THE SIEGE Review by Victory A. Marasigan http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~vmaras1/reviewsidx.html
It's a classic film scenario: What if terrorists struck on U.S. soil? The movies have long exploited the timely idea, using it like political propaganda to show off America's strength and selfless heroism. Films like the Die Hard series and True Lies have turned one of this country's biggest fears into popcorn entertainment, where the bad guy is easy to pinpoint by his foreign accent, and the good guys are defined by their snappy one-liners. The outline of Edward Zwick's much-ballyhooed The Siege appears to promise yet another flag-waving, foreigner-bashing bulletfest, but thankfully, the film is nowhere nearly that shallow.
Denzel Washington's FBI agent Anthony Hubbard is thrust into the thick of an international conflict when a bomb threat is made on a New York City bus. He gets the wheels turning on an investigation, only to discover that the CIA (personified by mysterious agent Annette Bening) has already taken the case into its own hands. After civilians are lost in a series of horrific explosions, the entire nation's eyes look toward New York, and Hubbard and his crew find themselves trying to fend off an imminent declaration of martial law. Working both with and without the CIA's go-ahead, Hubbard attempts to find out who is behind the attack before the situation really gets out of hand, and before innocent American citizens end up being sequestered like animals.
Packed with white-knuckle tension and genuine pathos, The Siege is truly an enthralling ride. Washington's acting is on target, as always; his Jack Ryan-esquie screen persona fits like a glove. Tony Shalhoub is just as good as Hubbard's partner, a family-man who finds that even he is unable to escape the racial discord brought about by the terrorist incidents.
The most jarring aspect of the film are its bombing scenes, which are executed with an authenticity that is quite uncomfortable to watch. Some are shown in explicit detail, others only in aftermath. Images like these are fodder for the world news on a nightly basis, but to see them taking place in New York City is irrepressibly unnerving. To add to the tension, the filmmakers make it abundantly clear that a terrorist bomb can go off anywhere, anytime -- even in a movie theater. Lowbrow as the film's scare tactics may be, they certainly draw us in by forcing us to realize that although the situation on the screen isn't real, it easily could be.
Of late, a great concern about the film has been its apparent racist depiction of Arabs as terrorists. But The Siege smartly pushes beyond the superficial constraints of its main plot to delve deeper into the issues of racial, religious, and cultural prejudice than most mainstream "thrillers" have before it. These issues are in fact integral to the story, and although it is blatantly preachy at times, The Siege somehow avoids making its moral ring out like self-congratulatory claptrap.
For all its merits, The Siege is not perfect. The film would have done well to explore the Arab and Muslim culture even more fully. As it stands, the film comes dangerously close to making its Arab characters more symbolic than real.
The film also suffers from some questionable characterizations. Bening is unconvincing as CIA agent Elise Kraft, inhabiting the role like a schoolteacher with a sexy-cool night personality. Bruce Willis' one-dimensionally acted turn as an army general is too obvious a foil to Washington's self-righteous Hubbard.
Does the film trivialize such real tragedies as the Oklahoma City bombing? Yes and no. On the one hand, it is quite arrogant to think that the real horror of terrorism could be evoked succinctly in a movie. Conversely, to not address tragedy in some capacity would be to dishonor those who have died.
It should be understood that The Siege is but a work of entertainment, not an attempt at a modern morality tale. That being said, it is still very likely that moviegoers will come away from the film more open-minded than when they went in.
GRADE: B
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