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THE SIEGE

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see The Siege (disambiguation).

The Siege
Theatrical release poster
Directed byEdward Zwick
Screenplay byLawrence WrightMenno MeyjesEdward Zwick
Story byLawrence Wright
Produced byLynda ObstEdward Zwick
StarringDenzel WashingtonAnnette BeningBruce WillisTony ShalhoubSami BouajilaDavid Proval
CinematographyRoger Deakins
Edited bySteven Rosenblum
Music byGraeme Revell
Production
company		Twin River Productions
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dateNovember 6, 1998
Running time116 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$70 million
Box office$116.7 million

The Siege is a 1998 American action thriller film directed and produced by Edward Zwick, who co-wrote the screenplay with Lawrence Wright and Menno Meyjes, from a story by Wright. Starring Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, Tony Shalhoub, and Bruce Willis, the film concerns terrorist cells making several attacks in New York City and the police attempts to stop them. Released by 20th Century Fox on November 6, 1998, it received mixed reviews from critics and was a box office disappointment.

Plot

FBI Special Agent Anthony Hubbard and his Lebanese-American partner Frank Haddad intervene at the hijacking of a bus fully loaded with passengers, which contains an explosive device. The bomb turns out to be a paint bomb and the terrorists escape. The FBI receives demands to release Sheikh Ahmed Bin Talal, a suspect in an earlier bombing. Hubbard is confronted by Central Intelligence Agency operative Elise Kraft while taking a different suspect into custody and arrests her. Later, another terrorist threat is made and a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus is suicide bombed, killing 25 people. The FBI captures Samir Nazhde, a man who admits to signing the visa application of one of the suicide bombers in the course of signing many applications for student visas in his job as a lecturer. Kraft insists that Samir, with whom she has a sexual relationship, is not a terrorist and that his continued freedom is vital to the investigation. Hubbard and his team track down and eliminate the terrorist cell and believe that the threat is over.

However, the terrorist incidents escalate with the bombing of a crowded theater and a hostage situation at an elementary school, and culminate in the destruction of One Federal Plaza, the location of the FBI’s New York City field office, causing more than 600 casulties. Over the objections of some of his advisors, the President of the United States declares martial law and the Army‘s 101st Airborne Division, under Major General William Devereaux, occupies and seals off Brooklyn to locate the remaining terrorist cells. All young men of Arab descent, including Haddad’s son Frank Jr., are rounded up and detained in Downing Stadium. Haddad resigns in outrage while New Yorkers stage violent demonstrations against the Army’s occupation and the profiling of the Arabs.

Hubbard and Kraft, now revealed to be intelligence operative Sharon Bridger, continue their investigation and capture a suspect, Tariq Husseini. Devereaux, who was surveilling Hubbard, tortures and kills Husseini in the course of the interrogation. Husseini reveals nothing of value because of the principle of compartmentalized information. Sickened, Bridger concedes that she provided training and support to militants opposed to Saddam Hussein‘s regime, working with Samir to recruit and train the followers of the Sheikh. After the cut of their funding and the group was left to be exposed, she took pity on the few of the victims who had not yet been slaughtered by Hussein’s forces, and arranged for them to escape to the United States, ultimately leading to the present situation as they direct their bomb making and covert skills on the country that now holds their leader. The Sheikh was also apprehended by Devereaux without any consent from the U.S. government. She and Hubbard compel Samir to arrange a meeting with the final terrorist cell. Hubbard convinces Haddad to return to the FBI.

A multi-ethnic peace march demonstrates against the occupation of Brooklyn. As the march begins, Hubbard and Haddad arrive at the meeting place, but Bridger and Samir have already departed. Samir reveals to Bridger that he is in fact the final bomber while also predicting that, “there will never be a last cell,” as their terrorist acts are just a beginning. He straps a bomb to his body, intending to detonate it among the marchers. Hubbard and Haddad arrive in time to prevent him from leaving a bathhouse, but Samir shoots Bridger in the stomach as she struggles to stop him. Hubbard and Haddad kill Samir but can only watch as Bridger succumbs to her wound after reciting lines of the second half of the Lord’s Prayer and concluding with “Inshallah“.[a]

Hubbard, Haddad, and their team raid the Army headquarters to arrest Devereaux for the torture and murder of Husseini and the unauthorized confinement of the Sheikh. Devereaux insists that under the War Powers Resolution the authority vested in himself by the President supersedes that of the court which issued the arrest warrant. He then commands his soldiers to aim their assault rifles at the agents, resulting in a Mexican standoff. Hubbard reminds Devereaux that the civil liberties and human rights which he took from Husseini are what all of his predecessors have fought and died for. Devereaux finally submits and is arrested. Martial law ends and the detainees, including Haddad’s son, are given their freedom.

Cast

Additionally, John Beard, Mary Alice Williams, Sean Hannity, and Curtis Sliwa make appearances, credited as Newscasters.

Production

In February 1997, it was reported that 20th Century Fox was developing Lawrence Wright’s script Bang as a project for producers Lynda Obst and Edward Zwick.[2] In January 1998, it was reported that the film was now titled Martial Law and would star Denzel Washington with an intended release for the 1998 holiday season.[3] That same month, Annette Bening was in negotiations to star in the film alongside which Washington which had also been joined by Bruce Willis.[4] Both Zwick and Menno Meyjes wrote the shooting script based on Wright’s original Bang script.[4]

Reception

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews from critics.

‹ The template below (Rotten Tomatoes prose) is being considered for deletion. See templates for discussion to help reach a consensus. ›

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 44% of 61 critics’ reviews are positive. The website’s consensus reads: “An exciting, well-paced action film.”[5]

‹ The template below (Metacritic film prose) is being considered for deletion. See templates for discussion to help reach a consensus. ›

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 53 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating “mixed or average” reviews.[6] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “B−” on an A+ to F scale.[7]

Roger Ebert gave the film 21⁄2 stars out of four, writing that director Edward Zwick does a good job with crowd scenes, but criticizing it as clumsy.[8]

Bruce Willis won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor for his performances in this film, Armageddon, and Mercury Rising.[9]

Box office

The film grossed $14.7 million on its opening weekend, ranking at number two behind The Waterboy.[10][11][12] The film ultimately grossed $40,981,289 in North America and $75,691,623 in other territories on a budget of $70 million.[13] In the film’s second week, The Siege showed the teaser trailer for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.[14]

Controversy

When the film opened, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee came out against the film. Its spokesman Hussein Ibish said “The Siege is extremely offensive. It’s beyond offensive. We’re used to offensive, that’s become a daily thing. This is actually dangerous.” He thought it was “Insidious and incendiary” because it “reinforces stereotypes that lead to hate crimes.” Ibish acknowledged that Arab terrorists did, in fact, bomb the World Trade Center in 1993, but said that Arab and Islamic groups are upset by “the very strong equation between Muslim religious practices and terrorism. …[Thanks to this film] Every time someone goes through the Muslim ablution, the ritual washing of hands everybody does before they pray five times a day, that image is the announcement to the viewer of the presence of violence.” Echoing such criticism, the Council on American–Islamic Relations protested the insinuation that “Muslims have total disregard for human life.” The groups were “faxing and calling news organizations on a regular basis” to voice their concerns.[15][16]

Director Edward Zwick had met with Arab Americans, who suggested that the story be changed to mirror the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, when Arabs were immediately assumed responsible. This idea was rejected. Zwick noted that The Siege‘s villains also include members of the U.S. government, and dismissed the criticism, saying:

Anytime you talk about issues that touch on religion of any kind, you can anticipate this kind of reaction. Should we only present every group as paragons and monoliths of virtue? The movie inspires to engender this kind of dialogue. I happen to come from the school that thinks that movies should not only make you uncomfortable, they might make you think. …You can anticipate any kind of reaction in these times in which sensitivity seems very high in the culture. I have a friend who says, if you’ve not offended somebody, you’re a nobody. …How does it feel to be a lightning rod? It gets the blood going. I think it’s better than being universally ignored. In a culture where there seems to be so much to talk about, it’s good to be talked about.[15] What the movie is most deeply about – it’s about our own latent possibilities of repression, stereotyping and prejudice […] To see Americans rounded up in the streets, to see Americans put into stadiums, to see people held without habeas corpus – to have their rights violated in such a way is such a chilling and just terrifying thing to see – that is what one takes away, I believe, from this film.[17]

In a September 2007 interview, screenwriter Lawrence Wright attributed the film’s failure at the box office to Muslim and Arab protests at theaters playing the film, but also claimed that it was the most rented movie in America after the September 11 attacks.[18]

Scholar Moustafa Bayoumi has also critiqued the racialization of Arabs in the film and suggests it is indicative of an emerging sub-genre defined by “the notion of African-American leadership of the Arab world, intertwined with friendship with it.”[19]

Scholar Alexandra Campbell quoted from former Guantanamo Bay detention camp captive Tarek Dergoul when she compared the fictional demonization and extrajudicial abuse of Muslims in the film and the abuse that Dergoul described in his first post-repatriation interview.[20]

On July 12, 2006, the magazine Mother Jones provided excerpts from the transcripts of a selection of the Guantánamo detainees. Yunis Abdurrahman Shokuri was one of the detainees profiled. According to the article, his transcript contained the following comment:

[T]he only way I know the United States is through movies from Hollywood or through cartoons. I’m a big fan of a lot of their singers…. [T]he first time I saw an American soldier was at Kandahar Air Base…. When I first saw myself in Kandahar, it was like I was in a cinema or a movie. I saw a 1998 movie called The Siege. The movie was about terrorists carrying out terrorist attacks in the United States…. [In the movie] the CIA and FBI were not successful in finding that terrorist group and the United States Army interfered and gathered all the people of Arabic descent and put them in a land cage or camp just like it happened in Kandahar. I was shocked, thinking, “Am I in that movie or on a stage in Hollywood?”… Sometimes I laugh at myself and say, “When does that movie end?”[21]

Notes

  1.  The Arabic phrase “God Willing”.

References

  1.  “Caught in the Middle”. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
  2.  “Pleshette, Millner team up”. Variety. February 13, 1997. Archived from the original on January 3, 2026. Retrieved January 3, 2026.
  3.  “Studio Report Card: Fox”. Variety. January 6, 1998. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved January 3, 2026.
  4.  “Bening laying down ‘Law'”. Variety. January 15, 1998. Archived from the original on January 3, 2026. Retrieved January 3, 2026.
  5.  “The Siege“. Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved March 8, 2026. 
  6.  “The Siege“. Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved June 12, 2025.
  7.  “CinemaScore”. cinemascore.com.
  8.  Ebert, Roger (November 6, 1998). “The Siege Movie Review”. Chicago Sun-Times. Sun-Times Media Group.
  9.  Wilson, John (2007). “Nineteenth Annual Razzies (1998)”. The Official Razzie Movie Guide. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9780446510080.
  10.  “‘The Waterboy’ sets debut record”. The Kanasas City Star. November 10, 1998. Retrieved October 1, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  11.  Fleeman, Michael (November 11, 1998). “‘Waterboy’ earns varsity letter”. The Berkshire Eagle. Retrieved October 1, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  12.  “‘Waterboy’ top movie box office draw”. The Mercury. November 9, 1998. Retrieved October 1, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  13.  “The Siege (1998)”. Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
  14.  “20 years ago, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace’s trailer made web history”.
  15.  “Muslims feel under siege from Hollywood”. November 5, 1998.
  16.  “Islamic Council Protests Timing of ‘The Siege'”. Los Angeles Times. August 25, 1998. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
  17.  “Director Ed Zwick defends ‘The Siege'”. CNN NewsStand. November 10, 1998. Archived from the original on February 12, 2009. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
  18.  Martin, David (September 9, 2007). “Reporting The Bin Laden Beat”. CBS News. Archived from the original on March 9, 2009. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
  19.  Bayoumi, Moustafa. “The Race is On.” Middle East Report, March 10, 2010. Accessed on January 13, 2022.
  20.  Hayward, Keith; Presdee, Mike (2010). Framing Crime: Cultural Criminology and the Image. Taylor & Francis. pp. 107–8. ISBN 978-0-203-88075-3.
  21.  Dave Gilson (July 12, 2006). “Why Am I in Cuba?”. Mother Jones. Archived from the original on July 19, 2006. Retrieved February 17, 2016. Detainees could respond directly to the accusations made against them and were assigned to an officer who shepherded them through the process. However, they did not have access to lawyers and often could not fully examine the government’s claims, particularly if those claims were based on classified information.

External links

vteWorks by Edward Zwick
Films directedSpecial Bulletin (1983)About Last Night (1986)Glory (1989)Leaving Normal (1992)Legends of the Fall (1994)Courage Under Fire (1996)The Siege (1998)The Last Samurai (2003)Blood Diamond (2006)Defiance (2008)Love & Other Drugs (2010)Pawn Sacrifice (2014)Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)Trial by Fire (2018)
TV series createdThirtysomething (1987–1991)Once and Again (1999–2002)Quarterlife (2008)
RelatedBedford Falls Productions
Authority control databases: National United States

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