Diplomatic Siege (1999)
When Steve Mitchell is clandestinely sent to the US embassy in Bucharest, Romania to disarm a nuclear bomb that has secretly remained in the building since the end of the Cold War, little does he know that other problems will soon erupt. He must join Erica Long, a diplomatic attaché who is not all that she appears, to work together on setting the correct computer code that will disable the weapon and accomplish the mission. But while watching video monitors from inside a long-forgotten surveillance room, Steve witnesses a surprising deadly takeover of the building by the Serbian Liberation Front.
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The greatest movie ever!
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
No need to go on at any length about this marvelous example of a routine political/action B-movie thriller."Die Hard" was a great success in 1988. It had Bruce Willis, alone, crawling through ventilation shafts and sliding down elevator cables to rescue a dozen hostages from a gang of thieves. This is a flawed imitation. Instead of the Nakatomi Building, it's the American Embassy in Bucharest, and instead of Willis it's Weller. I couldn't bring myself to any appreciation of the production designers notion of the American Embassy in Bucharest. No, I couldn't, because I was once a guest at the American Embassy in Rumania. Not in real life but in a TV miniseries -- the inimitable and unforgettable "Rage of Angels", or was it "Windmills of the Gods"? I forget.The whole enterprise looks hastily cobbled together, using every cliché in the manual. There are the criss-crossing laser beams preventing access to the thermonuclear bomb about to explode in the basement. There is the son of the protagonist, a scared twelve-year old kid with a pistol to his temple. There is the steely eyed villain who snaps out orders or nods and who never smiles or blinks. They screwed up one minor cliché. The read-out on the atomic bomb is ticking down the seconds to detonation, as usual, but the numbers are white instead of the usual customary read.It's a whirling collage of improbabilities from top to bottom. Even the acting is below par for the professionals in the principal roles. Both Darryl Hannah and Peter Weller are better suited to light comedies or family movies. But I admire Peter Weller, for the same reason I have to admire anyone who can make a dent in completely independent career fields.Weller is a trumpeter who plays occasionally in a band, sometimes with Jeff Goldblum. He has a BA in theater and an MA and PhD in Italian Renaissance Art and Roman history and has taught at Syracuse University. He speaks fluent Italian. So what if he's not Lawerence Olivier? Can Olivier blow "Scrapple From the Apple"? I doubt it.
Nothing kills a good action movie like bombs that look like firecrackers. And in "Diplomatic Siege," all the bombs are firecrackers. Some dude shoots a bazooka – poof, it's a firecracker. Another dude throws a grenade – poof, another firecracker.And they're not even good firecrackers. They're like those ones that have a great name on the wrapper, like "Hiroshima Deluxe," but just make a flash and a big puff of smoke and you're all, "Man, I spent $16.99 for that?"Daryl Hannah is in this. She's somewhere between "Roxanne" hot and "Kill Bill" used up and poisoned by cigs. In this movie, she plays the role of "Daryl Hannah Playing the Role of Somebody Who Isn't Daryl Hannah." She fails.Peter Weller is in this, looking and acting exactly the same as he has in every movie he's ever made, from "Buckaroo Banzai" to "Robocop" to has he done anything else?"The secret to good acting is to purse your lips all the time and act like you don't care," is something Peter Weller never said, but probably thinks all the time.Tom Berenger is apparently in this, but I lost patience before he showed up. Doesn't matter. If he didn't show up as the guy from "Sniper," it wouldn't be worth the wait anyway.Brion James plays some kind of general or colonel or something, but who cares, because he plays it like a Replicant. I suspect he always was one anyway. Rest his soul. I always felt bad he died after making two decent movies and 100 that weren't any damn good.Aaaaaanyway, I don't know what this movie is about. A group of bad guys takes over an embassy. Or something.You know what? Just skip it and read a book.
Only if you live in Romania you understand this move. I consider that is a movie who show the real live in Romania and the way that roumanian think. So watch this movie and enjoy with.
This movie really hurt me. As in, it felt like my head was about to implode. I'm considering a class action suit against the director for the mental anguish and pain anyone who has seen this movie had to experience.Save yourself, don't see this movie. Maybe, if drunk, it would be a bit fun because it's so bad, but I really doubt it.Bad everything, bad story, bad acting, badly cast, bad music and bad ending. What more can you get? Bad credits music. Yes, they have terrible music there too.Oh and the women aren't even pretty.So do yourself a favor and rent Trolls2 instead, as it'll be a lot better. Or battlefield earth.1/10 (cant vote lower, sorry).