Above the Law

ABOVE THE LAW is still Steven Seagal's best. He's done many entertaining films since, but this ones remains his best. It's a great urban crime drama with Seagal in peak form as a cop with lightning-fast moves and a knack for delivering justice. Okay, the story of a cop being suspended and ignoring orders to finish the case on his own has been done a gazillion times, but I've never cared about repetition. I just care about the overall outcome of the film. The story isn't great, but keeps you interested and moves at a good pace, with Seagal dispensing bad guys left and right. I love the gritty urban feel of the movie. Director Andrew Davis makes good use of his hometown Chicago's locations. Pam Grier is good, and (avoiding convention) isn't killed off for being the star's partner, and Sharon Stone, as Seagal's wife, has learned to act in the three years since KING SOLOMON'S MINES. Henry Silva is creepy as the bad guy, surrounded by a group of weasel henchmen who eventually all get their ticket punched by Seagal. David Michael Frank also composes a great contemporary-styled soundtrack that deserves a full soundtrack release; it's great music, and a great theme. The action is fun, the pace is good, and Seagal does a good job as always with his slick moves. It may not be great, but it sure is fun.

Although I have never been a big Steven Seagal fan, I instantly liked this film when my uncle gave it to me for Christmas one year. It is one wild ride. I enjoyed the awesome stunts and action scenes in the film, and I had to laugh out loud at some of the scenes because it was fun to watch. Although I didn't care for Sharon Stone's acting in the film (she seemed to be too much of a weakwilled whiner, as opposed to her later films), Steven Seagal and Pam Grier were excellent as the main heroes. The film reminded me of the fun I had watching cop movies like Dirty Harry mixed with martial arts movies, so I recommend it to fans of those kinds of films.

This was Steven Seagal's first movie and pretty much summed up the way his films were going to go: marital arts-crime stories with overly despicable villains and our hero saving the women by out-fighting everyone. Jean Van Damme and others followed with the same recipe which, by and large, has been pretty successful.

Before I saw this, I had read national critics blasting Seagal's acting talents but that was unfair; he's not a bad actor. It was also a surprise to see Sharon Stone playing a nice role and without makeup! That certainly changed quickly with her Basic Instinct-type persona.

It was fun to see Henry Silva again. As a kid growing up in the '50s and '60s, I used to see Silva on television a lot. He always played a bad guy, and played the part well....as he still does.

Overall, a decent action flick but not one of Segal's more memorable films. He make a big upgrade with his next film, "Hard To Kill."

I was watching television the other day, just flipping through the channels when I came upon 'Above the Law'. I hadn't seen this movie in years, and was anxious to watch it again. I must say that I was impressed. I believe it deserves no less than a 9/10. Why? The martial arts in superb as well as the action in general. Moreover, this movie operates on many different levels of meaning.

M.A. Rogers, in his commentary believes that Seagal's behavior contradicts his affirmation that nobody is above the law. This is not so. I believe that his actions are morally justified, inasmuch as there exists in the plot-line no other way for justice to be done. If the police force is corrupt and the C.I.A. are up to no good (not to mention the usually scum), what is one to do? It is therefore up to Toscani (Seagal) to take on a 'poetic license' of sorts and bring the transgressors back to justice.

M.A. Rogers, however, cogently points out in his commentary, that Seagal portrays a double-edged character. On the one hand he is easily angered, while on the other he puts out this "Mr. Cool" who is rife with obnoxious comments. This is why the film does so well. Important also is the scene in which his wife (Sharon Stone) pleads with him. She asks him to put down his 'pride'. She loves him because he is not like other men, but begs him to think of his family and back down. One cannot help, upon viewing this scene, to think of book six of "The Iliad" by Homer, where Andromache pleads with Hektor to stay in Troy for her sake and for the sake of his new-born son Astyanax. The emotion of the scene in Above the Law is heightened because of Seagal's show of restrained emotion: one isn't convinced that he is a 'family man'. He is. His stern face shows that he is a hard man, with a burden on his shoulders and an obligation to save his society as well as his family from an ailment that abounds everywhere. There is lots more to say on the matter, but I will leave that to another commentary. If you are at all a fan of the genre, than you must see it, even if you care only for the action. But I must make it clear that this movie is just as deep and sophisticated as any current drama. One just has to look beyond the surface.

Michael W. Helfield

This movie obviously isn't deep, but it is fun. The plot moves along quite nicely, there's plenty of humor, and the martial arts scenes are very well done. Seagal actually does have a presence on screen (as opposed to say, Chuck Norris or Claude Van Damme). The movie is low budget, but it has the virtue of recognizing the fact and not attempting effects shots that don't work (as opposed to "Under Siege 2").

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