As some of you may recall, The Siege was released before 9/11, when the thought of terrorists attacking New York City was something along the lines of fiction. Some more of you may recall that The Siege really wasn’t that special of a film. You watch it now, though — several years after 9/11 — and the paranoia aspect of the film is downright eerie. But then it dawns on you that it still isn’t that special of a film, and you just kind of forget about it (again).
Denzel Washington plays the good guy. The nice guy. The guy that gets pushed too far, whether it be from the bad guys or the other good guys that aren‘t so good, and so he plays dirty a little, finding time to deliver an Oscar soliloquy in the process. This can be said for many of Denzel’s roles. And yet, Denzel is one of the better aspects of The Siege. Well, that, and Tony Shalhoub (in his pre-Monk days), but he‘s good in just about anything. Bruce Willis is sort of alright in the film, whereas Annette Bening downright sucks, handing in another “Look! I’m over 40 and men still want to fuck me!” prima donna performance.
So anyway, the plot here: Army general Devereaux (Bruce Willis) kidnaps an Arabic sheik after some army barracks are bombed. This causes a wave of terrorist attacks in the Big Apple, and it’s up to FBI man Hubbard (Denzel Washington) to save the day — but it would really go a lot smoother if CIA agent Elise Kraft (Bening) would just stop bullshitting him and play ball. Things go from bad to worse as the bombings continue, so Devereaux declares Martial Law on Brooklyn, imprisoning Arabic residents in the process.
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