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Plot – The US battleship, the U.S.S. Missouri, is on its way to be decommissioned. It's not going to be a quiet journey into retirement for the ship however. Under the guise of a birthday celebration for the captain, a group of terrorists have got onboard the ship and taken control. Under the leadership of former CIA operative William Strannix (Jones), and in conjunction with the treacherous Commander Krill (Buesey) the terrorists plan is to sell the nuclear arsenal aboard, and everything seems to be going exactly to plan. Except for one little thing – the ship's cook, Casey Ryback (Seagal), who just also happens to be an ex-Navy SEAL. That fact aside, just how much trouble can one man cause? A hell of a lot as it turns out!
Well here it is. After somehow making it through 26 years of my life without having viewed one, I have now seen my first Steven Seagal film. I feel I should take a little pause here to allow TylerDurden99 to pick his jaw up off the floor!
While I've seen Executive Decision, I'd consider that a film that features Seagal rather than a certified 'Steven Seagal film'.
Based on the little bit of Seagal I had previously seen (clips and little snatches of films here and there) my opinion of him was not exactly that positive. And unfortunately my first full viewing of his work did little to change that. I just found him to be a bit irritating and smug. To compare him to the other big action heroes out there; particularly of that time, in my eyes he most certainly doesn't have the acting talent or the likeability of a Stallone or a Bruce Willis. He doesn't have that powerful screen presence of a Schwarzenegger or a Bruce Lee. And he doesn't have the charm of a Jean Claude Van Damme or a Jackie Chan. He just cannot act whatsoever. Everything he says or does just comes across as so wooden. He doesn't even give the character any doubts, fears or concerns in this nightmare situation. He just knows he's going to kill them all. And if he doesn't seem at all concerned about his well-being, why should I be?
And then there's his part in the romance that develops with Erika Eleniak's Playboy playmate, Jordan Tate. Now I know the romances in these types of films are always pretty thin, basically based purely on the fact that the guy saves the girl and she falls for him. However even by the standards of action film romances this one is pretty brutal. It just feels so forced and unconvincing, and seems really tacked on at the end as an afterthought. At no point did Seagal even seem to comprehend Eleniak as a sexual being, never mind that a love was blossoming there. And how was he unable to exactly, especially considering her entrance into his life, emerging from a cake topless.
What saves the film, well perhaps saves is too strong a word. What's definitely the film's strong point comes in the form of its villains. Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey provide two great over-the-top performances as the colourful antagonists for Seagal's cook-come-Navy seal. Along with providing some actual talent they provide the entertainment for me. So much so that for much of the film's running time it was actually the bad guys that I was rooting for. Gary Busey is...well Gary Busey! His turncoat Commander Krill character is a repulsive piece of s**t. A real psychopath Busey brings him to life in his own inimitable style. But it's Tommy Lee Jones who is really what makes the film. Without him I can't envisage there really being much to keep my attention whatsoever. His crazed, manic terrorist really is quite a worrying prospect. You're just never sure what he's going to do from one moment to the next, probably because he himself doesn't seem to know. Terrific stuff from him. Oh and as a devout Trekkie I got a kick from seeing Colm Meaney (The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine's Chief Miles O'Brien)
Initially I found the action to be a little bit dull and repetitive, it's just Seagal shooting one goon after another. And the setting didn't make for the most exciting of locations, just one identical room after another almost. It's only later when we start to get some variety that my interest levels rose, so moments like Seagal forcing one of the bad guys back onto a band saw or his pretty cool knife fight with Tommy Lee Jones stuck out as the highlights. While he doesn't bring anything revolutionary to the genre, director Andrew Davis does a solid job at helming the action scenes.
Conclusion - Die Hard on a ship just about scrapes by on its own as a dumb piece of entertainment, with Busey and especially Jones doing that bit extra to lift it to a higher plain of enjoyment. Despite it's faults and my views on Seagal it's not quite enough to make me abandon the Seagal experiment as a one and down proposition. While I won't be rushing to catch another of his flicks I can see me giving him another chance. Sorry it's not quite the 5 star review you were hoping for Tyler.
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Year of release
1992
1992
Directed by
Andrew Davis
Andrew Davis
Written by
J.F. Lawton
J.F. Lawton
Starring
Steven Seagal
Tommy Lee Jones
Gary Busey
Erika Eleniak
Colm Meaney
Patrick O'Neal
Steven Seagal
Tommy Lee Jones
Gary Busey
Erika Eleniak
Colm Meaney
Patrick O'Neal
Under Siege
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Plot – The US battleship, the U.S.S. Missouri, is on its way to be decommissioned. It's not going to be a quiet journey into retirement for the ship however. Under the guise of a birthday celebration for the captain, a group of terrorists have got onboard the ship and taken control. Under the leadership of former CIA operative William Strannix (Jones), and in conjunction with the treacherous Commander Krill (Buesey) the terrorists plan is to sell the nuclear arsenal aboard, and everything seems to be going exactly to plan. Except for one little thing – the ship's cook, Casey Ryback (Seagal), who just also happens to be an ex-Navy SEAL. That fact aside, just how much trouble can one man cause? A hell of a lot as it turns out!
Well here it is. After somehow making it through 26 years of my life without having viewed one, I have now seen my first Steven Seagal film. I feel I should take a little pause here to allow TylerDurden99 to pick his jaw up off the floor!
While I've seen Executive Decision, I'd consider that a film that features Seagal rather than a certified 'Steven Seagal film'. Based on the little bit of Seagal I had previously seen (clips and little snatches of films here and there) my opinion of him was not exactly that positive. And unfortunately my first full viewing of his work did little to change that. I just found him to be a bit irritating and smug. To compare him to the other big action heroes out there; particularly of that time, in my eyes he most certainly doesn't have the acting talent or the likeability of a Stallone or a Bruce Willis. He doesn't have that powerful screen presence of a Schwarzenegger or a Bruce Lee. And he doesn't have the charm of a Jean Claude Van Damme or a Jackie Chan. He just cannot act whatsoever. Everything he says or does just comes across as so wooden. He doesn't even give the character any doubts, fears or concerns in this nightmare situation. He just knows he's going to kill them all. And if he doesn't seem at all concerned about his well-being, why should I be?
And then there's his part in the romance that develops with Erika Eleniak's Playboy playmate, Jordan Tate. Now I know the romances in these types of films are always pretty thin, basically based purely on the fact that the guy saves the girl and she falls for him. However even by the standards of action film romances this one is pretty brutal. It just feels so forced and unconvincing, and seems really tacked on at the end as an afterthought. At no point did Seagal even seem to comprehend Eleniak as a sexual being, never mind that a love was blossoming there. And how was he unable to exactly, especially considering her entrance into his life, emerging from a cake topless.
Film trivia – This film has a massively strong connection with the classic 1993 thriller, The Fugitive. While he was deciding whether to do the film or not, Harrison Ford watched Under Siege and was so impressed by the work of its director Andrew Davis (who was already signed on for The Fugitive) that he immediately accepted the role of Richard Kimble. And Davis wasn't the only link between the films. Nine of the actors in Under Siege, including Tommy Lee Jones, would reunite for The Fugitive.
His turncoat Commander Krill character is a repulsive piece of s**t. A real psychopath Busey brings him to life in his own inimitable style. But it's Tommy Lee Jones who is really what makes the film. Without him I can't envisage there really being much to keep my attention whatsoever. His crazed, manic terrorist really is quite a worrying prospect. You're just never sure what he's going to do from one moment to the next, probably because he himself doesn't seem to know. Terrific stuff from him. Oh and as a devout Trekkie I got a kick from seeing Colm Meaney (The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine's Chief Miles O'Brien) Initially I found the action to be a little bit dull and repetitive, it's just Seagal shooting one goon after another. And the setting didn't make for the most exciting of locations, just one identical room after another almost. It's only later when we start to get some variety that my interest levels rose, so moments like Seagal forcing one of the bad guys back onto a band saw or his pretty cool knife fight with Tommy Lee Jones stuck out as the highlights. While he doesn't bring anything revolutionary to the genre, director Andrew Davis does a solid job at helming the action scenes.
Conclusion - Die Hard on a ship just about scrapes by on its own as a dumb piece of entertainment, with Busey and especially Jones doing that bit extra to lift it to a higher plain of enjoyment. Despite it's faults and my views on Seagal it's not quite enough to make me abandon the Seagal experiment as a one and down proposition. While I won't be rushing to catch another of his flicks I can see me giving him another chance. Sorry it's not quite the 5 star review you were hoping for Tyler.