There are essentially two things required as the basis of a decent action movie: A respectable good guy and a respectable bad guy. Under Siege has both: Steven Seagal as the heroic chef/ex Navy Seal, and Tommy Lee Jones as the psychotic '60s rocker. The latter, along with Gary Busey, seizes control of the ship's nuclear arsenal.
The head chef, Casey Ryback, is on board the USS Missouri- a battleship on its final tour of the Pacific, and is preparing dinner for the captain's birthday. The second-in-command (Gary Busey), who has apparently put up with "a lot of his shit", later orders him to clear the area as dinner is now being flown in by helicopter. Ryback refuses and decks the commander, though is restrained and locked in the meat locker, where it would seem he can no longer be of any trouble to the crew. Proceeding this, the terrorists take over the ship, planning to offload the nuclear warheads to their stolen North Korean submarine, where they will later sell them for profit in the Middle East.
Unfortunately for the terrorists, Ryback has a few tricks up his sleeve. He is able to build bombs from scratch, pick off enemies with cooking knives, and break their necks with just one hand. He also has Playboy's Miss July 1989 (Erika Eleniak) as his sidekick -- everyone must envy him.
What makes Under Siege entertaining is its predictability. We, of course, all know that Seagal is eventually going to kick arse, but it's just a question of how and when. The formula has been repeated numerous times in action films, and with the disillusioned Gary Busey and over-the-top Tommy Lee Jones as the villains, Seagal has something good to effectively work his ego against.
In terms of the action itself, there are some decent scenes. Seagal stealth's around the ship, picking off enemies one by one with chops to the throat and kicks to the face, much to the surprise of his big-breasted sidekick. "You're not a cook," she accuses. Seagal replies "Yeah... well, I also cook."
Although I do generally like this film, I didn't think there were enough "Seagal moments". Critics tend to agree that this is his best film, in regards to its direction, villains, plot, etc., but I don't think it is my Seagal favourite. There needed to be more hand-to-hand combats to rank it above the significantly brutal Out For Justice, in my personal opinion.
Arguably, Seagal's screen presence in Under Siege is forfeited for his co-stars, when you compare it to his previous movies. Busey, as the commanding officer, confidently dresses up in drag for the big murder scene; Tommy Lee-Jones sets a trend as the deranged granddad rocker spitting out political slogans over the radio. On the whole, though, it worked, with the film making over $156, 000, 000 worldwide at the box office, which also granted Seagal permission to star in the sequel Under Siege 2: Dark Territory. Though, the latter wasn't quite as good.
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Feb 10th, 2009
(Aug 25th, 2009)
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