The Siege is one of those straight-to-video action movies you should know what to expect from by just watching the trailers or seeing the promotional poster. It’s a run-and-gun action movie with a big hulking leading man and plenty of explosions. We get a couple dozen of these contained little action movies each year it seems. Some are terrible. Others are surprisingly good, and I would put The Siege in the middle to good range because despite its small budget, and paper-thin storyline, there is a good amount of capable action stuffed into this tight hour and a half runtime.
It’s a routine action plot centering on a man named Walked played by Daniel Stisen. Walker’s an assassin who has just been sent to a reassignment center after his identity was compromised on his last mission. Coincidentally there’s also a female assassin in this compound that is the target of a group of mercenaries who storm the facility. Walker gets caught in the middle and from there the kill count rises quickly. So, you can see it’s a tried-and-true formula for a quick action movie that often feels inspired by Assault on Precinct 13 among many other genre flicks it takes inspiration from.
The characters are thinly framed up and there isn’t really anything unique about them. Their random uniting to fend off baddies is routine for the genre as well so from a story aspect The Siege is far from intriguing. However, do you really sit down to watch this movie for character performances or compelling story layering? No. You come into this movie wanting some gunplay, explosions, knife play, and fighting. With a story that has just enough meat to connect it all together and this movie certainly provides that.
The Siege has a smaller budget, and it shows, but countering that is a LOT of action with variety and plenty of delightfully brutal kills as Stisen pounds his way through bad guys like a beast. It doesn’t stick around too long either, so watching Stisen display his physical power is mindless fun. Lauren Okadigbo also leaves her imprint on the action. This gives The Siege plenty of appeal for cans of B-action movies because this movie is at its best when the chaos and killing is underway. Stisen is impressive, he frequently reminded me of early Arnold Schwarzenegger. And I think there’s certainly room for him in this genre B-action movies or as a #1 henchman in a larger studio film.
Overall, The Siege knows what it is, and it delivers in that department with plenty of enjoyable carnage. The action is nicely staged, it’s well-directed and having fun visually appealing action is the priority. It without question could’ve had a more ambitious plot progression and there’s no denying the performances are less than polished but that doesn’t hinder the easily engaging ride this movie can take you on.
Grade: C-
Cast: Daniel Stisen, Lauren Okadigbo, Yennis Cheung, Byron Gibson, Phillip Ray Tommy Director: Brad Watson Writer: Nicole Bartlett Distributor: Well Go USA Entertainment Running Time: 97 minutes Rating: R (Violence and language) Year: 2023 Language: English Genre: Action/Adventure/Crime
Anthony J. Digioia II © 2023 SilverScreen Analysis. All Rights Reserved.
