Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Predrag "Above the Law" is Steven Seagal's debut film - and one of his best films ever. It's a great action-thriller dealing with corruption and illegal CIA activities. The film was co-written and directed by Andrew Davis, who also directed the equally great first Under Siege film with Seagal. The story is good and captivating and the action is superb and highly satisfying. I like that the film addresses certain "uncomfortable" topics, like torture of POWs, police corruption and the state's involvement in criminal activities (such as the CIA's involvement in opium dealings). I also like that the Italian mob plays a vital role in protecting Seagal's family.Long before he garnered a reputation as an egotist stuck in straight to rental hell, he was an action star worth watching by the action movie faithful. Above the Law was his first official film and it's undoubtedly one of his best. It showcases his considerable skills as a martial artist whilst providing plenty of thrills and high octane action spills. Plot is hardly original, but it matters not in the grand scheme of things, and yes some of the acting from Seagal is stiff, but it never gets dull, the support cast are strong and, well, quite frankly, the film kicks butt! Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

blazesnakes9 When it comes to action stars, they are at first, calm and collected in some scenes in an action movie. Some of those action stars tend to show off their skills like martial arts. But even though they may have that gift of turning the audience with their screen presence, we can sometimes forget that they are playing an character. A character who is essential and important to the movie.In Above the Law, Steven Seagal is the star of the movie. However, this is his first one. Seagal plays a Chicago cop who was recruited by the CIA in 1969 in Japan. In 1973, he was sent to Vietnam and while there, he witnesses a brutal torture of a Cambodian resident under the spell of a vicious man, (Henry Silva). Seagal's friend advises him to leave Vietnam and go home. 15 years later, Seagal is a Chicago policeman, working with a partner, (Pam Grier), who is retiring in a couple of months. When he learns that a major shipment is going down in Chicago, Seagal's character, Nico Toscani, finds out a cache of explosives. Things get worse after that. Toscani father's church is blown up and it's up to him to find out who is responsible for the bombing. This leads Seagal through a change of pace as he breaks the rule and risks his entire police career by trying to rights the wrongs.Seagal does an impressive job of playing an main character who is believable. In some scenes, he knows how to act calm and play it straight. When it comes tot he action scenes, Seagal knows how to show off his martial arts skills. Most action actors tend to lost their character by putting too much emphasis on their skills. But not Seagal. He may be different than Charles Bronson or Clint Eastwood, but you got to give him credit for what does best. It's a shame that he wouldn't repeat the same thing twice because after he starred in Above the Law, Seagal starred in another film called Hard to Kill and Under Siege. His career then started to take a turn for the worse when he decided to drop out of Hollywood and starred in a number of bad action movies. Those ween't really worthy of his career, but Above the Law certainly shows what Seagal is meant on the big screen.The supporting cast is also very good. Pam Grier, who was also a major star in the 1970's is very good and sort of surprising to see her starred along aside Seagal. Grier is very convincing as Seagal's partner. She is noticing just how his behavior is getting in the way of his police appearance. The movie was directed by Andrew Davis, who also directed Code of Silence, which is, perhaps, the best Chuck Norris movie ever made. Davis certainly knows how to make a city story interesting. He photographed Chicago very clearly and very skillfully. When it comes the action scenes in this movie, Davis knows how to step back and let Seagal perform his fighting skills, which is pretty impressive. After he made Above the Law, Andrew Davis directed Seagal again in the 1992 action thriller, Under Siege. According to my perspective, I believe that with the teaming of Seagal and Davis being strong, I think that with the tools they have to make a decent action picture, they certainly do know how to make them exciting, not nauseating. It's rare to find a bonding between actor and director, especially in the action genre. Most action directors now don't really work together to make scenes seem exciting.With the exception of Seagal's performance, Above the Law has a plot that is sort of complicated if you follow everything very carefully. But as an action movie, it is effective even when Seagal is on the big screen. This movie proves that he can act in character and even, if I dare to say so, out of character. He is that good. ★★★ 3 stars.

Benjamin Cox Having given a couple of Steven Seagal film a right good kicking recently, I felt kinda bad for him and sought out this, his debut feature film. My reasons? Well, I figured that he would be in the prime of his youthful exuberance and not the overweight has-been he is today. He also has a respected action director in Andrew Davis (who would later helm "The Fugitive" and Seagal's best film "Under Siege") and Blaxploitation legend Pam Grier as co-star. The signs were good that this might not be a total bust along the lines of "Hard To Kill" or "Half Past Dead". Sure enough, it's a refreshing change to see Seagal do what he was meant to do as he looks and sounds every inch the legitimate tough guy. Sadly, the film's overly complicated plot tends to get in the way of the action and makes the film strangely dull. This is the first time in ages I've seen a film to fail my patented Nokia test (ending up playing games on my phone halfway through) which isn't a good sign for any action film.I'm gonna have to refer to other sources for this synopsis because I simply couldn't follow the film well enough but Seagal plays Nico Toscani, a Sicilian living in Chicago with his wife Sara (Sharon Stone) and infant daughter. Nico was recruited into the CIA by agent Nelson Fox (Chelcie Ross) during Vietnam but quit upon witnessing a torturer named Kurt Zagon (Henry Silva). Fifteen years later in Chicago, Nico works as a cop alongside his partner Delores Jackson (Grier) and arrest local drug pusher Tony Salvano (Daniel Faraldo). To Nico's disgust, the Feds get involved and release Salvano, citing an existing investigation and warn them both to stay away. But Nico doesn't take no for an answer and soon begins his own independent pursuit of Salvano and those involved, especially when his family are threatened by dark forces...There is also something else about immigrants living below a church and Nico's friend and pastor Father Gennaro (Joe V. Greco) being blown up during Mass. In truth, "Above The Law" crams in far too much story for a film of this type that I reckon if they stretched it out a bit, you could have had enough for a trilogy. Thankfully, they kept it to just the one. It's not that the film is a bad one as action movies go. Seagal moves much faster and smoother than he does in his later work and for once, he is impressive in the film. His acting style and delivery aren't so much of a distraction here as they usually are and he works well along with Grier and Stone (who are both criminally underused). But for a movie about a go-it-along cop taking the baddies down, it loses its focus by introducing more and more elements into the story. For example, is it not a huge coincidence that the very man who made Nico distrust the CIA is the same man who is behind the numerous schemes happening around Chicago? And when some two-bit hoodlums are thrown in with the CIA, the FBI and the Mafia were probably in there as well (he's Sicilian, remember?) then what you end up with is a series of shoot-outs and fist fights that don't really seem to have any connection or cohesion with the plot. At some point, I completely lost track of whether Fox was a good guy or a baddie. To be honest, I still don't know and I have the film's Wikipedia page open as I write."Above The Law" might not change the world but like most of Seagal's back catalogue, it is a macho and meaty action flick that satisfies the undemanding fan but leaves most viewers wanting something more. In his debut picture, Seagal acquits himself far better than he normally does - he even throws in a nod to the story about how he broke Sean Connery's arm on the set of "Never Say Never Again" as a stuntman. But "Above The Law" is a largely unmoving experience, devoid of any real charm or substance but at least it has some ambition behind it instead. It isn't as dumb as many of Seagal's later films ("Half Past Dead" is a prime example) which seem to specialise in rounding up anonymous thugs so Seagal can do his martial arts on them or shoot them dramatically. Sadly, it simply isn't as engaging as an action film can be - take "Die Hard" where you cared about McClane's struggle against Hans Gruber or "Terminator 2" when the future of civilisation was at stake. You neither care about the story (even if you could follow it) or the characters who merely perform to genre stereotypes (the partner who needs protecting, the "Godfather" impersonator at the family gathering, the nun who doesn't say much, etc). "Above The Law" might be a faintly boring cop film and compared to his later films, one of Seagal's better efforts but it certainly isn't above the standards we have today.

SnoopyStyle Nico Toscani (Steven Seagal) is a Chicago cop. As a young man, he went to Japan to learn martial arts. He's recruit by the CIA to go to Vietnam, but he quits when he's supposed to work with the sadistic drug smuggler Zagon. Now with his present day partner Delores Jackson (Pam Grier), his investigation into the drug dealer Salvano runs smack into a conflict with the CIA and a face from the past.This has Steven Seagal's three favorite things. There's the eastern influences that he loves so much. And also there's the drug infested underbelly that he finds fascinating. The biggest thing is that he is undoubtedly the big hero fighting against a corrupt system. If you love these three things, you'll like this movie. The action is pretty good and the story has enough bite. The pacing do slack off for big stretches of time. However it still works enough as an action thriller.