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The Siege

The Siege (1998)

tomatometer

36

Average Rating: 5.1/10
Critic Reviews: 14
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 9

An exciting, well-paced action film.

audience

55

liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 52,556

My Rating

Movie Info

Edward Zwick directed this action thriller about Islamic militants unleashing terrorism in New York City. As FBI Terrorism Task Force-chief Anthony Hubbard (Denzel Washington) investigates, a false-alarm bomb threat is followed by a legit bomb, with many killed when a Brooklyn bus explodes. Agents track a suspect through Brooklyn, while Hub teams with Middle East expert and NSA operative Elise Kraft (Annette Bening). After the FBI wipes out three Arabs in a Brooklyn apartment, an explosion in a

Apr 20, 1999

20th Century Fox

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Cast

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All Critics (71) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (33) | DVD (20)

It's difficult to sustain a responsible subtext when you're delivering the jolts required to keep butts in the seats.

May 11, 2001 | Comment (1)
Rolling Stone
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Even at its most unbelievable, The Siege has the performances of Washington and Bening to fall back on, and a theme that understands that what's difficult is not choosing right from wrong but 'choosing the wrong that's more right.'

February 14, 2001 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

More political than entertaining, The Siege is a reflection of our heightened awareness and sensitivity to terrorism and the price of freedom.

June 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Calgary Movies
Calgary Movies

Zwick (Courage Under Fire) has fashioned another ethical tour de force that reveals his dedication to serious filmmaking.

November 6, 2003 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice
Spirituality and Practice

If you like political thrillers with lots of explosions, domestic terrorism, and vein-popping army Generals, this movie's for you.

December 8, 2002 Full Review Source: Film Threat
Film Threat

A gripping build up gives way to an incredibly dumb finish.

October 9, 2002 | Comment (1)
Jam! Movies

A flawed but not uninteresting political thriller that struggles with middling success to satisfy the dual aims of being both commercially entertaining and socially significant.

June 5, 2002 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine
Boxoffice Magazine

The Siege attempts to update the bluffs and counterfeints of the Cold War spy thriller, not to advance any ideological point but to obscure the fact that it doesn't have one.

March 5, 2002 Full Review Source: Sight and Sound
Sight and Sound

The Siege raises a lot of important questions about racism, free speech, and the power of government. It doesn't deal with them particularly effectively.

February 28, 2002 Full Review Source: Goatdog's Movies

It was like eating celery - crunchy and loud and tasty - then zero caloric content after all that trouble chewing it.

June 14, 2001 Full Review

The Siege is a good idea that is never quite executed as it should be.

February 27, 2001 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk
Q Network Film Desk

While the ending was pure Hollywood, and there was too much cute spy stuff, most of the film was suspenseful, engaging and thought-provoking.

January 1, 2001 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope
Laramie Movie Scope

The first hour is riveting, with a couple of particularly tense scenes. But things go hideously awry from there as the ham-fisted messages begin to dominate.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

In all, quite a disappointment.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus
Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus

The movie does deliver its share of action and spectacle, but action and spectacle are clearly not all Zwick and company had in mind with this fumbled Siege.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Film Journal International
Film Journal International

At some point, the movie itself crosses the line, from a modestly thoughtful attempt to extrapolate a drama from real and urgent events to a generic action piece with predictable good and bad guys and pat, civics-book morals.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner
San Francisco Examiner

The Siege is constantly heavy-handed, not entertaining or insightful, and just goes to prove that not even the best actors can save a film that lacks a satisfactory screenplay.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com
DustinPutman.com

Audience Reviews for The Siege

Elise Kraft: It's never the question that's indiscreet, just the answer. 

"An enemy they can't see. A nation under siege. A crisis they can't control."

I can certainly see why there are all the negative reviews for The Siege, but I can't say I didn't like it. I didn't like aspects of it, but as a whole it was a thoroughly engaging and entertaining movie. It just didn't have a whole lot more to offer the audience. The movie seems to saying contradicting things at the same time and the movie is filled to the brim with wise ass, but bad jokes. Like the joke of Bruce Willis as a General and the dialogue that comes out of his mouth. That was a bad joke.

When the U.S. secretly kidnaps a terrorist; a string of terrorist acts start to occur in New York. An FBI agent is then in for the ride of his life as he tries to stop all the different cells of the terrorist group from executing their destruction. Soon the crisis gets so far out of hand, that martial law is enacted in Brooklyn and people of Arab descent are quarantined. The movie is a little eerie in that it was made 3 years before 9/11, but also because of the whole tie in with WW2 and the detainment camps that were made for the Japanese.

As far as the movie goes, it's just descent. Denzel Washington gives a performance that you would expect from him. He's doing pretty much the same thing as he did in... well, everything. He plays the strong FBI man of morals with intensity and fire, and makes the movie go down a lot easier than it should. I can't say the same for Annette Benning, who I thought was surprisingly bad, and Bruce Willis, who just seemed ridiculous. 

In the end, I got enjoyment from Zwick's ridiculously plotted and written film; but I still see it exactly for what it is. It's not a movie that was sending anyone messages about terrorists or that has any importance in the world at all. It's purely entertainment and that was its and purpose. So, on that level it isn't a complete failure.
November 9, 2012
blkbomb
Melvin White

Super Reviewer

Somehow most fail to realize that if the lead character had stayed out of the CIA and military's way thousands of lives could have been saved. The directors attempt to stick it to the man backfires spectacularly and ends up making himself and the movie look childish and reeking of pseudo-intellectualism.
November 4, 2011
Joe McCall

Super Reviewer

    1. Anthony Hubbard: Melvin White can't spell decent.
    – Submitted by Jesse K (57 days ago)

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