Diplomatic Siege (1999) Reviews

• Don't expect too much

  Luigi Di Pilla2004-11-15

  I don't know if this movie was created for the cinema or TV. I'm not wondering why it didn't find the way to our theaters. What I missed there was a fine cinema picture like in the usual movies and a good audio. Then the setting place in this diplomatic house seemed too poor and cartoonish. The ideas therefore were original but the terrorists were too harmless. There were not any special effects. I think there could have been done more if the budget was higher. There were anyway many twists and plots that kept your attention until the end. If they show it on cable watch it if you have nothing to do but I don't know if the rental is worth. It is perhaps too underrated with actual vote of 3.5 on IMDb. My wife and me give 5/10.

• Drawn out, routine, waste of good actors

  theeht2000-09-27

  A routine, overlong action picture that starts off promising, with some good relationship development between Weller, Hannah, and his son, before veering off to some dull, explicity violent terrorist stuff. Berenger, as usual, provides some interest, but for the most part a waste of him, Weller, and Hannah.

• A waste of talent... and my time.

  Jolo-22000-10-17

  I'm usually a sucker for mindless action flicks, but this was an incredible waste of time, both for the actors involved and anybody who tried to watch. The military special effects are laughably fake, with colored smoke substituting for real explosions. I like Weller, Hannah, and Berenger, but even they cannot rise above this horrendous made-for-TV script. In fact, this was easily their worst film -- for all of them. When the actors do stop to give their lines, the result is often unintentionally humorous. There are far too many unnecessary plot elements, making the movie feel like 6 different scripts were thrown into a blender. The scenes stolen from other movies ranging from Mission Impossible to Toy Soldiers are immediately recognizable and come across as gratuitous and weak. It's just a shame. There was so much potential, instead it's one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

• Dreadful

  FlickJunkie-22000-12-09

  This so-called international thriller was so dreadful that I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The team of four writers who wrote this trash should be imprisoned for crimes against humanity. The eight producers who brought it to the market should be tried for conspiracy to cause brain death. It was that bad. This film was horrible in all regards. The production standards were below TV quality. The photography was poor, the sound was muddy and the music was pure garbage. The premise was interesting; that the U.S. planted atomic bombs in all its embassies in the Soviet Union and Eastern block countries during the cold war to give them first strike capability. Now that the cold war was over the U.S. was disarming all the bombs, but the last one was in an embassy taken over by a group of terrorists. Our heroes (Daryl Hannah and Peter Weller) had to disable it before the terrorists got control of it. The presentation of the story was abysmal. The dialogue was so bad that I was literally guffawing between eye rolls. Some scenes were so implausible that I had to wonder what the writers were smoking. For instance, our heroes are clanking through the ventilation system, trying desperately to find a way to get downstairs to the bomb to disable it. Terrorists are all around killing one hostage an hour. So, this would be a perfect time to start necking in the air duct, right? The writers thought so. Daryl Hannah and Tom Berenger did their best to bring credibility to their ridiculous characters with some success. Peter Weller was awful. His character had a batch of very stupid lines, which he was able to elevate to absurdity. I rated this film a 2/10. Do not see this film under any circumstances. Action junkies might be tempted because of the enormous body count. Resist.

• Cheap political thriller shot in Romania

  Leofwine_draca2015-07-05

  DIPLOMATIC SIEGE is a low rent thriller that rounds up a half-decent cast and throws them into a clichéd and predictable storyline involving some evil Serbian terrorists who take over the US embassy in Romania and proceed to issue various demands else the hostages will be executed. Of course, it's up the usual renegade heroes who are trapped on the inside to find a way to defeat their enemy... Despite this being a B-movie in every respect, it's actually quite enjoyable with strong, clear choreography and crisp direction from Gustavo Graef Marino. Okay, the script was never going to win any awards for originality, but there's a brisk pace that doesn't let up and some fun moments for the known actors. There are some well-mounted shoot-outs with machine guns and the like but our heroes spend the movie evading the enemy rather than engaging, so DIE HARD it ain't. Headlining the cast is Peter Weller (ROBOCOP), putting in a typically assured performance, and cast opposite him is Daryl Hannah, shortly before Tarantino cast her in KILL BILL. The third known face is Tom Berenger, sleepwalking through a stereotypically tough military role, although cult fans may spot an aged Brion James lower down as a stuffy US general. DIPLOMATIC SIEGE is only average at best but as B-movies go it isn't too bad at all.