Above the Law (1988)

Starring: Steven Seagal, Pam Grier, 
Sharon Stone, Henry Silva

Directed by: Andrew Davis

Written by: Andrew Davis, 
Steven Pressfield, Ronald Shusett, 

Duration: 1hr 39 mins

Rating: 3 out of 5

POST-HUDSON HAWK, BRUCE ACTUALLY WENT
BACK TO WAITING TABLES IN SHAME 

Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were the titans of 80s/90s action cinema, battling each other with semi-serious banter for domination of the genre.  In-jokes such as Demolition Man’s ‘Schwarzenegger Presidential Library’ and Sly replacing Arnie on the poster of Terminator 2 in Last Action Hero added to the fun.  Planet Hollywood alumnus Bruce Willis was arguably up there too, not in terms of brawn but certainly emitting comparable star power.

On the next rung of the ladder were the B-listers, stars in their own right but never quite reaching the same iconic status: Jean-Claude Van Damme enjoyed a handful of box office hits like Timecop and Universal Soldier; Dolph Lungren impressed co-starring in the latter and will always be remembered by a certain generation for the likes of Masters of the Universe and Rocky IV.  Apart from the odd breakout project like JCVD or The Expendables, both are still going ‘strong’, in direct-to-DVD hell.

SADLY, TWO 'A'S DO NOT MAKE A 'B'

As is Steven Seagal.  When Under Siege hit big in 1992, Seagal briefly threatened to break into the mainstream.  Unfortunately, he ballsed it up a year later with the dreadful On Deadly Ground, a painfully preachy self-directed ‘issues’ actioner. By the time the fun Under Siege 2: Dark Territory came out in 1995, his star was well and truly on the wane.

Before he did Die Hard on a boat, Seagal made a handful of movies during what is considered his early, brutal period, the promising-sounding foursome of Above the Law, Hard to Kill, Marked for Death and Out for Justice.  I’ve never seen any of these, and thought it would be enlightening to check out ‘the ponytail’ in his pomp, before he became an overweight parody of himself.  So over the coming months I'll be – ulp! – reviewing all four.

PONYTAIL JUST OUT OF SHOT

But soon we’re in the present day and there’s a BBQ party afoot.  It looks like everyone is a cop, judging by all the middle-aged men with moustaches, plus the fact that a social gathering amongst cops in a movie is always a BBQ (or a visit to a strip joint).  So I’m wagering that Nico is on the right side of the law, too and yep – some here's some dialogue to confirm it.  Oh look, a pre-Basic Instinct Sharon Stone plays his wife, and Pam Grier is his partner, being ogled at by the aforementioned moustachioed cops ("She can arrest me any day!").  Greir mentions a much-coveted transfer to another department, so it’s unlikely she’ll live to see the closing credits.  

HEY, I WAS ENJOYING THAT BBQ! 

Anyway, Seagal hasn’t beaten anyone up yet, but wait, now he’s stopping the car to enter a bar and hassle the patrons, including what looks like Michael Rooker. After roughing a few of them about, Nico heads to the apartment upstairs, where his cousin is shacked up with a slimeball coke dealer.  Once he's finished knocking the unworthy Romeo around, Seagal coerces him into giving up the details of a major upcoming drug deal.  So Steve and Pam set up an illegal wire tap leading to a bust outside a nondescript factory and our first shoot out, which features Seagal driving around with a bad guy on top of his car.

                  

* CRACK! *

OK, so basically the plot ends up being that Nico pisses off the wrong people who retaliate by coming after him on his own turf, including setting off a bomb in his local church mid-service.  The authorities don’t want to help, since the criminals are connected all the way up to the CIA, paving the way for a laboured final reel twist in involving Steve’s old CIA buddy from his Vietnam days, played by the guy who was corrupt Senator Baynard in The Last Boy Scout.

"YOU GUYS THOUGHT YOU WERE ABOVE THE LAW...
WELL, YOU AINT' ABOVE MY LAW" 

Along the way there are some acceptably bone-crushing opportunities for our boy to use his aikido skills, some run-of-the-mill shoot outs and lots of Steve delivering lines in his soon-to-be-trademark laconic style.  It’s OK, but lacks any real wit or energy, and finishes with a speech by Seagal about how no one should be ‘above the law’ that is worryingly similar to his ramblings about the environment in the aforementioned On Deadly Ground. Solid, then, but nothing more.  ***

See also:
Hard to Kill (1990)

Marked for Death (1990)

Out for Justice (1991)