TV Review: Hulu's 'The Looming Tower'

The Looming Tower is a terrific bit of potboiler television. That it also happens to hue very closely to the historic record prior to and immediately after September 11th makes it all the more compelling. Based on Lawrence Wright’s incredible 2006 bestseller, Hulu’s The Looming Tower is a remarkable achievement that is occasionally slowed by TV conventions but is nevertheless endlessly compelling.

The story picks up in 1998 when the CIA obtains a hard drive with information related to plans for terror attacks around the world. The CIA team with the hard drive is led by Professor Martin Schmidt (Peter Sarsgard) who refuses to share any information with the FBI agents who arrive at his office expecting to be briefed. The agents are immediately sent home to their boss in the FBI, Counter-Terrorism Chief John O’Neill (Jeff Daniels) who is none too happy about the lack of cooperation.

Jeff Daniels is incredible in The Looming Tower. If you’ve read Lawrence Wright’s book then you are already aware of what a flawed yet fascinating and adept man that O’Neill was. While being the head of FBI Counter-Terrorism he was also carrying on multiple affairs and supporting his family in Atlantic City. Daniels captures the complexity of O’Neill brilliantly and I can’t wait to see how he handles the remarkable and historic twists of O’Neill’s life over the course of this 10 episode series.

Every bit is as great as Daniels is co-star Tahar Rahim who plays FBI Agent Ali Soufan. Soufan is the man that some believe might have prevented 9/11 if the CIA had been as cooperative as they were supposed to be. One of only 8 Arabic speakers in the FBI at the time of the attacks, Soufan was on the front lines of the investigations of terror attacks in Nairobi and on the USS Cole. Rahim brings action hero charisma and innate capability to Soufan that is wildly compelling.

Director Alex Gibney directs The Looming Tower with urgency and vitality. He crafts action scenes that though they are based on a true story and thus have a known outcome, are nevertheless exciting. When Rahim as Soufan arrives for an investigation in Albania the sense of danger and dread is powerful and exciting. I know how this turns out and yet my heart was pumping with adrenaline as the series of scenes played out. The action is exceptionally well staged and feels as vital as the true life story.

Episode 1 of The Looming Tower, subtitled “Now it Begins…,” is far from perfect. Scenes set at the US Embassy in Nairobi, which suffered a terrorist attack in 1998, feel forced and one character is clearly more of a device of dramatic exposition than an actual character. Some very on the nose dialogue about how the Embassy is too close to the road and has too many windows feels forced as is a detail regarding children at the Embassy.

Regardless of whether the details about the Embassy are true or whether the character I alluded to was a real person, the series of scenes in Nairobi are only a minor misstep in an otherwise terrific opening episode. Alex Gibney’s assured direction, Daniels and Rahim’s exceptional performances and the urgency of the storytelling in “Now it Begins...” is more than enough for me to recommend you check it out.

Episode 1 of The Looming Tower, “Now it Begins…” is a powerful capsule of Lawrence Wright’s book excellently cured into an opening hour of TV. The episode is dramatic, exciting, compelling and fraught with excellent performances and a good sense of style. If this episode is indicative of the rest of this Hulu series, which debuts February 28th, we are in for quite a ride.