UNDER SEIGE 2: DARK TERRITORY

Far and away, this is the best action vehicle featuring Steven Segal. It is much better than it has any right to be. It should have catapulted Segal into some better movies. Yet it was deemed as a bit of J.A.M. “Just Another Movie” (and it is but…). For some reason, attention was bestowed to the initial UNDER SEIGE. Alas, his movies have been aesthetically run dry for Mr. Segal ever since. The original set upon the sea and the better sequel set upon a train. Both movies worked well at stealing some thunder that was set for the DIE HARD series.

Like so many movie of its kind, a group of terrorist/kidnappers do there best to take hold of hostages as bait for a fantastic sum of monies. Set upon a remote and in this case a moving location. The location being a train that passes through the land known as Dark Territory. With portable attack technology, villains Eric Bogosian (overplayed) and Everett McGill (underplayed; at least when you compare it Bogosian or LICENCE TO KILL) use there means to destroy a part of China and threaten the U.S. Eastern Coastline. Fortunately, Casey Ryback (Steven Segal) is still working in the kitchen. “Nobody beats me in the kitchen”. As always Steven is low key. In tow is his niece Sarah (Katherine Heigl) aboard for the ride. At times the threat seems a lark was likely meant to be that way when it was made. It now seems scarier now in this current climate. This kind of subject matter just carries a different weight. It is far from ingenious but the plot commands ones attention. Yes, it’s a romp but a well crafted one.

As an action movie set on a train, it works. And well. The action is clear and precise. Rarely does the action confuse itself. Even the typically uncreative close up fighting sequence that scars many current action movies works to its advantage this time. Because the action is set on a train the close-ups enhance a claustrophobic and crowded sensation. Such sequences are juxtaposed with moments of depth perspective such as viewing the action on the exterior of the train. The action never fails to be wide when its shifts to exteriors.

The bickering and the bureaucracy is also adds a layer off…not depth but something. Perhaps it seems more believable? To see the C.I.A. and the military brass arguing about who started this adds a certain amount of fun and longevity to the story as if it’s a chapter from a continuing thread. Perhaps it’s the NIGHTWING fan in me. Nick Mancuso has a good part as a C.I.A. honcho.

It is surprising that this was helmed by Geoff Murphy. The movie has a sleek and crisp sense about its action and pacing. It’s a big change after the drab likes of FREEJACK or YOUNG GUNS II., or the bloated nonsense belonging to Joel Silver, and the useless Jerry Bruckheimer. Aside from some financial motivations, DARK TERRITORY doesn’t flow like a 90’s movie. It seems different in the right way.

Only glaring moments come from Bogosian. His motives do not ring true. To simply do all of this for pure profit was tired by 1988. Surely there are people like this but there are more discreet ways to cash in on one’s expertise. But what do I know.

I remember reading an article in Variety back in the day about this film. Its budget ballooned like crazy (mirroring Seagal?) and they went over schedule. Many Hollywood types were seeing this as the beginning of the end for Seagal, this coming on the heels of his self righteous environmental actioner ON DEADLY GROUND. Another funny thing was the Jeff Goldblum was apparently signed as the lead villain and then quit. So who did they hire? Eric Bogosian, Goldblum's mini-me in a sense.

For me, US2 has a special place in my heart because it features perhaps cinema's most gratuitous nudity. When the military brass are demonstrating the amazing ability of thier new spy satillite, they focus in on the back of a girl on a beach. She then turns over to reveal she is topless and it is all over thier 40-ft screens. That really took some ingenuity to get nudity into this scenario.

Add me to the UNDER SIEGE 2 fan club. I consider this one of Seagal's best (along with ABOVE THE LAW and ON DEADLY GROUND) and far superior to the overrated UNDER SIEGE. Eric Bogosian and Everett McGill made far more interesting and formidable villains than the clowns played by Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey in the first film. The look of McGill's character seemed modeled on Doc Savage. What I most like about UNDER SIEGE 2 and ON DEADLY GROUND is that they are both modern westerns and look and move and act like westerns. And, in an era when westerns are as rare as they are, that's a good thing.

I always get a kick out of William Forsythe vs. SS in OUT FOR JUSTICE, and thought it on a par with ABOVE THE LAW (which hasn't aged well, I'm afraid).
I'm also partial to EXECUTIVE DECISION, which made pretty startling use of Seagal.

Forsythe was interviewed in Shock Cinema recently and revealed Seagal wasn't great to work with. In fact, he said Seagal was very hands on during editing and cut a lot of Forsythe's performance out. A shame.

When I worked at a video store, we had a customer rent EXECUTIVE DECISION and storm back in an hour later demanding a refund because Seagal got offed so early on.

"There's just one problem...the cook from UNDER SEIGE is back."

This is the only Seagal movie I've ever enjoyed and I'd sit through it again at the drop of a hat. Maybe because it's a train movie and I love train movies but either way it's a lot of fun. The cast is enjoyable as well, particularly in the 'mission control' scenes, although the "That's why they call it space" bit is just flat-out weird.

The lack of an UNDER SEIGE 3 resulted in one of my all-time favorite jokes on NEWSRADIO, but it's too complicated to recount here.


"This I'm trained for."

Ah, now I can confess my dark secret that I love both Under Siege films. For whatever reason just enough elements clicked in both films that they're fun even on repeat viewings. & speaking of gratuitous nudity didn't he bartender in US2 appear in Playboy around the time of release?

I haven't seen any Segal films in a few years but keep picking up Submerged and Black Dawn at the video store but never rent them. Any opinions?

I can't think of Under Siege 2 without remembering the days when quite a bit of laserdisc selling and trading used to take place among regular and semi-regular contributors to the Usenet newsgroup alt.video.laserdisc. There was one guy who'd somehow wound up with what sounded like at least a couple of hundred copies of the US2 laserdisc. Despite selling them at deeply discounted prices (like a couple of bucks) and throwing them in as a bonus to folks who ordered other discs from him, he couldn't hardly give them away. It got to the point where it became an elaborate in-joke.

Like many other former a.v.l regulars, he eventually quit hanging around after DVD hit the big time, but whenever I run across someone mentioning this movie, I wonder if he's still sitting on what's left of his huge cache of US2 LDs.

Dave

".....but whenever I run across someone mentioning this movie, I wonder if he's still sitting on what's left of his huge cache of US2 LDs."

Stories like this. I love 'em

Current day Segal is a far cry from in-his-prime Segal. He is incredibly out of shape and relies too heavily on stunt doubles. I tried to watch a bit of SUBMERGED but found it intolerable. The only recent Segal I have enjoyed over the last few years was BELLY OF THE BEAST, but that was mainly because of the director (CHINESE GHOST STORY's Ching Siu Tung).