Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

The premise was interesting and it had a decent cast. But Diplomatic Siege fails on many levels. Because with so many ridiculous scenes, and so many plot holes, the amount of unintentional humor makes this movie come off as a spoof, rather than a serious terrorist drama. The sad thing is, it wasn't supposed to be funny.

The plot:

The U.S. planted atomic bombs in the basements of all of its embassies in the Soviet Union during the cold war. These hidden bombs would give the U.S. the ability for the first strike, or immediate retaliation. Now that the cold war is over, and everybody's friends again, the US has been going around secretly disarming these bombs. Today, there's only one bomb left; it's in Bucharest. So Steve and Erica (Peter Weller and Daryl Hannah) are sent over there to disarm it. Steve's teenaged son is along with him for the ride.

But wouldn't you know it... At the same exact time that these folks are working in the embassy, a group of Serbian terrorists take over the embassy, grabbing 37 hostages. The Serbs are demanding that the U.N. release a prisoner - a Serbian leader being held on charges of various war crimes.

Of course the U.S. Government officials won't be blackmailed to release the prisoner. So the Serbs start killing hostages. At the same time, Steve and Erica need to diffuse that bomb before the terrorists decide to detonate it.

Reasonable premise, right?

But then comes all of the ridiculous stuff.

Like Steve and Erica stopping every five minutes to make out, despite lives being lost. Like Steve's kid being a total pain in the neck, and just getting in the way. In fact, thanks to the kid being unable to follow basic directions, he nearly gets himself and half of Romania blown to bits. Then there are the U.S. officials trying to make the best of this horrible situation. But they're painted like clowns! They spend more time arguing with each other, than figuring out what to do to help the situation.

There's a ridiculous plot twist that has to do with a man's shoelaces. Yes, I said shoelaces. I don't want to give it away, but trust me, it's nuts.

I literally laughed out loud at one point: Steve and Erica are trying to sneak around in the embassy's air ducts. You'd think they'd be really quiet, so as not to alert the terrorists to their presence. Yet they're clomping around up there as if they're at a party. On top of that, they're dragging a heavy fire extinguisher, which is also constantly banging around up there. Finally, these "experts" who supposedly can hack any computer system, and disarm a 50 year old atomic bomb, can't seem to figure out how to operate a fire extinguisher!

The movie just went on and on in this fashion. Despite the premise, and the fact that lives were being lost, I never felt the movie was "serious". But I didn't feel like it was supposed to be funny, either. It's just that all of the "heroes" were so dumb, and made so many mistakes, it was hard not to laugh.

The only part of the movie that was pretty good revolved around the General sent in to take over the mission. Although the role was a small one, at least Tom Berenger gave it some seriousness. I liked the fact that the general had a past connection with the main terrorist, who as it turns out, is American. The exchange between the two men lent some depth to the storyline.

Oh, I did like one other scene. At the very beginning, we see exactly how the Americans captured the Serbian leader in the first place. Let's just say they had a very unique way of grabbing him. It might make you think twice, the next time you have to use the "facilities".

Overall, no one should see this movie. The "heroes" are laughable, the plot holes are immense, and the entire matter comes off as a spoof. Too bad, that wasn't what it set out to be.

Recommended: No

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age