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 | fbi federal bureau of investigation | terrorist | 

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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

In several scenes, General William Devereaux is seen not wearing his U.S. Army uniform, instead he's seen wearing an ordinary suit. It is revealed that General Devereaux is actually holding a position in the President's cabinet while retaining his Army commission as a Major General, possibly National Security Advisor, or White House Chief of Staff. This resembled Alexander Haig, who was Richard Nixon's Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and later White House Chief of Staff, while retaining his General rank in the Army, or Colin Powell, who was Ronald Reagan's National Security Advisor, while also retaining his General rank in the Army, and later known as "political General".

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Goofs

The enormous blast when the bus explodes, which produces a massive shock wave, does not affect the helicopters circling above, as is seen with the steady camera footage later on.

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Quotes

Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard: [to General Devereaux during the Mexican standoff] You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to a fair trial. You have the right not to be tortured, not to be murdered, rights that you took away from Tariq Husseini. You have those rights because of the men who came before you who wore that uniform. Because of the men and women who are standing here right now waiting for you to give them the order to fire. Give them the order, General.
General William Devereaux: Do you think that I would hesitate to kill you, ...
[...]

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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

Featured in 73rd Golden Globe Awards (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:

2.39 : 1