever seen.
Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
Paul J. Nemecek Right after the end of the Cold War, screenwriters were faced with a serious problem--what to do now that we don't have the "evil empire" to kick around anymore? It is clear that the new bad guy in films, the guy we love to hate, is the terrorist. Whether a foreigner (as in Die Hard, True Lies or Executive Decision) or homegrown (as in the Rock or Eraser) the terrorist has become the new guy we love to hate, and has provided viewers with a new spin on an old genre. The urban terrorist films are essentially westerns without the horses.As in all genre films, the problem for the director is to create a work of art out of the conventions of the genre and the inventions of the director. In The Siege, Edward Zwick (Legends of the Fall, Glory, Courage Under Fire) follows the conventions of the genre fairly closely, but manages to throw in enough creative inventions to make the ride worthwhile.Denzel Washington plays FBI agent Hubbard, a dedicated law enforcement officer committed to tracking down the terrorists who are wreaking havoc in New York City. In this task he is assisted by Frank, a Lebanese-American FBI agent (wonderfully played by Tony Salhoub). The FBI is trying to track down Arab-American terrorists in the city, and along the way gets occasional assistance, and frequent interference, from representatives of the CIA (Annette Benning plays agent Bridger) and the US army (Bruce Willis plays General Deveraux).The plot follows a standard formula but has enough innovative twists to make it engaging. Denzel Washington is playing a character we have met before. His character here is quite similar to the true-blue character he played in Crimson Tide. Bruce Willis's rendering of General Deveraux is good, but the character is pretty one-dimensional. Annette Benning's character brings some of the innovative twists to the plot, and Benning plays the part well. The real scene-stealer though is Tony Salhoub as Hubbard's right hand man, Frank. Salhoub gets all of the best lines and provides some interesting comic relief at key points. Salhoub also helps us avoid some of the caricatures common in this kind of film. It is common in films like this to depict all Arabs and Arab-Americans as militant fanatics. While this type of character is depicted here, the fact that Frank is himself an Arab-American adds some interesting irony, and helps us move beyond overly simplistic stereotypes.What separates this film from some of the rest of this type is the plot twist that has the President declaring martial law and turning the reigns over to General Deveraux (who appears to be modeled on Oliver North). Arab-Americans are rounded up by the military in a scene that reminds one of the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II. At points, viewers will find themselves somewhat unsure about who the bad guys really are.The Seige suffers at points from relying too heavily on formula. However, the performances and the more innovative plot twists make it worth a look. Perhaps more importantly, the film is worth seeing because it raises important questions about the U.S. role as police force for the world. Given our fear of terrorism, and the probable increase in terrorist activity in the world, the scenario depicted in The Seige is not all that implausible. Fear of the other can easily give way to fascism. If we get to a point where the only way to combat their terrorists is to unleash ours, God help us all.NOTE: I wrote this review when the movie first came out in 1998. Events of the past twenty years make the film eerily prescient.
cinemajesty Movie Review: "The Siege" (1998)20th Century Fox presents this most daring thriller on the "war-on-terror" ever-conceived by Hollywood motion picture industries to this day directed by Edward Zwick, who makes full use of the an original script by journalist-turns-screenwriter Lawrence Wright, when "The Siege" fulminate cast by casting director Mary Colquhoun (1930-2000) in favors of any supporting role contracted in a twisting-and-turning suspense-striking plot, where FBI agent Anthony Hubbard, portrayed by high-octane driving Denzel Washington, must keep fast-tracks to unfold countless threads within the City of New York initiated by "Martial Law" executed U.S. military in shapes of death-sentence pushing character of General William Devereaux, given face by never-seen-before hostile beats of utmost disciplines by actor Bruce Willis, who could have earned his first Academy-Award-nomination for Best Supporting Role in a completely Award-season-snubbed highly-visceral motion picture of countless shading grey areas of controversy, when even the love affair between a U.S. governmental official, performed by full-engagement-showing actress Annette Bening, who must question ever aspect of her professional as personal character's life, including the relationship to her Oriental boy-friend character of Samir Nazhde, here portrayed by fully-directed actor Sami Bouajila, at moments of urban bomb explosions captured in utmost of elegance-striving cinematography by Roger Deakins and 1940s U.S. homeland security threatening Japanese habits after "Pearl Harbor" recalling concentration camp scenarios here placed below Brooklyn Bridge exterior production design, when any Oriental-looking and Muslim-religion indulging inhabitant in the five boroughs of New York gets gathered for interrogation under General Devereaux command to a motion picture historical highlighted reverse-cut close-up scene between Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis in a life-or-death stand-off situation under orders-following soldier-drawn machine guns.© 2018 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajetsty Entertainments LLC)
adonis98-743-186503 The secret U.S. abduction of a suspected terrorist, leads to a wave of terrorist attacks in New York City, that lead to the declaration of martial-law. The Siege is one of those many 90's films where you end up watching them and you eventually think to yourself "how did this film bombed at the Box Office?" and personally i can't understand, the movie is full of great suspense and thrills, Denzel Washington is amazing as always and he is just freaking terrific. The action goes threw the roof with this one and even Tony Shalhoub is great probably the best performance i have seen from him. Now the story might feel a bit much for some and i'll totally get it but always remember it's just a movie and just an action film that is actually pretty damn great if you ask me also Bruce Willis plays a General named William Devereaux before he became gritty and started making awful movies. (A+)
edwagreen Just what we all feared comes very true in this film. A series of terrorist attacks in New York leads to martial law being declared, Arab families divided as their men are placed in a stadium. Anyone remember the Japanese internment camps.Even more frightening if possible is the mistrust that exists between the army, CIA and FBI in this film.Denzel Washington is perfect as the super patriotic FBI man who seems to get his objectives, only for another incident to take place. Annette Bening is also quite good as a CIA operative who is duped by Palestinians she has tried to aid and Bruce Willis goes all out as the army general to show what martial law can really be like when it's put into practice.