Ah, don't let that hat and smile fool you, Steven Seagal will kill you, 8 ways to Sunday. Welcome to today's installment, Under Siege.
The premise:
It's Die Hard...on a boat!
I'm pretty sure that was the marketing pitch, and with the success of Die Hard, this, and countless other pretenders to the throne were launched. In a twisted sense of Hollywood irony though, several of them were pretty good on their own right.
Under Siege falls in that category.
To say it is Seagal's best movie in his career (should I quote "career" on Seagal?) is a limb I'm willing to climb out on. The fact that it's the Seagal movie where he has the least amount of screen time...
I chalk that up to coincidence!
Instead, we get a boatload of terrorists out to steal the warheads from the Navy. Led by the scenery chewing antics of Gary Busey and Tommy Lee Jones, Seagal really did just pop in as required to save the day.
However, the formula worked perfectly. Seagal played his part to perfection, but didn't overpower the movie with how awesome he is, which is what grinds most of his other movies to a halt.
That, and the fact they were really cheesy. : )
His other best film, Above the Law, was helmed by Andrew Davis, so perhaps he was onto something with how to harness the talents of Seagal to perfection?
Mr. Davis will be back on the countdown later, harnessing the power of another great performer, pushing him all the way to an Academy Award.
But that's for another day.
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