THE SIEGE A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1998 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ***
Life has been like a horror movie lately for FBI agent Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard (Denzel Washington) in THE SIEGE. Just when he thinks he's killed the last terrorist monster, another one rises up to smite the city.
"New York City brought to its knees" the television news wails as retail sales plummet 72%.
"This is New York City," Hub blusters with inner doubts showing all over his troubled brow. "We can take it."
Maybe not.
As most of his schemes prove sadly ineffectual, Hub goes from cockily confident to completely overwhelmed to intensely angry as the carnage mounts in the worst series of terrorist attacks in our nation's history.
THE SIEGE, a riveting tale of terror, is by director Edward Zwick, who worked with Denzel Washington previously on the mesmerizing COURAGE UNDER FIRE and GLORY. Beautifully edited for maximum tension by Steven Rosenblum, the movie keeps you on the edge of your seat. Zwick knows how to time and stage scenes to keep the audience on constant alert. Even when they know something will happen, as in the bus bombing, Zwick manages to time it in a quite surprising way.
The complex thriller involves warring federal agencies, all trying to control the chaos caused by multiple terrorist cells at work in New York City. Hub leads the FBI team, but he comes up against Elise Kraft (Annette Bening), a tough veteran of the CIA's covert activities against Saddam Hussein. The negative chemistry between the two of them and later between them and a self-righteous General William Devereaux (Bruce Willis) form one of the most interesting of the story's subplots. Hub is never happier than when he and his guys get to draw their guns on the CIA, operating illegally in this country, and on the megalomaniac general.
Hub tries hard to uphold the laws while Elise, trained in covert activities, wants to do absolutely anything to stop the terrorists. He complains that she doesn't know the difference between right and wrong. "It is easy to tell the difference between right and wrong," Elise tells Hub. "What is difficult is finding the wrong that's more right."
Denzel Washington delivers another of the richly intelligent performances that he can do so well. Bruce Willis plays Bruce Willis. But it is Annette Bening, who steals the picture with her best dramatic performance ever.
"These guys are the real deal," Elise warns Hub about the terrorists early in the picture. It is not until much later that he fully comprehends what she meant. Bening's precise and delicately emotive portrayal of a woman who reveals as little as possible about herself makes for a fascinating enigma.
As a frantic Hub tries to talk to the bomb-laden terrorists holding up a city bus full of passengers, the prescient Elise sizes up the terrorist's real motivation. "They're not here to negotiate," she warns Hub. "They're waiting for the cameras."
BIG NIGHT's Tony Shalhoub is excellent as Frank Haddad, an Arab-American FBI agent, who is Hub's right-hand man. The story's respect for Frank and his family somewhat counterbalances the story's controversial subject matter, the treatment of the Arab-American population.
As the slaughter of innocent Americans mounts, the pressure builds to turn to the military as the savior of last resort, but General Devereaux argues strongly against this tactic. When the country reaches its limit, the president invokes the War Powers Act.
General Devereaux soon has tanks rolling across the Brooklyn Bridge, and he orders his men to go house to house rounding up Arab suspects and putting them into concentration camps. "This is the land of opportunity gentlemen," the general confidently tells the terrorists via television. "The opportunity to turn yourselves in."
It is in this section that the movie is most in danger of losing its audience. The film touches on issues of discrimination that will likely prove uncomfortable for many viewers. Discrimination is like that, it is something easier to ignore than ponder.
The movie makes judicious use of comedy to break the tension as in Frank's microwave envy. It seems that spooks have some really nifty microwave equipment that allows them to eavesdrop on conversations and more, but the FBI has never been able to get its hands on the technology. The film's running joke has Frank constantly coveting it. The movie is even able to get a laugh out of Hub's humor-challenged management style.
Any movie about terrorist bombings that contains relatively few explosions, as THE SIEGE does, deserves a special award for its lack of pyrotechnic overkill. Most directors of action films, even dramatic thrillers, seem to have their pay based on an incentive scheme directly linked to the noise level and number of explosions. Zwick creates his tension the old-fashion way -- with actors actually acting. This can best be seen in the film's carefully choreographed conclusion. It is masterful more for what it doesn't contain than what it does.
THE SIEGE runs 2:00. It is rated R for violence, language, and brief nudity and would be fine for most teenagers.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: www.InternetReviews.com
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