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List Price: $34.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 65827
Released: April 20, 1999 |
| Our Price: $5.98 |
| Used Price: $0.98 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A high-profile action/exploitation thriller set in the present, The Siege is really a fantasy that extrapolates from major terrorist attacks. Denzel Washington is FBI special agent Hubbard, "Hub" to his friends, whose anti-terrorist task force must track down the terrorist cells responsible for a spate of bombings in New York. His partner is an FBI agent of Arabian extraction (played convincingly by Tony Shalhoub), proving not all Arabs are bad guys--a point the film should be lauded for making again and again. Thrown into the mix is a CIA spy (played almost kittenish at times by Annette Bening), whose ties to the terrorists appear to be at the center of the conflicts. When the bombings escalate out of control, the President institutes martial law, sending in General Devereaux (played with impenetrable countenance by Bruce Willis) with tanks and troops to ferret out the terrorists. Echoes of Japanese-Americans in internment camps ring out as Arabs, including the son of the Arab-American FBI agent, are herded into a stadium. Periodic audio-montages of "man in the street" sentiments anchor the material in the present and show how serious and relevant the material is. But finally what we have is a taut and entertaining popcorn movie, giving itself the humanistic nod when it can. --Jim Gay
The Siege Reviews:
The Siege's warning 
2008-05-20 - It's too bad that this profound, thought-provoking film was released at the wrong time since it fell under the radar due to protests from various Arab & Islamic organizations condemning it for being racist. Since 9/11, all of the points made in the film have come to be painfully true and perhaps Fox should do well to re-release this film to the general public. Washington, Bening, Bruce Willis and Tony Shaloub (for once perfectly cast as an Arab-American FBI agent) are all excellent though Willis jabs at then-President Clinton now seem dated but keep in mind Bruce is a die-hard (no pun intended) Republican!! Superb direction from Ed Zwick keeps us on edge and of course, the ending is a real kicker. I am looking forward to seeing another Washington-Zwick colloboration, this was their last one to date, because all of their films have been top-flight.
Watching "The Siege" Made Me Feel As Though I Was Reliving 9/11
2008-04-20 - "The Siege" made my heart pound faster and my pulse race with fear as I watched scene after scene of terrorist acts take place in Brooklyn, New York. I felt as though 9/11 was happening all over again. Strangely enough, "The Siege" was made several years prior to this darkest day in American history as though it was predicting or foretelling what would one day happen. I hope the terrorists didn't get their ideas after watching this action adventure.
"The Siege" has a stellar cast of mega talent that includes Denzel Washington ("Fallen"), Bruce Willis ("The Sixth Sense") and Annette Bening ("In Dreams"). I normally review horror movies but this is one of the most horrifying movies I've seen in a long time, because it all seemed so real and plausible. The great acting made it that way. Annette Bening was the real surprise. I knew she could act, but I didn't realize how well. I have grown use to seeing Washington and Willis in tough-guy roles but not Bening. She played a great CIA agent who was literally sleeping with the enemy. Washington was a great FBI agent who was genuinely trying to serve and protect his county - the good guy. Willis was an evil, corrupt colonel - a jerk you loved to hate, i.e., the bad guy.
Watching the terrified hostages through the windows of the bus made me want to scream. I felt helpless. Watching people hang from windows of the Twin Towers as they burned made me feel helpless. "The Siege" was almost too real. It made me want to cry.
The plot for "The Siege" was excellent. It was non-stop action with several twists, especially at the end. It told a good moral. We are all Americans no matter what we look like and should be treated with dignity and justice. I recommend this pot boiler to anyone who enjoys good action adventure movies. Be forewarned, there are numerous scenes of grisly, realistic violence.
An Excellent Thriller, and Timely
2007-11-10 - 'The Siege' takes place in a pre-September 11 New York. Islamic terrorists have stirred the interests of the FBI and the CIA. The stakes are raised when Arabs seize a bus and threaten to blow it up. Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard (Denzel Washington), a crack FBI agent/negotiator, goes against the advice of CIA agent Elise Kraft (Annette Bening) and tries to negotiate the surrender of the terrorists. Kraft points out that the terrorists are not interested in negotiating, but in publicity.
Eerily prescient, the movie starts veering to implausability when a military crackdown on terrorists actually occurs in the United States, unlike what actually happened when more that a few Americans are killed by Islamic terrorists on that fateful day.
The Siege is a tense thriller, well-acted, and probably seemed far-fetched when it hit the theaters in 1998. Sadly, the events in the movie foretold a bleak reality just three years later.
In the movie, terrorist bombing after bombing occurs. Fortunately, we have (so far) be spared this sequential terrorism.
Recommended.
Siege...an interesting drama
2007-11-07 - I thought this was an interesting Hollywood interpretation of the possible risks to our freedoms in response to a major threat to our country. This movie's theme is especially interesting seeing that it came out long before 9/11.
Until President Bush was Elected and Re-Elected I Would Have Called This DVD Fantasy - Now I See It Could Too Easily Happen! 
2007-07-14 -
Crazy Terrorist's are there any other kind, NOPE blow up buildings killing folk. OK the witch hunts spawned by rampant paranoia starts and arab americans are made the scape goats. A Nazi like Military person takes over becoming a one man government who knows all, says all see's all and does all with impunity.
The DVD is good, the acting is first rate and the tension between the characters at times is so real you can cut it with a knife. The movie makes you think. The movie has so many twists and turns you never know just where you will end up. The movir builds up to an ending that totally rocks. I purchased this Movie to be part of my collection.
