The Siege (1998) review

Counterterrorism at its extreme. I just can’t believe a number of terrorist cells can evade and outwit the FBI, CIA, and NYPD. The military in the streets reminded me of The Dark Knight Rises (2012). The scale is actually impressive. It has some classic thought provoking morality questions and the enemy destroying the good guys from the inside out. Really relevant today, even after 28 years. Denzel and Bruce did well. I like the contrast between Denzel’s character trying to work within law enforcement and Bruce Willis bringing in this much harder military solution. Their conflict makes the counterterrorism side more interesting because both believe they are protecting the country, but their limits are completely different. The twists did not land really well. They are quite predictable, and there is no shock value. It makes everyone look naive. For a movie built around intelligence agencies trying to stay ahead of terrorist cells, I wanted the reveals to make those agencies feel outplayed rather than simply oblivious. Watched on Disney+.