Details

Summary

A high-profile action/exploitation thriller set in the present, "The Siege" is really a fantasy that extrapolates from major terrorist attacks. Denzel Washington is FBI special agent Hubbard, "Hub" to his friends, whose anti-terrorist task force must track down the terrorist cells responsible for a spate of bombings in New York. His partner is an FBI agent of Arabian extraction (played convincingly by Tony Shalhoub), proving not all Arabs are bad guys--a point the film should be lauded for making again and again. Thrown into the mix is a CIA spy (played almost kittenish at times by Annette Bening), whose ties to the terrorists appear to be at the center of the conflicts. When the bombings escalate out of control, the President institutes martial law, sending in General Devereaux (played with impenetrable countenance by Bruce Willis) with tanks and troops to ferret out the terrorists. Echoes of Japanese-Americans in internment camps ring out as Arabs, including the son of the Arab-American FBI agent, are herded into a stadium. Periodic audio-montages of "man in the street" sentiments anchor the material in the present and show how serious and relevant the material is. But finally what we have is a taut and entertaining popcorn movie, giving itself the humanistic nod when it can. "--Jim Gay"

Credits

Denzel Washington	...	Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard
Annette Bening	...	Elise Kraft
Bruce Willis	...	Major General William Devereaux
Tony Shalhoub	...	Agent 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	...	FBI Agent 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
Frank DiElsi	...	Officer Williams
Wood Harris	...	Officer Henderson
Ellen Bethea	...	FBI Agent Anita
David Costabile	...	Fingerprint Expert
Glenn Kessler	...	Fiber Expert
Jeffrey Waid	...	Video Agent (as Jeffrey Allan Waid)
Tom McDermott	...	Phone Bank Agent
Sherry Ham-Bernard	...	Hubbard's Secretary
Joseph Hodge	...	Landlord
Joey Naber	...	Rashad
Said Faraj	...	Sleeper terrorist
Ali Afshar	...	Ali Wiziri, #87 Bus Bomber (as Alex Dodd)
Jacqueline Antaramian	...	Najiba Haddad
Helmi Kassim	...	Frank Haddad Jr.
Ghoulam R. Rasoully	...	Frank Haddad Jr.'s Teacher
Joseph Badalucco Jr.	...	EMT
Diana Naftal	...	Injured Woman
Ben Shenkman	...	INS Agent Howard Kaplan
Barton Tinapp	...	Mayoral Candidate (as A.A. Barton Tinapp)
Neal Jones	...	NYPD Representative
Donna Hanover	...	District Attorney
Peter Schindler	...	Johnson, FAA
Hany Kamal	...	Arab Spokesman
Chip Zien	...	Chief of Staff
Dakin Matthews	...	Senator Wright
John Rothman	...	Congressman Marshall
John Henry Cox	...	Speaker of the House
E. Katherine Kerr	...	Attorney General
Jimmie Ray Weeks	...	Army General
Will Lyman	...	FBI Director
Ray Godshall	...	CIA Director
Victor Slezak	...	Colonel Hardwick, Army Intelligence
Chris Messina	...	Corporal
Gilbert Rosales	...	Mechanic
Amro Salama	...	Tariq Husseini, Auto Shop Owner
Jim Shankman	...	ACLU Lawyer
Matt Servitto	...	Journalist #1
Jourdan Fremin	...	Journalist #2
Anjua Warfield-Maximo	...	March Organizer
Susie Essman	...	Protest Speaker
Rory J. Aylward	...	Lieutenant
Jeff Beatty	...	Undercover FBI Agent
Graham Larson	...	FBI Agent (as Graham J. Larson)
Arianna Huffington	...	Capitol Week Pundit
Robert Scheer	...	Capitol Week Pundit
Matt Miller	...	Capitol Week Pundit
John F. Beard	...	Newscaster
Stan Brooks	...	Newscaster
Alex Chadwick	...	Newscaster
Epi Colon	...	Newscaster
Judy de Angelis	...	Newscaster
Luis Jiminez	...	Newscaster
Sean Hannity	...	Newscaster
Ronald Kuby	...	Newscaster
Daniel Schorr	...	Newscaster
Curtis Sliwa	...	Newscaster
Susan Stamberg	...	Newscaster
Mary Alice Williams	...	Newscaster
Graeme Revell	...	Composer
Roger Deakins	...	Cinematographer
Steven Rosenblum	...	Editor