President Under Siege | Belgian PM makes an unlikely action hero

POTUS in peril.

The US has a female president, and she’s a polar-bear-hugging believer in global warming and world peace. Unsurprisingly, dark forces want to eliminate her. Less predictably, their weapon during a state visit to Brussels is the Belgian prime minister, who is being blackmailed by the baddies into pulling the trigger.

Frantic Belgian conspiracy thriller President Under Siege (aka De Premier) doesn’t hold water for a moment. But despite the ludicrous plot things do get quite gripping as the beleaguered PM (Koen De Bouw, The Last Tycoon), his every word and move monitored by the villains, strives to save his kidnapped wife and children. And the leader of the free world.

Incidentally, the DVD packshot bears no resemblance whatsoever to the film. Showing the White House in flames, Black Hawk helicopters overhead and special ops types swarming below, the cover would better fit those gung-ho POTUS-in-peril movies Olympus Has Fallen or White House Down.

Certificate 15. Runtime 111 mins. Director Erik Van Looy

President Under Siege debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on 3 January. Available on DVD & Digital from Precision Pictures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klYytoOEfyo

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.