Left for dead with his wife killed in their house, L.A. Detective Mason Storm will have to make a quick recovery, expose those behind the murder and take revenge.
Director:
Bruce Malmuth
Stars:
Steven Seagal,
Kelly LeBrock,
William Sadler
The gruesome murder of a Brooklyn Detective will turn the case into a personal vendetta when the deceased's best friend and fellow officer will unleash an all-out attack against a psychotic Mafia enforcer's brutal gang.
Director:
John Flynn
Stars:
Steven Seagal,
William Forsythe,
Jerry Orbach
Casey Ryback hops on a Colorado to LA train to start a vacation with his niece. Early into the trip, terrorists board the train and use it as a mobile HQ to hijack a top secret destructive US satellite.
Director:
Geoff Murphy
Stars:
Steven Seagal,
Eric Bogosian,
Everett McGill
Going undercover in rural Kentucky, an environmental agent tries to prove the dumping of toxic waste in the local coal mines by ruthless industrialists.
Director:
Félix Enríquez Alcalá
Stars:
Steven Seagal,
Kris Kristofferson,
Marg Helgenberger
An unsuspecting university professor is an unwitting accomplice in a foiled Chinese cocaine deal. Wrongly imprisoned, he escapes to take his revenge and prove his innocence.
Nico learned martial arts in Japan, and was in Vietnam for the CIA, and now is a cop in the vice squad of Chicago. A junkie tells him about a big drug deal; However it turns out that the deal was about C4 explosives and that one of the parties was the CIA. Nico gets ordered to keep out of it, but can't imagine why the CIA would sell C4, so he investigates further. While risking his and his young family's life, he discovers that the CIA tries to cover it's connections to drug dealers in Middle America and wouldn't even stop from murder.Written by
Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
Steven Seagal chose the film from a pile of scripts Warner Brothers had been saving for Clint Eastwood. It was re-written to focus on Seagal's actual backstory. Many of his stories have never been confirmed. See more »
Goofs
During the shootout in the garage, when Nico drives a car, his right front tire is punctured. Afterward, the right front tire is intact, but the left front tire is damaged. See more »
Quotes
Kurt Zagon:
[pulls a knife on Nico]
Hey I can make you disappear
See more »
Alternate Versions
Although the film got a 16-rating, all German Versions are cut for violence. See more »
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
25 of 33 people found this review helpful.
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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