Under Siege (1992) – Encore Review

“You’re comin’ with me, you gotta be invisible. You walk by a hatch and you see the enemy, you become the hatch.” – Casey Ryback

Number of Times Seen – At least 5 times (Theater in March ’92, video, cable, 18 Feb 2015 and 1 Feb 2020)

Link to original review – Here

Brief Synopsis – After a group of terrorists take over a soon to be decommissioned battleship, a cook must try and find a way to stop things before their use the nuclear missiles on board the ship to decimate a US city.

My Take on it – There have been many films made over the past 30 years that have tried to mimic of copy the essence of a real Die Hard (1988) kind of scenario where a character must take on a group of terrorists in a somewhat small space all by himself.

This is one of the few films to come quite close in making that kind of premise actually work.

Steven Seagal has never been known for his acting abilities, but rather his fighting style and ability.

This film is the perfect vehicle for him and truly allows us to see him in top form against this (seemingly) unlimited amount of bad guys.

This is such a fun film and it works so much better than one would expect.

The story plays out in a pretty plausible way despite some very obvious plot holes along the way.

Of all of Seagal’s films, this is probably the most convincing one that he has made.

The film also sports a great supporting cast with both Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey both shining in their very iver the top bad guy roles.

They even help make the story line seem to make more sense than one would presume.

This film is done in such a fun way that it’s so hard to even care about the flaws that pop up along the way.

The choice to add a female sidekick role is definitely a silly one because it doesn’t work very well yet they find a way to make things work for what its worth along the way.

Bottom Line – Such a fun film and by far the best Seagal film. The story works really well in a diehard-esque environment and things play out in a seemingly plausible way. Seagal is great in this role and of all of his performances over the years, this is perhaps his most convincing one. The supporting cast is also great. Jones and Busey both stick out as the over-the-top bad guys yet things still make sense as everything unfolds. This film is obviously filled with lots of plot holes, but they are easily overlooked because this is done in such a fun and enjoyable way. The addition of the female sidekick role is a bit too much and could have been kept out but still works for what it’s worth. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Screenwriter J.F. Lawton, who wrote the original script, which was titled “Dreadnought”, wrote another script in 1995 titled “High Roller”. Described as “Die Hard in a casino”, the script was about a mobster and his men, who take over a casino in Las Vegas, and kidnap the owner, and the mobster’s ex-hitman has to join up with the casino owner’s daughter, and a down-on-his-luck gambler to save him, and stop the mobsters. The script was sold to Savoy Pictures for one million dollars, and they were working on turning it into a film starring Sylvester Stallone, but they disagreed with his twenty million dollar contract to star in the film, so the entire project was cancelled and once Savoy Pictures went bankrupt, the script was never picked up again. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10) (no change from original review)