Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)

Three years after the success of what has been called Seagal's greatest film he's back as Casey Ryback for another siege stopping event!  Unfortunately, Under Siege 2 is a kin to sequels like Speed 2, highly camped up, very sporadic and sorely missing the charm of the original.

After Ryback's brother dies in a plane crash the only family he has left is his niece Sarah (Katherine Heigl) whom he hasn't seen in five years.  Having missed the funeral, he feels the need to speed a little quality time with her and try to makeup for all the years he wasn't around.  But it seems wherever Ryback goes trouble follows, as the train their traveling on happens to be commandeered by a certified nut job named Travis Dane.  Dane plans to hack into the government's super secret weapon satellite, which he helped to create, and blow the crap out of the Pentagon which is supposedly housing a nuclear reactor deep underground.  It's not simply a plot seeking revenge on the government for canning him, Travis is making a hefty one billion dollars from a group of Middle Eastern terrorists bent on destroying the heart of the American political system.

Under Siege 2 is a complete 180 degree shift from the original, which was a solid action film.  Everything about this is not only corny, but completely over-the-top, even for a Seagal film.  The story is similar to a bad rip-off of the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, a secret satellite with the power to destroy anything from space.  The lead villain, Travis Dane, reminded me of the character of Adam on the TV series Northern Exposure (not a complement for a villain), and the film's conclusion is not only beyond belief but so corn cobbed that it was clear Seagal must have not cared much about taking this one seriously.

The best aspect of the film was the only real tough guy villain, the character named Marcus Penn or as I've grown to call him "albino man".  Albino man manages to be this film's saving grace by picking up all the great one-liners Seagal seemed to have left at home.  The scenes were he sprays mace in his mouth like it's a minty spray, or when he gets aroused by Sarah's attempt at incapacitating him by grabbing his face, all classic moments.  But in the end albino man is no match for Seagal. Their fight sequence is the highlight of the film, as Seagal doesn't break a sweat taking him down with a barrage of hand signals, and leaving him bloodied on the kitchen floor with his only good one-liner to end the scene.

Aside from those few scenes Under Siege 2 is truly awful. The token black guy is horrible comedy relief, and Katherine Heigl plays the same obnoxious character she always does.  Supposedly Seagal recently commented that he'd be extremely interested in doing Under Siege 3, if the opportunity ever came along.  I'm all for Seagal's big return to the big screen, but if Under Siege 3 was to be anything reminiscent of this mess I'd be completely against it. Overall, Under Siege 2 is not completely devoid of entertainment, but it's no where near Seagal's best.

5/10

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On Deadly Ground (1994)

Hot off the success of Under Siege, Steven Seagal returns in On Deadly Ground, his first and only directorial display.  Given the film's strange mix of martial arts, spirit guides, and environmental awareness all mixed into an Under Siege in the arctic, it's probably no surprise Seagal never went back behind the camera.  Seagal picked up a Razzie for worst director on this but it's still no where near his worst.

On Deadly Ground continues a trend set in Under Siege where Seagal is a retired special ops soldier in an interesting position.  In Under Siege he was a Navy cook, this time around he's Forrest Taft an environmental agent.  Hired by Aegis Oil Company, run by Michael Jennings (Michael Caine), he's usually called in to cleanup oil rig leaks before they get out of control.  Jennings isn't know for being particularly environmentally friendly, he'll do whatever he has to do to make a buck, even if that means using shoddy equipment in order to get a rig up and running before the land is transferred back to the Alaskan natives.  Waiting for the proper equipment would mean he'd miss out on the deadline needed to get the pumps operational and he'd lose the land and oil rights.  But using defective parts means certain ecologic damage.  Forrest approaches Jennings and informs him he's aware of the usage of defective equipment, Jennings responds by attempting to have him killed.  Unfortunately attempting to kill Forrest only makes him mad, and as you all know you don't want to make Steven Seagal mad!

On Deadly Ground is the strangest Seagal film I've seem thus far.  It's one that seems to be a little all over the place in terms of it's mixture of Native America spirit guides and blowing up oil tankers.  While I love Seagal as an actor star but his combination of writer and director seemed to be a little too much for him to handle, as the film seems to cram together too many aspects in a simple action film.  Surprisingly, On Deadly Ground has a lot of familiar faces, Michael Caine and a brief appearance by Billy Bob Thornton, just to name a few.  Caine plays a great bad guy, and his henchmen are pretty impressive as well, except when it comes to fighting Seagal, then they last about 30 seconds!  Overall, On Deadly Ground is a mediocre attempt to recreate the success of Under Siege, the two films are very similar at times.  The fight scenes aren't that great (although the homemade silencer was pretty awesome) and the story is a little convoluted.  On the plus side it's still pretty entertaining and has quite a few comedic one liners from Seagal and other characters describing Seagal prior to getting their butts kick.  While certainly one of Seagal's more underrated films, it's not horrible and doesn't deserve all the flack it seems to attract.

6/10

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Out for Justice (1991)

As some of you know I'm a big Steven Seagal fan, the man is awesome with a capital "A", why else would I feature a review day especially for him!?!  I know for the most part I'm reviewing these films, in production order, for my own pleasure but it's enjoyable none the less, just as Univarn reviews anime for his own enjoyment! ;)  But even I must acknowledge when the man of low budget action films makes a stinker, and is Out for Justice ever a double deuce (as Univarn would acclaim).  It's a total injustice that this film ever saw the light of day.

Like every other Seagal film Out for Justice has a simple premise of revenge.  This time around Seagal is New York detective Gino Felino, his childhood friend and also a cop is gunned down in the street in front of his family by another one of Gino's childhood acquaintances Richie Madano.  With the streets run by the Italian mob, Gino has connections, but no one seems to know why Richie, a known thug, would do such a thing.  But Gino is not really looking for answers why, he's looking for revenge and will beat the crap out of anyone he has to, to get it.

Out for Justice is by far the worst Seagal film I've seen so far and 90% is due to the horrible acting and atrocious Italian accents.  It's too difficult to take Seagal serious when he's walking around trying to imitate Guido and doing a horrible job at it.  Not to mention everyone else in the cast seems like they recently stepped out of a spoof of My Cousin Vinny!  Combat wise even the martial arts and the gun battles are a little weak in this one, they're more gruesome (one guy gets pinned to the wall with a meat cleaver and another gets his leg blown off with a shotgun), but every other action scene seems to be below average compared to what the first three Seagal films offered.  The best scene is at the film's conclusion when Seagal spots a guy who had dumped a puppy on the street in a garbage bag.  Seagal rescued the dog and swore if he ever saw him again he'd deal with him, well Seagal sees him again, gives him a swift kick in the groin and the dog pees on his face.  Best scene in the film, and had absolutely nothing to do with the main story!

4/10

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Marked for Death (1990)

 Steven Seagal returns in another action spectacular with Marked For Death, his best film yet.  Marked For Death reminds me a lot of the James Bond film Live and Let Die, similar premise with a much better execution.  Seagal fights the powers of voodoo and drug lords in a fashion that would make James Bond wet his pants.

Steven Seagal is John Hatcher, a recently retired DEA agent who was beginning to see his life turn into that of the slim his was chasing down and he didn't want to live that life any longer.  He decided to throw in the towel and take a much needed vacation back to see his family.  But trouble seems to follow Hatcher wherever he goes, not even retirement can prevent it from catching up with him.  Hatcher finds himself in the middle of a Jamaican shootout, and after putting a stop to it finds himself "marked for death" by the notorious drug lord named Screwface.  Screwface sends some guys to shoot up Hatcher's sister's house which ends up putting his niece in the hospital in critical condition.  Now Hatcher is pissed, and with the help of his old football coach, and a Jamaican police officer, and a arsenal of weaponry unlike any other, Hatcher sets his sights on revenge and marks Screwface for death!

Out of the first three Seagal films Marked For Death is by far the most outlandish and the most enjoyable.  The addition of a Jamaican drug gang and the insane voodoo practicing Screwface made this film highly enjoyable.  The action scenes are bloody, gruesome and gut wrenching.  Seagal breaks peoples arms with ease sending the dread-lock druggies to their knees in agony.  Marked For Death also has some great one liners, my favorite is right after Seagal takes care of a couple thugs in a hotel room and returns to his car where his partner is waiting for him and says, "One thought he was invincible, the other thought he could fly.  They were both wrong."  Overall, Marked For Death is a must see for Seagal fans the story is incredibly simple and easy to follow, and for this type of film that's the best type, just sit back and watch Seagal break every bone in everyone's body!

8/10

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Hard to Kill (1990)

 

Steven Seagal is back in his second feature film, Hard To Kill.  It's an appropriate title, not only for this film but also for Seagal's career in general as he's always portrayed a character that's nearly invincible.  Hard To Kill although is one of the few Seagal films that his character is almost killed, as he's pumped full of shotgun shells and left for dead, only to make a miraculously recovery and seek revenge on the scumbags who ruined his life.

Seagal plays Mason Storm a Los Angeles cop who obtains some incriminating evidence on a high profile individual contracting a hit on someone.  Before Storm is able to figure out who the person contracting the hit is he's stabbed in the back by a couple crooked fellow cops who are in on it.  Storm and his family become a prime target in an attempt to acquire the evidence and prevent it from going public.  Storm is shot multiple times in the chest with a shotgun, his wife is murdered and his young son narrowly escapes.  Thought to be dead, Storm's life hangs by a thread as he spends the next seven years in a coma under the name John Doe.  Once he wakes up and those who thought him dead learn he's alive, Storm is a prime target once again, and so is Andy Stewart (Kelly LeBrock) the nurse whose been watching over him.

With a little better storyline than Above The Law, Hard To Kill is still hard to swallow at times.  Seagal seems to almost stand by as his wife gets blown away, where in any other film he would have had the guy unconscious and on the floor in five seconds!  Also his magnificent recovery after seven years in a coma, he's able to go from being unable to walk to kicking peoples butts in a matter of weeks, maybe months!?!  It's all a little too hard for me to believe, even for a Steven Seagal film.  I did enjoy the plot of the story a lot more than his first film, which was all over the place and hard to follow.  And the addition of the lovely Kelly LeBrock (of Weird Science and also Seagal's wife at the time) was a lot better than Sharon Stone's brief role as his wife in Above The Law.  Overall, Hard To Kill is a slight improvement in Seagal's early career, but still nothing to brag about.

6/10

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Above the Law (1988)

As an actor Steven Seagal is a force to be reckoned with. He may not be in the same league as Tom Hanks or Russell Crowe, but few actors today can say they started their career on top and in control, Steven Seagal can. Before Seagal mastered the low budget action genre, he mastered the martial art of Aikido. At the age of seven Seagal began his martial arts training and eventually moved to Japan in 1974 where he received his first dan accreditation, one of seven that he would ultimately achieve. That lead Seagal to begin instructing wealthy individuals in Los Angeles an avenue which jump started his Hollywood film career which has been going strong ever since. Even though Seagal hasn't had a blockbuster or legit feature film in years he still cranks out multiple direct to DVD films on a yearly basis for an ever growing loyal fan base.

Above the Law marks Seagal's first film; a starring role which he also produced and co-wrote. Playing the role Nico Toscani, a former CIA agent now Chicago cop, Nico finds some of the darker areas of his past catching up with him when a routine drug bust ends up leading him into a plot to kill a US Senator by local drug lords and an old CIA acquaintance. It's all part of a plan to continue to cover up the truth behind the mass killings of innocent Vietnamese orchestrated by CIA operatives during the Vietnam war, and their involvement in drug trafficking.

For a typical Steven Seagal action experience Above the Law definitely has some worthy examples of beyond belief action sequences, whether it be Seagal hanging on the roof of a speeding car whilst choking the guy in the passenger seat or miraculously surviving a barrage of gunfire from five guys with machine guns. As any self respecting Seagal fan knows Seagal rarely, if ever, takes a hit in a film and that invincibility begins here. Sadly the classic action scenes are about as good as Above the Law ever gets, as the majority of the films 99 minutes seem to be slowly drug down in a story that's so convoluted and sloppy it's hard to keep straight. Being Seagal's first film endeavor I can overlook some of the films glaring rough spots (mainly the script) but if your looking for an Undersiege type thriller, look elsewhere.

6/10

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Under Siege (1992)

There are three types of action fans: those who like Chuck Norris, those who like Jean-Claude Van Damme, and those who like Steven Seagal. None of these masters of the low budget action genre are highly regarded for their acting ability, but they are highly regarded for their ability to kick butt. Personally I've always been a Seagal fan, he's the one in my opinion who has it all, Chuck Norris doesn’t have the look and comes off quite corny to me, and Van Damme is the worst of the three in terms of acting. Seagal, at least in his younger years, had the "don't mess with me" look down, and his raspy cool voice and demeanor made him that much cooler, not to mention the fact that Seagal can take anyone down without a scratch! Sure it's all unbelievable and impossible but that's almost a requirement in an over the top low budget action film, of which Seagal is the king.

Under Siege is usually thought of as Seagal's best or at least most successful theatrical release. He plays former Navy SEAL Casey Ryback turned Navy cook, Ryback's past is known by very few which helps to supplement the element of surprise when the ship he's serving on is taken over by Commander Krill (Gary Busey) and rogue CIA operative William Stranix (Tommy Lee Jones). Stranix plans to unload the ships nuclear warheads onto a submarine and sell them to the highest bidder, with entire crew locked up it's up to Casey Ryback to take the ship back.

Steven Seagal really shines in this role, and while Under Siege has it's moments of pure insanity it's a fun ride all the way through. Gary Busey and Tommy Lee Jones are excellent in their roles as villains and highly entertaining when they come face to face with the cool and calm Seagal. Baywatch’s Erika Eleniak is by far the most useless character in the film, she's thrown in the mix purely for a little sex appeal, but adds nothing to the film's plot. Overall, Under Siege is a must see for Seagal fans and probably one of his best mainstream films.

8/10

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