The Siege (1998/Fox Blu-ray)

 

Picture: B+     Sound: B+     Extras: D     Film: B-

 

 

It is interesting how so many films post-9/11 can either be all the more pertinent or all the more trivial in many respects.  The Siege is a film that asks many of the questions that the U.S. feared and faced head on during the attacks on 9/11.  Unfortunately the film has dated poorly and is more interested in making statements than it is in just being an action film or even a drama at times, often it becomes more absorbed in it’s own agenda than the storyline.

 

The story quickly begins as we see several terrorists attacks taking place in NYC, using bombs and not caring about who gets killed, even the terrorists themselves.  The rules have suddenly changed, which again became clear on 9/11.  Denzel Washington plays the FBI agent who teams up with a U.S. Army General (Bruce Willis) to find out who is behind these attacks, what the motivation is, and how to stop them.  What ensues is a chess match-like thriller which becomes a bit more complicated with the involvement of the Annette Bening character, who at first seems like she is obstructing justice, but later we find out that she is trying to catch the bigger fish by luring in the smaller fish. 

 

Fox initially released this film to DVD as one of it’s featured titles using the DTS label, we now receive the film on Blu-ray in an upgraded fashion not only for sound, but an even better looking image, which has been framed here in it’s scope 2.35 X 1 and presented in true MPEG @ 18.5 MBPS 1080p High Definition.  There are only minor complaints about the image in general, for the most part skin tones look great, depth is solid, black levels are deep and pronounces, but there is an occasional softness that keeps this from really looking as brilliant as it can, there are also moments where the image is perhaps a bit darker than expected and overall refinement seems marginalized, but aside from these small little nuances, it’s a pleasing transfer that runs laps around the compressed DVD. 

 

Same is true for this engaging DTS-HD 5.1 mix, which brings forth many of the spectacular pieces that those who had the 12” Laserdisc recall, it has subsonic levels that are open and deep, the dialogue is well-balances through the front soundstage, the entire spatial qualities are defined and showcase the lossless mix is superb fashion, if for no other reason to own this film, the soundtrack is dynamic and full. 

 

No extras, but at an affordable price, this catalogue title from Fox should satisfy most Blu-ray tastes.

 

 

-   Nate Goss