Customer Reviews

Above the Law (Widescreen/Full Screen)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Great score, great story, great action. This is Seagals best film next to Under Seige. Too bad he fizzeled out after a coupla good ones. Charles Bronson remains King of the genre. Check out The Mechanic and Death Wish 2 and 4....

It's a shame that Seagal's reputation and weight overshadowed this decent kung fu movie. He brought a new style and martial arts to the action genre and fading quickly by gaining weight over the years. Sharon Stone and Pam Grier are also in it. Nice direction from Andrew Davis who also directed Seagal in his biggest hit, "Under Siege".

This is not just a good Seagal movie, it's also a good movie. One of his best.
Go Nico!!!

A COP [STEVEN SEAGAL] BATTLES POLICE CORRUPTION AND DRUG DEALING. THIS WAS SEAGAL'S FIRST MOVIE. IT HAS SOME VERY GOOD ACTION SCENES. THIS IS AN ESSENTIAL MOVIE FOR ANYONE WHO LIKES TO COLLECT SEAGAL MOVIES OR ACTION MOVIES IN GENERAL. THIS MOVIE IS ALSO GOOD FOR ANOTHER THING, IT SHOWS US THE OLD STEVEN SEAGAL WHO LOOKED TOUGHER AND WAS IN BETTER SHAPE, UNLIKE TODAY.
I ADVISE ALL ACTION FANS TO ADD THIS TO THEIR COLLECTION NOW!

It's always fun to watch Steven Seagal beat [up] 10 people at once, then start running like a 5 year old girl. Yes this is a cheesey action movie with all the usual formulas, but Seagal seems to be a better actor than people like Chuck Norris, Vann Damme, Arnold, and Sly. His wisecracking remarks are definitely better than all the stupid one-liners in those other guys' movies. This was Seagal's first movie. If you've never seen one of his movies, this would probably be the best one to star with. Also a great supporting cast like Henry Silva (what a suprise, he's the lead villian!) Chelcie Ross (Harris from Major League) Pam Grier, Sharon Stone (she can't act, but she's okay here), and those same 2 cops that are in all the other movies filmed in Chicago. (The Fugitive, Code Of Silence, etc)

steven seagal's entry into the movie world as a young 35 yr old martial arts man and chicago cop.
this movie , not to be taken seriously is packed full of guns and broken bones.
the actors who played chicago cop's....no checkerboard hats,
seemed more outta place,, like security guards.
if your 15 yrs old and in need of a hero, this action movie will fill that need.

It seems like half the cast of Code Of Silence reunites for this little action flick. Steven Seagal plays a believable charactor unlike most action flicks. Basically he's a cop with an attitude like it says on the cover. He's trying to track down a crime lord (well played by the always bad-guy Henry Silva) that he had a small clash with in Vietnam. Yes the plot is predictable. There are no godawful cheesey one-liners like the ones you would find in movies like Action Jackson or The Running Man. Some people say Steven Seagal can't act but he's a hell of a lot better than Chuck Norris or Jean Claude Van Damme. For fans of these type of cheesey action movies, I highly recommend this one. It's definitely one of the better ones. By the way, whatever happened to Henry Silva?

I enjoyed this one. I remember being in awe during the fight scenes, and wondering how a character could be macho and sensitive at the same time, but Nico Tuscani (Segal) is, and he does it so well that one has to wonder if this character is close to his real personality. His acting of the part did not seem as forced.

You will like this one if you like action films about good cops trying to bring down bad govenment/police. It is not as predictable as it sounds, but it isn't as original as one would hope.

This quote is a good representative of the rest of the movie. Both make little sense and obviously took little time to create. Although Above the Law got two stars just like The Patriot, this movie beats The Patriot only when it comes to funny lines. For example: "You ever noticed how clean babies smell, like nothing in the world's ever touched them?" Steven Seagal must have liked his experience of breaking body parts in the movie, as this is an essential element in Marked for Death. Seagal does not think his enemies are above the law, but he and his family clearly are. It is OK for his cousin to be doing crack; she just needs to go home and take a shower. It's OK for Steven to use someone else's registered handgun to shoot a man who has already surrendered after his is taken away due to his suspension from the police force. As far as Steven Seagal action movies go, this one can be avoided. It has no random breast shots and not enough broken limbs.

Back in the days when Steven Seagal's career was launched by this little film, he was certainly more of a phenomenon to be reckoned with and much less of a personality to be tolerated. ABOVE THE LAW, much as in the case of the RAMBO films, created a certain mold that small action films followed for several years, most to little success. Seagal keeping his ego in check helped push ABOVE above standard action fare, and he introduced us to a butt-kicking, karate-chopping Dirty Harry.

Too bad he didn't continue in this mold.