THE SIEGE: Daniel Who?

THE SIEGE (Blu-ray)

2023 / 88 min

FROM WELL GO USA

Review by Tiger the Terrible😼

Daniel who?

According to iMDB, Daniel Stisen is a former bodybuilder whose resume includes such roles as ‘ancient warrior’ in Justice League, ‘russian bodyguard’ in both Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom & Spectre, and ‘bank robber’ in Paddington 2...all uncredited. But he appears to be throwing his hat in the straight-to-video action ring, where his beefy attributes are probably more affordable than, say, Dwayne Johnson's.

In The Siege, Stisen plays Walker, a professional assassin who needs a new identity. Fortunately, there's a “reassignment center” known only to killers and mercenaries that provides such a service. Unfortunately, the compound is attacked by a heavily-armed crew at the behest of a short-tempered criminal known as Big Deal (Bryon Gibson), whose pregnant wife, Juliet (Yennis Cheung), is inside trying to escape their decidedly dysfunctional marriage.

Juliet is being protected by another hired killer, Elda (Lauren Okadigbo), who’d really appreciate Walker’s help, but predictably, he wants nothing to do with them. Even more predictably, he soon changes his mind. Now the three must fight, shoot and kill their way to freedom, which doesn’t ever appear all that difficult because not-only are the bad guys lousy shots, there are long stretches when it doesn’t look like they’re in a big hurry to finish the mission.

Only one Costco parking space remains.

The Siege is a bit hampered by the limitations of its budget, as well as more than a few story implausibilities. The action itself moves in fits and starts…a fist brawl here, a firefight there, with some superfluous exposition in between. Little of it is memorable, but certainly watchable, which could also apply to the characters. They aren’t afforded much depth, but at least the film is an equal opportunity employer, providing Elda with nearly as much ass-kicking time as Walker. 

Speaking of which, it's nice to see Walker isn’t just another one-man wrecking crew. He gets his butt handed to him on a few occasions, which is somewhat refreshing because there’s nothing duller than an action hero whose survival is never in question. Stisen himself doesn’t demonstrate a ton of range, but as budget bin action heroes go, he does the job quite admirably. So while he ain’t likely to ever become a household name, movies like The Siege suggest a prolific B-movie career in his future.

EXTRA KIBBLES

MAKING-OF FEATURETTE - This is surprisingly lengthy compared to the usual promo material Well Go USA provides for their releases. In addition to director Brad Watson, nearly the entire main cast is interviewed.

TRAILER