User reviews

Who could ever fathom that the main reason the terrorists of al-Qaeda lead by the independently wealthy Osama bin Laden would have cost so many lives to be lost in the air attacks that occurred on September 11th, 2001, could have been neutralized only if the American CIA and FBI intelligence agencies would have shared vital information between their respective and unfortunate independent intelligence operations.

This is a well acted ten (10) part mini-series that is based on actual events and many of the key American and foreign personnel who were actively involved in the gathering of intelligence on terrorists such as al-Qaeda.

Mrs. Shullivan and I were glad to see that much of the horrific events that occurred on September 11th, 2001, were not the focus of this mini-series, but rather how the events leading up to this tragic day in the history of mankind evolved over the preceding years and by the key players responsible for fighting the terrorists organizations such as al-Qaeda.

This is most definitely a must see. A 9 out of 10 rating

A great insight into the self serving American bureaucracy and their buck passing.

I am stunned that the security of American citizens was in control of so many egomaniacs. Absolutely no flow of communication between anyone.

It is remarkable, considering the amount of intelligence that was harnessed, that this occurred and that the death toll wasn't greater.

I had to watch the whole series twice, mainly to identify the "good" and "bad" players. It certainly doesn't speak well of the CIA. Amazing performances, by all players, but Jeff Daniels and Tahar Rahim were outstanding. Curious about Ali Soufan, I watched several interviews with him, and Tariq nailed his accent/speech totally. We all know how it ended, but this series adds to the human element, the frustration and ultimate sadness.

The last episode, which begins when the first plane hits (not a spoiler), brought me up against my own memories of 9/11. My son was in the city, and on that day I worried about him and listened to him on the phone. Aside from that, I was numb. It seemed utterly incomprehensible that this should have happened. Who? Why? How? Equally incomprehensible was the speed with which these questions were in fact answered, for reasons the Hulu series makes clear: the answers were already at the fingertips of various players who didn't know what to do with them (though the finale implies that various parties were prepared to exploit the bombing instantly). The series begins at the (or a) beginning, including the Kenyan embassy bombing, the USS Cole bombing, and interactions among the players on both sides. The questions have been answered, the lines drawn in such a way as to meet at this point, with the bombings. As I watched the last episode, I was able to feel for the people I love who were breathing that dust that day. I could finally weep for them, as well as for John O'Neill and Ali Soufan, whom I had not known about until now.

Totally engrossing series. Like an extended Zero Dark Thirty prequel. Absolutely excellent.

Aside from the excellent way it showed how the CIA and the FBI would not work together, they both had bad ideas of how to handle it. The CIA was mostly academic and the FBI was mostly just knock down doors. Both had the wrong prescription. I hope they are all doing it differently and together, but I fear that they are not. Bush didn't want to be "batting at flies" and I fear that Trump doesn't want to either.

Condaleesa Rice's comment after the Twin Towers that "no one would have thought that someone would do that" is particularly galling, because in fact a person on her staff who was the old Security Advisor would have told her just that if she ever took time to listen and take him seriously. History should really reconsider what it is now saying about her in light of these revelations.

The timing of the episodes seem perfectly timed to what was going on. It showed how we really didn't have much of a clue and the lack of sharing made each less knowledgeable and less able to get the needed incite.

The whole series was fine, as other reviews suggest. As an Arab, it is irritating to see all the Arabic language spoken in this series was from an egyption Dialect, regardless of their origin/nationality.

When I read that there was a TV adaptation of Lawrence Wright's book I had great hopes. The result is not disappointing, the show is quite good, Jeff Daniels is perfect in his role and the story of John O'Neill is perfect for a movie. But the writers decided to focus only on the final part of the book, which details the internal wars between CIA and FBI which allowed the 9/11 plans to proceed unchallenged. The first part of the book, which describes the history of bin Laden and al Qaeda, starting from the ideology of Qutb, would have been much more interesting to understand what is going on in the world today. But I understand that story would be perhaps more suitable for a documentary than for a TV show, but it's a story that Wright wrote beautifully at that will deserve to be put on screen someday.

I started watching this show because Jeff Daniels always delivers. He continues to do so here.

The miniseries presents a thought provoking picture of how the CIA and the FBI had conflicting ideas about how best to oppose Al Qaeda in the late 1990s and 2000. It suggests that these agencies' inability to work together created opportunities for Jihadism to fester and grow. This part of the series is powerful and well realized.

Less interesting are its forays into the private lives of its main characters. I'm 4 episodes in and still don't get the point of these subplots. I see how these interludes show the softer and messier sides of these characters lives, but they don't seem to have anything at all to do with the larger story of Al Qaeda's rise. As a result, these parts feel like filler in what would otherwise be a very tight, well focused political drama.

That said, this show does a fine job of assessing where our country's intelligence agencies, media, and citizenry succeeded and where we failed when it came to Al Qaeda. It's a sobering and fascinating story. As I watch, I keep thinking, "How did our world manage to get so very screwed up!"

If you have not seen this please do so... now. Do not give up after 1, 2 or 3 episodes & then be that guy who gives this a 5, 6 or 7 on the scoreboard. Watch it all the way through because it gives you a much different perspective on how things went down. Of course it isn't perfect, but I don't think a better job could have been done. Especially the guy who plays Ali who kinda makes me look at Islam as a whole in a much more peaceful, wholesome way as a Christian.

I'm both a Jeff Daniels fan and something of a political junkie, and so I really was looking forward to The Looming Tower. It's an engrossing story, but for the life of me I can't understand why they felt the need to muck it up with soap opera-ish romance filler.Did we really need to know about everyone's affairs, or the budding romantic relationships experienced by on-the-go government agents? How in the world did the writers conclude that such fodder would be necessary in order to keep people interested in the events that led to 9-11? The history of this great American catastrophe really needed some romantic spice to keep people's interest? I don't know what the writers were thinking, but they took magnetic subject matter, and some terrific actors, and seemed to have made a mess of it with soap opera silliness.

Fantastic show, great script and acting. Looses a point for the unnecessary sex scenes every episode with Jeff Daniels having sex with different woman. Shows the failures within the Government and complete lack of transparency between the FBI and the CIA and the Government's unwillingness to take the time to understand the implications and complexities of the Middle East which as we know the West is still in 2022 facing the repercussions of with terrorist attacks such as domestic and recently ISIS. Pacing is good but could have been better without so much for focus on Jeff Daniels sexual affairs.

Very much like Homeland style. Quite entertaining. The only more entertaining thing is the reviews of other people here imagining all the conspiracy theories.

So we all know now that the CIA screwed up royally. We knew all of the 9/11 characters way before that infamous date. Because two American agencies couldn't act like adults a team of terrorist losers were running around the USA doing whatever they wanted. This is now a historical fact.

I love how they give the moronic coverage of the Monica Lewinsky "scandal" as holding precedence over these matters vital to national security. Republicans investigated Clinton for eight solid years. Imagine if they had put even a fraction of that effort into fighting terrorism.

I don't love how they accentuate the sex side of the story, even when it really isn't part of the story. Does anyone really want to see a very old Jeff Daniels as a gigolo? We get it, the guy was a complete sociopath when it came to women, but we don't need or want to know it.

The actor playing Richard Clark is a dead ringer. I'm glad they painted him to be the hero he was.

Tahar Rahim was a brilliant choice to play Ali Soufan, a guy whose career I have followed since reading a great article in the New Yorker about him and the U.S.S. Cole bombing (Query: The Agent New Yorker).

Every single actor, at every step in the narrative is excellent, and more importantly, believable.

Very accurate portrayal of life in Yemen and the investigation of the Cole bombing.

The final interrogation with Ai Soufan and the former bodyguard for UBL was masterful and a perfect way to end the series.

As an Australian, to this day - surrounded still by 9/11 sceptics, I will happily use this fantastic dramatisation to aid and abet the sentiment that this event was perpetrated by those who feature in this series - as I believe was the case.

I will note however that this sentiment is not shared amongst all my countrymen nor the wider global community.

Gosh the world hopes the US will elect a leader fit for office, with a government able to advocate peace amongst nations.

With great power - comes great responsibility.

This show truely shows the events and frustrations of government security. This show shows how the cia and the fbi truely were on 2 completely different levels because the cia wanted the take ownership of the caller and the fbi wanted to protect national security and america.... But then again this show is showing and in a way making the viewer take sides. FBI or CIA. I choose FBI.

In any event Great show and great policial drama!

It's 1998. Martin Schmidt (Peter Sarsgaard), the head of the CIA's Alec Station, maintains a tight hold on intelligence despite directives to share with the FBI. John O'Neill (Jeff Daniels) is his counterpart in the FBI's I-49 unit in New York investigating Al-Qaeda. Ali Soufan (Tahar Rahim) is one of a few fluent Arabic speakers in the FBI who becomes O'Neill's trusted protégé. This follows the competing branches as Al-Qaeda mounts more and more attacks.

There are some eye-opening revelations. I've heard about a few of these issues but it's another thing to see them put together on the screen. There is an obvious slant to the material and some of it is too slanted. Nevertheless, these are compelling characters in a real history thriller. There is a doomed moodiness in the inevitable ending. I find myself tired of the 9/11 rehash at times especially the hijackers' side of the story which added very little in my opinion. It may be necessary but I ended up fast forwarding some of it. Ali's story is compelling. I'm less compelled by John's personal life. Martin is too much of a caricature. This is powerful at times and a needed history lesson.

Jeff Daniels was a revelation to me in The Newsroom .... fast, exciting, punchy, intelligent .... so I came to this show with that impression as something of a bias. I wasn't disappointed. Just as with The Newsroom there are dramatic fillers with relationships that run parallel to the main story, so here as well, but such relationships are relevant for the most part, or just down right interesting if not. The show starts with an advantage given that this drama is based on fact. It doesn't disappoint, we see how law enforcement and terrorist goals evolve, we see human frailty, and we see the tragedy. To me, that is why we need such shows, perhaps as much as we need written history, and freedom to enjoy them in an open society. I can honestly say that I found it difficult not to move on to the next episode, even as the hour crept beyond my own sensible viewing time.

High quality professional drama and this year's must see.

An exciting topic paired with a good, suitable cast results in a well-rounded miniseries. It tells the story of the US-American investigations against Al-Qaeda, in which the FBI and CIA hinder rather than support each other. If you concentrate on this topic, it is an exciting crime series - the subject of 9/11 is perhaps a bit too superficial. All in all a good series.

This is a story that needs no embellishments, needs no gumshoe detective cliches, no bedroom scenes, no affairs, no fabricated personal dramas, yet that is all that the first 2 episodes of this show has delivered. I don't need to see Jeff Daniels character carrying on with multiple women well out of his league, sweating over women half his age, it adds nothing to the story and worse takes away from it. Bill Camp's fictional liaison with a character who never existed in the Kenyan embassy. Why???, It just pads out an already complicated and hard to follow story with fictitious Hollywood cliche 'drama' that we get from 1000 other shows that don't have this massive real story as their theme. I wouldn't mind it if it had some relevance to the real story, but it's done so badly that it making the show unwatchable. We want to follow the events of the real life story but are bogged down in the good cop bad cop, philandering husband, cheesy hook ups carry on, done so dumbly and aimed at an audience of stupids, that the core story, and our will to follow it is lost. There is a massive story to tell here, but not only can't we look to the Looming tower to tell it, we can't even wade our way through it's 10 badly paced episodes to filter the fact from the fiction.

This is an excellent series with great acting and direction. This is not a Hollywood action series. This is a thoughtful, insightful and elegantly made depiction of the incredible incompetence of the USA intelligence services. A must see if you really want to see the consequence of bureaucracy and petty politics. Unbelievable and shocking.