The film revolves around a fictional case in which terrorist cells committed several attacks in New York City, culminating in the bombing of a bus, a crowded theater, and hostage-taking at a primary school, culminating in the destruction of the Federal Plaza, the New York City field office of the FBI, with more than 600 victims . But impose these elements on the terrorist siege.
Even at its most unbelievable, The Siege has the performances of Washington and Bening to fall back on, and a theme that understands that what's difficult is not choosing right from wrong but 'choosing the wrong that's more right.'
The prejudicial attitudes embodied in the film are insidious, like the anti-Semitism that infected fiction and journalism in the 1930s--not just in Germany, but in Britain and America.
[Benning] is the only fresh, compelling character in the film.
Boxoffice Magazine
June 05, 2002
A flawed but not uninteresting political thriller that struggles with middling success to satisfy the dual aims of being both commercially entertaining and socially significant.
