History Film / TheSiege

* PostNineElevenTerrorismMovie: {{Subverted}}, or rather an amazingly literal example of an UnbuiltTrope.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees:
** The "premonition value" of this film is lowered a bit if you remember that [[OlderThanTheyThink in 1993]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramzi_Yousef an al-Qaeda related organization]] already planned to hit New York City several times, before they settled for "just" trying to blow up the World Trade Center.
** On the other side, a democratically elected government declaring martial law in response to a terrorist incident is exactly what happened in Canada during the 1970 October Crisis (thankfully, without much in the way of human rights abuses, though). The same thing happened after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.
** The Posse Comitatus Act does not prevent the Army from performing protective duties, or for that matter, law enforcement duties. Further, the military (Army and Air Force specifically) can be used for any law enforcement act, if Congress authorizes it. The military can also act to protect the country from foreign threats, whether an army or a singular threat.

* InvisiblePresident: Strangely {{subverted}}. Newsreel footage of UsefulNotes/BillClinton appears at the beginning of the film of him condemning the terrorists responsible for the army barracks attack (the remarks come from a [[http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9606/25/clinton.remarks/ White House press briefing on June 25, 1996]]), and his portrait hangs in Hubbard's office. But the characters refer to him as if he were a President Invisible. Devereaux does manage to get off a joke about the president being good at protecting himself, though.

* AntiVillain: General Deveraux, who ''will'' do anything and everything to ensure his country is safe.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Hers in this case. Sharon Bridger's work in Iraq comes back to bite her hard. [[spoiler:Not only are the bombers in New York using the training she gave them, but the asset she's aggressively protecting from both the FBI and the Army turns out to be one of them.]] When she realizes just how badly she was played her world collapses.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanShipAcademy: When the SWAT team raids a safe house where the co-conspirators to the bus bombers are hiding, the conspirators shoot back with automatic weapons. The first guy is quickly taken out, but the second guy (the one with the AKM) is a very bad shooter, since he's using a couch as an ineffective source of cover and pretty much shooting blindly (even inadvertently hitting his own comrade).
* InVinoVeritas: Doubles with Foreshadowing. While drinking at a bar, Sharon lets slip that she operates on the principle of choosing "the wrong that is more right." She and Hubbard laugh it off as her drunken rambling, but the gray-area choices she's made drive the plot.

** On the other side, a democratically elected government declaring martial law in response to a terrorist incident is exactly what happened in Canada during the October Crisis (thankfully, without much in the way of human rights abuses, though). The same thing happened after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.

** The Posse Comitatus Act does not prevent the Army from performing protective duties, or for that matter, law enforcement duties. Further, the military (Army and Air Force specifically) can be used for any law enforcement act, if Congress authorizes it. The military can also act to protect the country for foreign threats, whether an army or a singular threat.

* HeelFaithTurn: [[spoiler:After getting shot in the stomach after distracting Samir which gave Hubbard and Frank clear shots to kill him, Sharon lays dying on the floor of the bath house. After calling on his radio for medical assistance, Hubbard comforts Sharon, she starts to recite The Lords Prayer but struggles and he helps her speak the prayer and recites the final part as she lays on the ground quietly. After Hubbard finishes the Lord's Prayer, Sharon speaks saying the word "Inshallah" (If God Wills It, in Arabic) then dies, implying that she may have died a Muslim (possibly reciting the Shahada in her heart silently before her last verbal word).]]

* DeadpanSnarker: Frank Haddad.

* AMillionIsAStatistic: Deveraux justifies the killing of [[spoiler:a civilian who, under interrogation, didn't reveal anything]] by invoking this trope, saying that one dead man to save a hundred is worth it.

* BulletproofVest: Shown being used during several raids. Hubbard and Frank wear them at the second bus bombing, not because of the possibility of a firefight, but so to absorb shrapnel when the bomb goes off.

* FairCop: Agent Hub.
* GeneralRipper: Devereaux.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Again Devereaux.

* BattleDiscretionShot: The theater attack, heard - and felt - from afar.
* BriefcaseFullOfMoney: A mule comes into the country with $9,980 in small bills, so as to avoid a law stating that any international transport of any amount of cash of $10,000 or greater must be declared in advance. [[LoopholeAbuse Frank adds a single $20 from his wallet so the FBI can grab him anyway.]][[note]]Note that Frank wouldn't even need to add his own money under the law: any ''obvious'' structuring of monetary transactions to avoid the reporting requirements (which this clearly meets) is grounds for enforcement anyway.[[/note]]

* DeliveryGuyInfiltration: The FBI learns of a safe house belonging to some terrorists suspected of involvement with the bus bombings, which they believe may contain explosives or other chemicals that might have been used in the bombings. To raid it, an undercover agent is sent in ahead of the SWAT team disguised as a pizza delivery guy, and drops off a pizza box containing a smoke grenade. The grenade then goes off to disorient the occupants when the SWAT team storms in moments later.

* JumpScare: The suddenly explosion of Bus #5287.

* SmokingHotSex: Samir Nazhde takes a smoke after having sex with Sharon Bridger in one scene.

-->'''Agent Haddad:''' You gotta love that move.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: The "premonition value" of this film is lowered a bit if you remember that [[OlderThanTheyThink in 1993]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramzi_Yousef an al-Qaeda related organization]] already planned to hit New York City several times, before they settled for "just" trying to blow up the World Trade Center.
** On the other side, a democratically elected government declaring martial law in response to a terrorist incident is exactly what happened in Canada during the October Crisis (thankfully, without much in the way of human rights abuses, though).

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The One Federal Plaza bombing involves a van full of explosives being driven through the glass of the lobby, where it explodes. In real life, this would probably not happen, because after the Oklahoma City bombing, federal buildings had to be retrofitted with truck-resistant barriers and with deep setbacks from surrounding streets to keep them resistant to truck bombs. FBI buildings, for instance, must be set back 100 feet (30 m) from traffic.

* HeelFaithTurn: [[spoiler:After getting shot in the stomach after distracting Samir which gave Hubbard and Frank clear shots to kill him, Sharon lays dying on the floor of the bath house. After calling on his radio for medical assistance, Hubbard comforts Sharon, she starts to recite The Lords Prayer but struggles and he helps her speak the prayer and recites the final part as she lays on the ground quietly. After Hubbard finishes the Lord's Prayer, Sharon speaks saying the word "Inshallah" (If God Wills, in Arabic) then dies, implying that she may have died a Muslim (possibly reciting the Shahada in her heart silently before her last verbal word).]]

* HeelFaithTurn: [[spoiler:After getting shot in the stomach after distracting Samir which gave Hubbard and Frank clear shots to kill him, Sharon lays dying on the floor of the bath house. After calling on his radio for medical assistance, Hubbard comforts Sharon, she starts to recite The Lords Prayer and he helps recite the final part as she lays on the ground quietly. After Hubbard finishes the Lord's Prayer, Sharon speaks saying the word "Inshallah" (If God Wills, in Arabic) then dies, implying that she may have died a Muslim (possibly reciting the Shahada in her heart silently before her last verbal word).]]

In hindsight, the movie treated terrorism more maturely than many films before 9/11. Unfortunately,[[note]][[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Or fortunately, depending how you look at it.]][[/note]] the way the public, the government, and the terrorists acted in the film turned out to be pretty inaccurate when a large scale terrorist attack happened in RealLife. [[ColdBloodedTorture Well, mostly.]]

The film opens with the bombing of an army barracks in Saudi Arabia. There are multiple casualties and a terrorist cell led by fundamentalist Sheikh Ahmed bin Talal is blamed. The action shifts to New York where a series of terrorist incidents occur, escalating in significance. Initially handled by FBI agents Anthony Hubbard (Washington) and the Arab-American Frank Haddad (Creator/TonyShalhoub). Later, CIA agent Elise Kraft (Bening) gets involved. Later yet, the President declares martial law and the Army's 101st Airborne Division, under Major General William Devereaux (Willis), occupies and seals off Brooklyn in an effort to find the remaining terrorist cells. Devereaux has all young males of Arab descent, regardless of ideological affiliation, rounded up and detained in a makeshift prison camp at Yankee Stadium. This only helps worsen the situation. New Yorkers stage violent demonstrations against the army and the racial profiling of the Arabs. The Army has to fight to maintain control. There are reports of Army killings. Meanwhile, Devereaux starts interrogating suspects by torturing them. In one case to death. The situation further escalates.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Devereaux warns his superiors that martial law is a bad idea, but when commanded to do so, he does anything and everything to eliminate the threat.

* CassandraTruth: General Devereaux himself warns his superiors not to use him or his troops in New York City, as he knows that extremely strict martial law and the extreme force the military requires to carry out its operations would result in human rights violations, if not worse. They [[IgnoredExpert ignore]] his protests and everything goes to Hell.