The Siege (1998)

The secret U.S. abduction of a suspected terrorist leads to a wave of terrorist attacks in New York City, which leads to the declaration of martial-law.

Director:

Edward Zwick

Writers:

Lawrence Wright (story), Lawrence Wright (screenplay)

Stars:

Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, Annette Bening

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Denzel Washington	...	Anthony Hubbard
Annette Bening	...	Elise Kraft / Sharon Bridger
Bruce Willis	...	General William Devereaux
Tony Shalhoub	...	Frank Haddad
Sami Bouajila	...	Samir Nazhde
Ahmed Ben Larby	...	Sheik Achmed Bin Talal
Mosleh Mohamed	...	Muezzin
Lianna Pai	...	Tina Osu (as Liana Pai)
Mark Valley	...	Mike Johanssen
Jack Gwaltney	...	Fred Darius
David Proval	...	Danny Sussman
Lance Reddick	...	FBI Agent Floyd Rose
Jeremy Knaster	...	INS Official
William Hill	...	INS Uniform
Aasif Mandvi	...	Khalil Saleh

Storyline

After the abduction by the US military of an Islamic religious leader, New York City becomes the target of escalating terrorist attacks. Anthony Hubbard, the head of the FBI's Counter-Terrorism Task Force in New York, teams up with CIA operative Elise Kraft to hunt down the terrorist cells responsible for the attacks. As the bombings continue, the US government responds by declaring martial law, sending US troops, led by Gen. Devereaux, into the streets of New York City.

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Plot Keywords:

new york city | martial law | assassination | terrorist | military | 

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Taglines:

On November 6th our freedom is history

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Genres:

Action | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and brief nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the period when this movie was being filmed (including in various locations around New York City), Donna Hanover (who played the District Attorney) was married to Rudolph Giuliani, the then-mayor of New York City.

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Goofs

General Devereaux wears a Combat Infantryman badge with a star. To be eligible for this at this point in time, he would have to have fought in the Korean war as well as the Vietnam war or other Cold War era actions. Apart from being too young to have been in the Korean war, he has no service medals from this period.

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Quotes

Agent Frank Haddad: [tosses his badge to Hubbard] Tell them I'm not their sand nigger anymore.

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Alternate Versions

Some post-2001 versions have the World Trade Center digitally removed from the New York skyline.

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Connections

Referenced in Real Time with Bill Maher: Episode #14.35 (2016)

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Soundtracks

Great Leap Forward
Written by Jim Kerr (as James Kerr) and Charlie Burchill (as Charles Burchill)
Performed by Simple Minds
Courtesy of Virgin Records America, Inc.

User Reviews

This fictional movie showed us what was coming. And they showed us what not to do!

This was a very strange film. Strange, because it had so many of its facts right for 9/11. Right city, right jihadists, right plot.

And the military's answer to the terrorist threats? Go in, plunder, pillage, torture, abuse and kill the bad guys. Moral? If we stoop to their level, we are no better than the enemy. The real irony is, Denzel's character had the CHARACTER to do the right thing.

Oddly, and presciently, Bruce Willis' general was about to do all the wrong stuff, and with a little help from Denzel, decided not to resort to all the things we really have resorted to. This movie is notable for several reasons, but the uppermost is showing us the future we shouldn't take, but took anyway.

The irony is not lost. What is confounding here is how much of this originally semi-corny movie got right. Washington, Benning, Shaloub, and Willis, all deliver in a big fashion, with some pertinent warnings. The road not taken was the moral. How scary that in the long run, when presented by a much larger threat, we one-upped this movie's punch line in reality. How much stranger can you get than that?

This was a fairly realistic portrait of the underworld, the intrigue, the terrorism, and gave us a scary view of our future. Hopefully, next time a movie like this one comes along, we might be better served by taking it more seriously.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic Spanish

Release Date:

6 November 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blowback

Filming Locations:

6th Street Viaduct, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,931,285, 8 November 1998

Gross USA:

$40,981,289

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$116,672,912

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Lynda Obst Productions, The Bedford Falls Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS (uncredited)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1