Under Siege (1992)

Also known as . . . . . . . the best movie that Steven Seagal ever managed to star in, Under Siege is a brilliantly entertaining action movie with wit, thrills and some genuinely fantastic performances from Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey. It’s basically Die Hard on a boat. And it has Erika Eleniak jumping out of a cake while topless. Which automatically adds two points.

Seagal plays ship’s cook Casey Ryback, the one man who may prove problematic when the ship that he’s on is taken over by baddies who want to have fun with nuclear weapons and make lots of money. Ryback isn’t JUST a cook though. He is actually a former Navy SEAL. If you can’t stand any heated action then stay the hell out of his kitchen.

Andrew Davis directs Seagal for the second time and shows a much better grasp of action entertainment this time round. His next movie would be The Fugitive, featuring a number of cast members from this film, but Under Siege is a damn fine slice of fun by anyone’s standards. 

J.F. Lawton has the writing duties and mixes in some amusing one-liners with a number of great character moments. Tommy Lee Jones gets most of the best lines but Gary Busey raises a smile on more than one occasion and even Seagal gets some decent quips, as well as some enjoyable exchanges with the gorgeous Erika Eleniak (playing a beauty who has been flown onto the ship as part of a surprise birthday party).

The plot is, unsurprisingly, easy to follow and any twists and turns are easy enough to spot but everything is raised up by the quality of the supporting cast: Jones, Busey, Colm Meaney, Glenn Morshower and many other familiar faces flesh out either the crew in danger or the baddies placing the crew in danger.It may not be the best Die Hard riff (that would be Speed AKA Die Hard on a bus) but it’s certainly near the top of the pile and a modern classic of entertaining action cinema. 

9/10. 

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Nico AKA Above The Law (1988)

A Steven Seagal movie in which the wooden one bumps up against rough bad guys and does his slap-happy chopsocky schtick. No different from any other Steven Seagal movie then. Don’t let that put you off though, this is Seagal’s first movie and, alongside the next four, remains one of his best. It’s actually worth revisiting the man’s early works to remember just how good he once was.

Directed by Andrew Davis, from a script that was developed from a story by Davis and Seagal, the movie is all about tough cop Nico Toscani (Seagal). Nico was a special covert agent in Vietnam but left in disgust as he saw the war being used as a cover for profiteering from drug money. He doesn’t tolerate hypocrisy and doesn’t care who he upsets, until the day when he runs up against a major baddie who targets his family and those around him.

While it’s not the best of Seagal’s first five movies, Nico holds up as a solid action flick with a decent plotline and enough action beats spaced throughout to keep things moving briskly along. The direct, powerful fighting style that Seagal uses helps things feel fresh and a step apart from a hundred and one other, more stylised martial arts movies.

It also helps that the supporting cast includes an on-form Pam Grier, Sharon Stone, Henry Silva, Chelcie Ross and numerous other folk recognisable to viewers of this type of unpretentious entertainment.

 

Davis handles directorial duties well but both director and star would go on to peak elsewhere (Davis with The Fugitive and Seagal with Under Siege). Nico certainly remains an enjoyable option for the action movie fan though.

6/10

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