Mister X finds drama in the inevitability of The Looming Tower.

Charting the origins of Osama Bin Laden and the formation of al-Qaeda from the 1990s through to the tragic events that unfolded on September the 11th, “The Looming Tower” is a real-life historical “Homeland”. It peers behind the intelligence curtain and reveals the internal squabbles and intense rivalry between the FBI and the CIA that ultimately lead to the downfall of the World Trade Centre and the demise of thousands of people on that fateful day.

To say that a monumental burden rested on showrunner Alex Gibney’s shoulders to deliver a respectful, tasteful and serious docudrama on a subject that has dominated and distorted world foreign policy ever since would be a major understatement. The good news is that drawing on his considerable past documentary filmmaking experience, he has managed to retell an engrossing story, seamlessly blending historical footage with dramatic re-enactments. Even during the inevitable, unavoidable finale, when the planes have been hijacked and are poised to strike, you find yourself on the edge of your seat, especially when one of the main characters elects to put themselves in the gravest of positions.

For the FBI we have John O’Neill (played by Jeff Daniels), the head of New York’s FBI Counterterrorism Team, a world-class womaniser who would have been promoted years ago had it not been for his lack of a professional filter. Supporting John O’Neill is Ali Soufan (played magnificently by Tahar Rahim) who is arguably the most important operative in the FBI’s recent history, but to elucidate further would spoil the ride. The ever-reliable Bill Camp plays fictional FBI operative Robert Chesney who is the show’s muscle and man on the ground when Soufan or O’Neill need to gather intel (a bit like a moustachioed Quinn from “Homeland”).

In the CIA corner, we have fictional analyst Martin Schmidt (played by Peter Sarsgaard), something like the villain of the piece, keen to withhold anything and everything from the FBI in order to leverage his own operations and gain more budget from Congress.

All of the other 9/11 Commission supporting players are accounted for with aplomb. Alec Baldwin plays George Tenet, Head of the CIA and the man responsible for keeping the FBI and CIA in their respective boxes as much as possible. Eisa Davis plays a reserved Condoleezza Rice, who comes across as indecisive and at times naïve. But the pick of the bunch is Michael Stuhlbarg as Dick Clarke, ear to the President and the person both O’Neill and Schmidt desperately try to woo with their differing opinions on how to tackle this rising new terrorist organisation.

“The Looming Tower” expertly chronicles the key events in the uprising of al-Qaeda from the CNN interview with Osama Bin Laden, the 1998 US Embassy attack in Tanzania and Nairobi and the attack on the USS Cole, through to the outcome of the 2002 congressional hearing on 9/11.

Watch this if you liked: “Homeland”, “Zero Dark Thirty”, “The West Wing”

the looming tower review
Score 7/10


Hi there! If you enjoyed this post, why not sign up to get new posts sent straight to your inbox?

Sign up to receive a weekly digest of The Craggus' latest posts.

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

logo

Related posts

Cars 2 (2011) Review

Cars 2 (2011) Review

Cars 2 was the type of film everyone was worried about when they first heard Disney had bought Pixar. After the box office bonanza driven by “Cars”, notoriously sequel averse studio Pixar wasted no time in greenlighting a sequel to the metaphorically muddled racing movie. And much like...

Toy Story 4 (2019) Review

Toy Story 4 (2019) Review

For fork's sake - Toy Story 4 asks Game Of Thrones to hold its juicebox. “Toy Story”, “Toy Story 2” and “Toy Story 3” remain one of the finest movie trilogies ever brought to life on the big screen. “Toy Story 4”, on the other hand, feels like one of those reunion specials that seem to...

Baby Done (2021) Review

Baby Done (2021) Review

Baby Done turns Knocked-Up's clichés on their head. Rose Matafeo may be most familiar to UK audiences as one of the undoubted highlights of series 9 of TASKMASTER but those hijinks barely did justice to her irresistible amiability which is deployed to full effect in Curtis Vowell and...

Star Trek: Lower Decks S1E10 – No Small Parts Review

Star Trek: Lower Decks S1E10 - No Small Parts Review

Opening with a cute moment as the crew of the Cerritos find themselves on Beta III from the original STAR TREK episode RETURN OF THE ARCHONS explaining to the populace once again not to blindly follow the instructions of the megalomaniacal computer Landru. It's a wonderful touch that...

Cop Out (2010) Review

Cop Out (2010) Review

Across The View Askewniverse:Cop Out In retrospect, “Cop Out” can be seen as a pivotal and hugely influential film in Smith’s directing career. Easily his unhappiest production, and most underwhelming end product, the fact that it remains his highest-grossing movie to date provoked a...

Doctor Who: Spyfall Part 1 Review

Doctor Who: Spyfall Part 1 Review

Spyfall, Part 1 will leaves you shaken and stirred They say time flies when you’re having fun and it would explain why this fast-paced, action-packed first hour of Doctor Who’s new season went by so very quickly. "Spyfall Part 1" is a bold – very bold return for the venerable...

Thanks a million!

Thanks a million!

Sometime in the past week, thecraggus.com (formerly What The Craggus Saw) passed a significant milestone - one million words of content. At the time of writing, it's actually 1,004,144 words - oh no, wait now it's 1,004,172 and, well, you get the drift. Whether you've read one...

Battle Of The Sexes (2017) Review

Battle Of The Sexes (2017) Review

What the deuce? Battle Of The Sexes squanders its advantages One of the main, dispiriting takeaways from this biographical sports dramedy, which is as muddled as its genre classification, is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. In the present climate where...