|
Advertisement |
Overall Rating
 Awesome: 6%
Worth A Look: 22%
Average: 48%
Pretty Bad: 12%
Total Crap: 12%
3 reviews, 32 user ratings
|
|
| Siege, The |
by Erik Childress
"Protests More Insulting Than Anything in Well-Made Film"
|
The Siege (***) - Going into this film I kept preaching to people that Edward Zwick has never made a bad film (About Last Night, Glory, Legends of the Fall, Courage Under Fire). That’s enough to give me some high hopes for this film. And for probably for a little over an hour, this is a solid 3 ½ star film. The first hour is a riveting thriller based in reality with tension-filled scenes of terrorism. How the FBI goes after these terrorists and their tactics are well-handled and all the performances are right-on. Then the film kind of changes game plans by launching the martial law aspect well-publicized in the film’s ads. This takes place after the one-hour mark and the film switches gears from a slick thriller to a moral drama, which is fine, except the martial law scenes aren’t all that interesting and sometimes feels more like stock footage than real drama. I wanted to see more of the disruption of freedoms that we as citizens would have to give up, instead of merely concentrating on the images of thousands of Arabs locked in concentration camps. Another problem of the film is Bruce Willis’ character (part of it written, part of it acted). Earlier in the film, his General character strongly advises against the use of martial law in the city - but from what we know earlier about him and the way the scenes play out, especially that one, it seems like he really would love to do it - taking any depth away from his character. The film then, unfortunately becomes more of a mano-a-mano between Denzel and Bruce than either of them against the terrorists. There are a few good points made during a couple of these scenes, but I still wanted more. The film also unfortunately gives us a face for Denzel to shoot at during the final scenes, in a more conventional villain way, than the terrorist amalgamation that we’ve been dealing with for 90 minutes previous. Then the film ends on a Crimson Tide/A Few Good Men note that seems too phony, just as a way to end the movie - and a disappointing ending it is because it just kinda ends. As far as Arabs being pissed at this movie. My first thought when I hear anyone protesting any kind of movie is to ask them - Did you see it?. If they say no - then I’d tell them to shut the fuck up. But, I don’t think there’s any reason for them to protest because if they saw the movie - they’d see that the movie does show that the majority of Arabs living in America are decent people - with a few rotten apples spoiling the bunch. The film takes its topic seriously enough to acknowledge that fact. Just remember - all Arabs are not terrorists, but all terrorists are Arabs. I’m joking. I kid.But, seriously, I’m recommending the movie as good and not great. It gets the point across for the most part and the first hour is just too good to let the last 20 minutes drag it down. Ed Zwick’s track record is still safe, but all of those other films rank higher on his scale than this one does. And that’s a shame. (Note: There’s a movie coming out called “Arlington Road” about a suburban guy played by Jeff Bridges who discovers that his neighbor, Tim Robbins, is a bomber. I think I’m going to protest this movie for all the Caucasian-Americans out there.)
 del.icio.us 
link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=442&reviewer=198
originally posted: 02/17/00 05:12:09
![[printer]](/images/icon/printer.gif) printer-friendly format
|
 |
USA
06-Nov-1998 (R)
UK
N/A
Australia
26-Dec-1998 (M)
|
|
Articles 
subscribe to this feed
![[AllPosters.com]](/images/icon/ap.gif){kind=icon}
