The failed effort by U.S. intelligence agencies to confront Al-Qaeda in its early stages and prevent the terrorist attacks that culminated in the assault on New York’s Twin Towers is the subject of this 10-part 2018 HBO docudrama, based on Lawrence Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-inning 2006 book. News footage is incorporated into dramatic re-creations that depict the rivalry between the FBI’s counterterrorism unit, headed up by John O’Neill (Jeff Daniels), whose agents include Ali Soufan (Tahar Rahim), and the CIA antiterrorism squad led by “Martin Schmidt” (Peter Sarsgaard) and his aide “Diane Marsh” (Wrenn Schmidt), whose names have been fictionalized. It was the CIA’s refusal to share information with the FBI—something that neither Richard Clarke (Michael Stuhlbarg), the NSA’s chief counterterrorism advisor, nor CIA Director George Tenet (Alec Baldwin) could control—that resulted, the series argues, in the tragedy of 9/11. The Looming Tower does a reasonably good job of juxtaposing the machinations of Al-Qaeda operatives with the desperate and sometimes divisive attempts of U.S. agents to disrupt them (seen through the prism of a later congressional investigation). The miniseries is weakened somewhat by soapy digressions into O’Neill and Soufan’s private lives, but even those segments are made palatable by the exceptionally strong cast. And despite the fact that viewers know how the cat-and-mouse game between the opposing sides is ultimately destined to end, The Looming Tower manages to build considerable suspense. Extras include cast and crew audio commentaries and behind-the-scenes featurettes. Recommended. (F. Swietek)
The Looming Tower
Warner, 2 discs, 493 min., not rated, DVD: $29.99, Blu-ray: $39.99
The Looming Tower
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