The Siege Movie Review

Think about this. What if the very city you live in, was bombed almost weekly by terrorists? What if there was nothing anybody could do? What if when you were walking down the street, tanks rolled by because the city was under martial law? In The Siege, those questions are addressed in a very entertaining, disturbing, and powerful way.

Earlier this year, Saving Private Ryan was so disturbing; I had to leave the theater. This is coming from someone who watches gory, bloody action movies all the time. Ryan used the most graphic violence in any movie I’ve ever seen to be powerful. The Siege is effective in a more intelligent way. Denzel Washington stars as FBI agent Anthony Hubbard, who seems to be affected the most by all these bombings that have been happening in New York. Soon the Arab bombings keep coming, with a body count bigger every time, the only thing left to do is send the military in, headed by General Devereaux (Bruce Willis). All Arabs are held in stadiums, innocent people are tortured, even though they don’ t know anything. After a while, you start to wonder. What if it were black people being treated this way? Whites? Jews?

Ed Zwick (Courage Under Fire, Glory) has made this situation seem like it could actually happen. The beginning of the movie was slow, but the middle and the end were exciting and suspenseful. As always, Washington is fun to watch on screen, and he already exhibited that in this years He Got Game. I only wish the movie could have had a strong beginning, a way for us to get into the story more quickly.