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The Siege
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, Bruce Willis,
Tony Shalhoub |
| MPAA Rated: |
R
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| Released By: |
20th Century
Fox
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| Kiddie Movie: |
No.
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| Date Movie: |
Sure.
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| Gratuitous Sex: |
In infrared, on a little screen, and a naked guy
tied to a chair.
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| Gratuitous
Violence: |
Things get blown up.
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| Action: |
Nah.
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| Laughs: |
A couple of one-liners.
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| Memorable
Scene: |
When everyone ducks for cover when a bus
backfires.
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| Memorable
Quote: |
Frank (Shalhoub) tells Anthony (Washington), as
they're spying on Kraft (Benning) and the informant
doing the nasty, "Beats the shit out of cable."
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| Directed By: |
Edward Zwick
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| Produced By: |
Lynda Obst, Edward Zwick
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The Siege
A Movie Review |
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Sometimes a movie just seems too long.
Sometimes a movie just needs a little more action. Sometimes
a movie just needs a little more realism. Sometimes a movie
makes you chuckle, like when the FBI agents pull their guns
on the army soldiers and the army soldiers pull their guns
on the agents, only to have the an inspiring speech by the
FBI man end the stand-off. All of those sometimes were there
for me as I watched "The Siege."
"The Siege" tells the tale of everything that can go
wrong if or when terrorism hits a major city in a
non-stopping way. You get multiple government agencies not
working together, you get oppression of an ethnic group, you
get an occasional building/bus blowing up, and you get a
movie that is supposed to make you think of the freedoms you
have, but had me thinking there was so much more potential.
Denzel Washington plays FBI guy Anthony Hubbard, Annette
Bening plays CIA-type chick Elise Kraft and Sharon Bridger
(she's got an alias), Tony Shalhoub plays Arab FBI guy Frank
Haddad, and Bruce Willis plays Army General Devereaux. All
is well until the U.S. captures/kidnaps a Middle East Sheik
who is the seeming ringleader of some terrorists. Then it's
kaboom city in the Big Apple and the citizens are scared.
Hubbard wants to use his FBI resources to find the dudes
responsible, Kraft/Bridger has more information than she
will share which would probably help catch the bad guys
quicker, Shalhoub becomes pissed when the army starts
rounding up the Arabs, and Devereaux, although saying he
doesn't want the Army involved, seems more content to just
start rounding up everyone who might look like a bad guy. If
only they could all get along, maybe the bad guys would have
been caught quicker.
"The Siege" seems to want to portray a film showing a lot
of brutality, some action sequences with the terrorists, and
the cool, spy stuff needed to get the job done. What it does
portray is a little wondering about how far is far enough,
and a lot more trying to develop a human storyline that
would be alright if it didn't seem so out of place. It's
difficult for a movie to mix the action element with human
drama, and "The Siege" doesn't. When I was wanting something
to blow up or someone to be chased, I got confrontations and
hinted romance between characters, and when I got something
to blow up it almost seemed like an afterthought.
I guess "The Siege" isn't a bad movie, but for me it just
didn't pull off mixing both the action and drama side.
Willis is good as the hard-ass, conniving General, Bening
does a good job as the agent with something to hide, and
Washington comes off as the most human of the bunch. I guess
I just kept looking at my watch too often. I give "The
Siege" 2 ½ stars out of 5.
That's it for this one, I'm The Dude on the Right!
L8R!! |
