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The Looming Tower

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews

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74

USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 10 Ratings

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8.3

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8.3	User Score Universal acclaim based on 10 Ratings

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The Looming Tower

Series Details & Credits

HULU | Release Date: February 28, 2018

Summary: Despite orders to share information about potential terrorists with John O'Neill (Jeff Daniels), the head of the New York FBI's Counter-Terrorism unit, CIA analyst Martin Schmidt (Peter Sarsgaard) withholds it, believing only the CIA can handle terrorist threats in this 10-part drama based on Lawrence Wright's non-fiction book about howDespite orders to share information about potential terrorists with John O'Neill (Jeff Daniels), the head of the New York FBI's Counter-Terrorism unit, CIA analyst Martin Schmidt (Peter Sarsgaard) withholds it, believing only the CIA can handle terrorist threats in this 10-part drama based on Lawrence Wright's non-fiction book about how infighting between FBI and CIA may have led to the rise of Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda in the late 1990s.… Expand

Genre(s): Drama, Movie/Mini-Series

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Recent Episodes

tbd
S1:E10. 9/11
Air Date: April 18, 2018
tbd
S1:E9. Tuesday
Air Date: April 11, 2018
tbd
S1:E1. Now It Begins...
Air Date: February 28, 2018

See all Seasons and Episodes

Metascore

74

Positive:

22

Mixed:

3

Negative:

0

Critic Reviews

91

IndieWire Ben Travers

Feb 26, 2018

Season 1 Review: From the remarkable cast (Michael Stuhlbarg and Bill Camp deserve analysis all to themselves, so enthralling are their beautifully developed supporting characters) to deft direction (Gibney, an Oscar-winning documentarian, brings his past expertise to scripted TV in clever, efficient fashion — the flash-forward testimonials and found footage both speak to his storytelling brilliance), this is a limited series worth seeking out. It may be an unmissable history lesson, but it’s also just one helluva story, told very, very well. Read full review

88

USA Today

Kelly Lawler

Feb 27, 2018

Season 1 Review: Many streaming series have bloated lengths and extraneous subplots, but almost every scene in Tower feels vital, even if it's occasionally guilty of being a bit too on the nose. ... In its softer-touch moments, the series excels at creating a sense of existential dread, offering answers to questions we wish we didn't have to ask, and finding something new to say about a story we all already know. Read full review

80

The Oregonian

Kristi Turnquist

Feb 23, 2018

Season 1 Review: Instead of being heavily self-important, The Looming Tower is swift and urgent, with an outstanding cast and zingy writing. Read full review

80

Vox.com

Emily VanDerWerff

Feb 28, 2018

Season 1 Review: The Looming Tower, despite its high stakes and its ostensibly true story (though many details have been changed), is a cop show. A really well-done cop show, admittedly, but a cop show. And more power to it. Read full review

75

San Francisco Chronicle

David Wiegand

Feb 26, 2018

Season 1 Review: The three episodes made available to critics are masterful and smart in how they use our knowledge of what happened on 9/11 to supply retroactive suspense to the events of the late 1990s. That may be more challenging to maintain over the remaining seven episodes, but even if the the construct falls short, the series still has a core of complex, morally various characters, brilliantly embodied by Daniels and others, to hold our attention. Read full review

70

Washington Post

Hank Stuever

Feb 27, 2018

Season 1 Review: The show’s disclaimer about fudging some facts to smooth the story out makes it difficult to decide if you should Google along with it (or thumb through Wright’s book) trying to nail down its accuracy. Maybe it’s more watchable if you let yourself get lost in it and pay closer attention to its themes rather than its footnotes. Read full review

40

Collider Chris Cabin

Feb 23, 2018

Season 1 Review: The performers offer flashes of persona in quiet moments, gesticulations, and a handful of exchanges but for the most part, the characters come off as little more than figures meant to convey information from Wright’s book. Read full review

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8.3

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User Reviews

8

Bertaut1

Sep 15, 2019

Complex, intelligent, and sobering

Based on Lawrence Wright's 2006 book, The Looming Tower tells the story of how the 9/11 attacks were made possible by the internecine squabbling between the CIA and FBI. However, whereas the majority of the book deals with al-Qaeda, the series focusesComplex, intelligent, and sobering

Based on Lawrence Wright's 2006 book, The Looming Tower tells the story of how the 9/11 attacks were made possible by the internecine squabbling between the CIA and FBI. However, whereas the majority of the book deals with al-Qaeda, the series focuses almost exclusively on the American perspective. Certainly, there are depictions of some of the terrorists; but this is an American story. And although the binary of CIA=bad/FBI=good is too neat, this is sobering TV, at its best as it depicts how easily these events could have been prevented.

Although framed by the 9/11 Commission in 2004, the story begins in 1998, with both the CIA and FBI each having a dedicated "bin Laden unit". The CIA's Alec Station is run by Martin Schmidt (a pretentious and reptilian Peter Sarsgaard playing a thinly-fictionalised Michael Scheuer), whilst the FBI's I-49 is run by John O'Neill (a boisterous and foul-mouthed Jeff Daniels). Each unit is required to share intelligence with the other, but, in reality, they don't share much of anything except insults, whilst in between the two is Richard Clarke (Michael Stuhlbarg), National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism. As the show begins, bin Laden (referred to primarily as UBL) is interviewed for ABC News, promising a grand statement unless the US pull out of the Middle East. The majority of Americans, however, are more interested in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Developed for TV by Wright, Dan Futterman, and Alex Gibney, an element to which the show returns time and again is the underestimation of UBL. This is initially touched on in "Now It Begins...", with Ali Soufan (Tahar Rahim), a young Lebanese-born FBI agent, telling O'Neill, "he used the interview to appear strong by threatening the United States as he looked an American directly in the eye." In "Mercury", Soufan explains, "killing Bin Laden is only going to secure his legend and inspire more martyrs." Later in this episode, O'Neill tells Schmidt, "this isn't a war about one man. Bin Laden is an ideologue, not some plutocrat running a banana republic. His people actually believe. It's bin Laden-ism we're up against, not just bin Laden."

This underestimation is even more pronounced under the Bush presidency, leading to some of the show's best scenes. For example, in "A Very in Relationship", newly appointed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (Eisa Davis) interrupts Clarke as he's giving a presentation on al-Qaeda, telling him he's being too long-winded. A later scene in the same episode has O'Neill stunned when Rice doesn't know who he is. An extraordinarily well-written scene, it's the only time we see O'Neill lost for words.

Another major theme is faith, especially the lapsed faith of O'Neill and Soufan. O'Neill was raised a catholic, but no longer practices, which troubles Liz (Annie Parisse), one of his two mistresses, who believes him (incorrectly) to be divorced. Soufan no longer practises Islam, but the faith-based nature of al-Qaeda troubles him ("when people use my religion to justify this s**t, it affects me"). Indeed, one of the most welcome elements of the show is the depiction of Muslims in general, challenging the notion that all Muslims are Islamic fundamentalists. Important here is Hoda al-Hada (July Namir), wife of one of the hijackers. She doesn't subscribe in any way to her husband's belief in UBL and is more concerned with her children knowing their father than the otherworldly blessings of Allah.

When it comes to the acting, Bill Camp (playing Robert Chesney, one of O'Neill's most reliable agents) and Michael Stuhlbarg are the standouts. Camp is given an amazing eight-minute scene in "Mistakes Were Made" where he is quiet and calm, fondly remembering his military service, before exploding at the right moment. Stuhlbarg plays Clarke as perennially frustrated, and although he never lets Clarke's quiet politeness slip, on several occasions, he hovers tantalisingly close, in what is an exceptionally subtle and nuanced performance.

In terms of problems, there's nothing on al-Qaeda's background, hugely important context that was one of Wright's main themes. The various romantic subplots feel rote, generic, and emotionally inauthentic; elements forced into the story so as to counter the testosterone-soaked main narrative. Another issue is the rigid binary distinction between the FBI and CIA (and between O'Neill and Schmidt), which never feels completely authentic.

Nevertheless, The Looming Tower is taut and complex. The story is streamlined, but it hasn't been drained of moral complexity, serving as a reminder of something with great importance today – with UBL literally telling the US he was going to attack, everyone was more focused on a semen-stained dress. And living, as we do, in an era where the American media is routinely distracted by irrelevancies, it seems the lessons of history have not been heeded.… Expand

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Seasons & Episodes

74

Series Overview
Season 1

74
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: February 28, 2018
- tbd
  S1:E10. 9/11
  Air Date: April 18, 2018
- tbd
  S1:E9. Tuesday
  Air Date: April 11, 2018
- tbd
  S1:E1. Now It Begins...
  Air Date: February 28, 2018