Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Billy Ollie 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.

DeuceWild_77 "Under Siege" was the first big Seagal movie in terms of production values and higher budget after the 'four in a row' successes of "Nico - Above the Law" ('88); "Hard to Kill" & "Marked for Death" (both from '90) and "Out for Justice" ('91), reteaming the now established action star with the director Andrew Davis ("Code of Silence"; "Nico"; "The Package") in a screenplay penned by J. F. Lawton ("Pretty Woman" and the future writer / director of "The Hunted" starring Christopher Lambert) and produced by Seagal himself for Warner Bros., the Studio that was responsible for his screen debut 4 years before.It's noticeable that this movie was made based on the previous box office hit and critical praise of the first two "Die Hard" films with Seagal throwed in it, who was willing to enter mainstream to be equated to the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Bruce Willis, as a legit action star.The good thing is that Andrew Davis is a competent director in the action genre, the budget was there and the movie looks good either in the technical level and the artistic one, with nice wide shots of the U.S. Navy battleship USS Missouri in the open sea, the bad thing is, besides that, the movie lacks the thrilling factor, the suspense, the momentaneum and even the action / fight sequences are passable or staged a bit dull. There's no memorable fights like Seagal's first four films and the way he won the day against the terrorists it's far too easy and far fetched even for action movies standards (if we compare it with "Die Hard"...).The cast is probably the best in a Seagal film, with the two main villains played by Tommy Lee Jones, in a flamboyant performance that looks like the actor was having lots of fun performing it, and the forever baddie, Gary Busey, in "Lethal Weapon"'s Mr. Joshua mode, both upstaging the lead action star, plus a supporting cast of well known character actors such as the veteran Patrick O' Neal ("Alvarez Kelly"); Damian Chapa ("Street Fighter"), Raymond Cruz ("Training Day"), Bernie Casey ("Never Say Never Again"), Troy Evans ("Kuffs"), Nick Mancuso ("Rapid Fire"), George Cheung ("Rambo - First Blood - Part II"), Andy Romano, Colm Meaney ("Con Air"), Michael Des Barres (Murdoc from "MacGyver") and even Kane "Jason Voorhees" Hodder among lots of others."Baywatch" former star and Playboy Playmate, Erika Eleniak, was cast as the stripper blonde bimbo going gung ho to please Seagal's vanity desire of scoring with a beautiful young woman half his age, but their on-screen chemistry is less than zero and her character, besides being an eye candy for the viewer, is entirely pointless."Under Siege" was Oscar nominated for Sound and Sound Effects and that marked the zenith of Seagal's career and Seagal-a-side, its success was responsible for Andrew Davis helm the vastly superior "The Fugitive" 1 year later, which was nominated for several Oscars (including Best Picture) and earned Tommy Lee Jones the award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.In short, as a 'warm-up' to "The Fugitive", "Under Siege" earned his place in the history of action films, but being Seagal's biggest film, doesn't translate for Seagal's best film, it was just a failed attempt to promote him to mainstream, because besides its box office success, 2 years later the pony-tail'd action star was helping Eskimos against the evil Oil Tycoon, Michael Caine, in the God awful "On Deadly Ground"...I give it 5 stars and 1 extra for the production values and Davis' assertive (but unfortunately not that creative) direction.

Elishai One of my all time favorite movies. The best movie of Steven Seagal by far, and there are some gems in his oldest movies! A shame his latest ones are so different in quality. Pamela Basker did a wonderful job in casting. Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey as the villains are superb. The fight scenes are exquisite. The soundtrack of the movie is great. Actor I enjoyed the most in this movie: Steven Seagal. Actor I enjoyed the least in this movie: Erika Eleniak. I try my best to find something bad about the movie but I can't - this is the ultimate action movie, same level for me with Taken and The Bourne Identity. A Must Watch recommendation!

The Grand Master Steven Seagal has never been better in Under Siege, his most successful movie to date. After establishing his reputation in Hollywood with Above the Law (1988), Hard to Kill (1990), Marked for Death (1990), and Out for Justice (1991), Steven Seagal's career kicks into another gear with one of the most successful movies of 1992, which also proves to be his best movie at the peak of his career. Also with a good director and good screenwriter, Under Siege brought out the best in Steven Seagal.Steven Seagal (who has also cut off his trademark ponytail for this movie) is a former Navy Seal turned cook Casey Ryback. The movie starts with Ryback continuing to show defiance to most of the chain of command aboard USS Missouri, including Commander Krill (Gary Busey at his villainous best) who is also organising a party on board USS Missouri and has arranged to bring in entertainers via helicopter who are really mercenaries led by the unhinged and unstable William Strannix (Tommy Lee Jones at his over the top best). The main plan is for William Strannix and turncoat Commander Krill to hijack USS Missouri and take all sailors on board hostage in order to steal and sell the tomahawk missiles. The plan almost goes well until Casey Ryback, who was imprisoned in the freezer for assaulting Commander Krill, proves to be the hostages only hope as Ryback manages to escape and takes on the mercenaries himself. Along the way, playboy playmate Jordan Tate (Erika Eleniak who is the only actress in this movie) who was brought onto the ship for entertainment value, is roped into helping Casey Ryback along with a small handful of freed sailors.Under Siege is summed up perfectly as Die Hard on a battleship, and it proves to be a very entertaining action feast. There is no shortage of gunfights, martial arts fights, knife fights, stylized deaths, explosions, and cracking one liners that will keep all action fans very content.Steven Seagal has never been better in his prime as Casey Ryback, the former Navy Seal turned cook. He's very likable in this movie and its a shame that this one time box office champion has been reduced to keeping his career alive through non-stop direct-to-video movies in which Seagal is a shadow of his former self. Under Siege will always be remembered as Steven Seagal's best movie to date. Tommy Lee Jones is a quality actor who often appears frequently as serious no-nonsense characters such as The Fugitive and the Men In Black trilogy. Here in Under Siege he is excellently over the top and the wild and unhinged William Strannix.Gary Busey frequently plays bizarre and psychotic characters, and is often one of the go-to actors if they need a crazy villain as evidenced in Lethal Weapon (1987) as the henchman Mr Joshua. As Commander Krill in Under Siege, he shows that he is psychologically unstable, particularly when he appears in drag during the USS Missouri's party. He also makes a great bad guy partnership with Tommy Lee Jones.Erika Eleniak as playboy playmate Jordan Tate who has been caught up in the hijacking show off her assets for one brief scene and then cries, whines and huffs and puffs her way through the movie at first but later sheds her damsel in distress image to help Ryback take down the mercenaries. If I had one criticism of Under Siege is that her character was unnecessary for this movie and the movie could have done without her.Director Andrew Davis reunites with Steven Seagal from his 1988 debut movie Above the Law and he does a great job as a director. Following the success of Under Siege, Andrew Davis would be picked to direct the Harrison Ford/Tommy Lee Jones blockbuster thriller The Fugitive (1993).There have been so many movies that have attempted to replicate the success of Die Hard (1988) and there have been a variety of mixed results. Under Siege is definitely one of those movies that is a successful blueprint of Die Hard, but also carves out its own success without falling into the trap of being another Die Hard wannabe. Under Siege is a great action movie in its own right, and definitely one of Steven Seagal's best movies that will never be beaten.Watch Under Siege and enjoy yourself.8/10.

utgard14 Rogue CIA operative William Strannix (Tommy Lee Jones) and his gang of mercenaries take over the battleship USS Missouri with inside help from batshit crazy Navy officer Krill (Gary Busey). At first things are going pretty smoothly for them but it turns out they forgot one little thing: the ship's cook, former Navy SEAL Casey Ryback (Steven Seagal). Watch Ryback Die Hard it up and take out the bad guys one by one, leading to the inevitable final fight with Strannix for the fate of the world...or something like that.Awesome actioner with a wonderful cast. Steven Seagal's best and most polished movie. When you have Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey as villains, the script pretty much writes itself. Both are terrific with colorful performances like you might expect. Seagal does his usual stuff, which is probably hit or miss with most people. I actually like his early movies so I can't complain. Special mention to beautiful Erika Eleniak, who has probably her best film role in this. She's a comedic sidekick character and is quite good at it. She also has a brief topless scene, which hurt absolutely nothing. It's a fun movie. One of the few Seagal movies that can be enjoyed on its merits without the slightest hint of irony.