The Siege of Sidney Street

This film begins with a pitched battle in the streets. Police are battling well-armed anarchists who are holed up in a flat on Sidney Street. As this fighting is occurring, an injured woman reminisces--looking back at life before this siege as well as the events leading up to it.

The woman is a Russian living with a group of other Russian expatriates in London. However, these folks are NOT the nice variety of immigrants--they are anarchists bent on using violence. The violence begins during a daring robbery that goes wrong--and lots of innocent people are killed. Eventually, those responsible are killed by police or their fellow anarchists. However, the police are on the alert that there are some extremely dangerous criminals in their midst. And, although the robbery was bloody and daring, it's only the tip of the iceberg--more senseless killing and violence follows.

This is a film where I eventually got bored. This is because there is so much violence and so many crimes being committed that it all just started blending together after a while. Additionally, you certainly couldn't care about any of these thugs (though I think the film wanted you to care about the blonde). And, ultimately, I lost interest and just wanted it to end. Now this is NOT to say it's a bad film--but it does drag a bit and might have been better had it been shorter. Also, although a minor quibble, it sure would have been nice if the accents of all these 'Russians' had been consistent--but they all seem to speak a wide variety of accents--mostly British, French and one sounding vaguely Hungarian!