‘Siege’ Mentality< Current Events Lend Extra Drama To Above-Average Action Thriller
Fitting for an election-month release, “The Siege” is a cautionary political actioner that not only touches close to home, it strikes right in the center at a time when political/religious terrorism may be our most serious invasion threat.
Starring Denzel Washington as head of a joint FBI/NYPD terrorism task force and featuring a steely supporting turn from Bruce Willis, “The Siege” should lay claim to sizable November box office bounty.
“The Siege’s” scenario is brainy and richly compressed, at once a think piece on civil liberties and a taut, headline-culled actioner. In this tightly packed entertainment, Brooklyn has been assaulted by a campaign of terror. Arab zealots have blown up a busload of innocent passengers in a suicidal mission to coerce the United States into releasing a sheik they believe the U.S. kidnapped as a suspected terrorist mastermind.
New York, in the wake of the World Trade Center incursion and reeling from memories of Oklahoma City, is thrown into civic panic. A second explosion destroys a full-house Broadway theater, virtually emptying Manhattan — parents keep children from school, Madison Square Garden cancels events, etc.
On the counterterrorism hot seat is a diligent civil servant, Frank Hubbard (Washington), whose tenacious resolve is matched only by his cool aplomb. Unfortunately for Hubbard, he has more help than he needs: He finds the CIA is running a clandestine operation against what it deems Arab terrorist cells operating out of Brooklyn. And “government intelligence,” Hubbard soon finds, is the oxymoron he suspects.
Worse, the military is on more than standby alert, as embodied by a “visit” from the Army’s chief poobah, Gen. William Devereaux (Willis). While “Siege” charges forward as a harrowing actioner, its most intriguing moments are in its delineation of FBI and CIA anti-terrorist procedures. The story’s cloak-and-gadgets aspects are captivating as Hubbard and his cohorts, including a mysterious CIA female op (Annette Bening), race against time and mounting public hysteria to ferret out terrorist cells.
Lifting “Siege” above the general-issue action piece is its intelligently layered treatise on civil liberties, namely a subplot involving a presidential decree for martial law that, we see through the filmmakers’ wise lens, is a subversion of our way of life. Evenhanded and equanimous, “Siege” is not anti-Arab or anti any other ethnic group; it is, more accurately, anti-fascist.
In the lead role, Washington is perfectly cast as a decent, dedicated public servant. His demeanor and actions are the perfect embodiment of a man of purpose and valor. And give a special salute to Willis for his smart turn as a smarmy general whose hypocritical public utterances mask a man whose ego transcends his call of duty.
Zwick’s well-crafted, intelligent direction is largely responsible for the film’s excellence.
“THE SIEGE” Locations: East Sprague, Newport, Coeur d’Alene Credits: Directed by Edward Zwick, starring Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, Bruce Willis, Tony Shalhoub, Sami Bouajila, Ahmed Ben Larby, Mosleh Mohamed, Lianna Pai, Mark Valley, Jack Gwaltney Running time: 2:00 Rating: R