Film Review: Under Siege (1992)

Among multitudes of action films trying to copy Die Hard formula (single protagonist fighting small army of terrorists that took over isolated location), one with the more preposterous premise is Under Siege, 1992 film directed by Andrew Davis. Protagonist, played by Steven Seagal, US Navy Chief Petty Officer Casey Riback, serving as a cook on battleship USS Missouri. The plot is set in December 1991, when the ship, known for its long and distinguished history that included actions in Second World War and First Gulf War, is to be decommissioned and the formidable arsenal, that involves few nuclear-armed Tomahawk missiles, removed. During the voyage from Pearl Harbor to San Francisco, a surprise birthday party is thrown for Captain J. T. Adams (played by Patrick O’Neal), commanding officer. Entertainers and caterers brought to the occasion, however, are mercenaries led by former CIA covert operative William Stranix (played by Tommy Lee Jones). They, with the help of Commander Krill (played by Gary Busey), treacherous executive officer, kill Captain Adams and capture most of the crew, which allows them to take control of the ship. Stranix’s plan is to rendezvous with stolen North Korean submarine and transfer nukes from USS Missouri and later sell them to highest bidder. However, Ryback manages to set himself free and tries to sabotage Stranix’s plans. Stranix only later learns that Ryback used to be US Navy SEAL. But even his superb skills won’t be enough without some help, and that help comes from Jordan Tate (played by Erica Eleniak), Playboy Playmate who was brought to ship as entertainment and who, at first reluctantly, helps Ryback to liberate some of the crew and plan next moves.

Script by J. F. Lawton asks audience to suspend a lot of disbelief in order to accept basic premise of small band of terrorists taking over the ship which is manned by thousands of highly trained personnel and possessing strategic military resource. Lawton tries to use the usual explanation of the takeover being helped by betrayal and, like in the real life, trouble originating with US covert operation going catastrophically rogue with top agent turning against his country. Battleship setting, however, is likely to delight naval buffs among the audience, because that type of military vessels, which were technological marvel and nations’ pride in first half of 20th Century, were seldom portrayed in Hollywood films. Under Siege is also one of the rare Hollywood films in which 16 inch guns of USS Missouri, one of the most formidable naval weapons used in combat, are actually used in one of the action scenes. Andrew Davis, director known for solid action films (and who also directed Steven Seagal in his debut Above the Law four years earlier), puts the USS Alabama (museum ship “acting” as USS Missouri) to good use and keeps good tempo, especially in the first half of the film, when we are introduced to the characters and plot. The second half, in which Seagal again plays his trademark character of unstoppable killing machine, is much weaker because of its predictability; Seagal doesn’t even get opportunity to use some of its formidable martial arts skills, except in the predictably short showdown with main villain. The biggest problem for Under Siege is, however, in villains, played by unrestrained Gary Busey and even less restrained Tommy Lee Jones, are over-the-top and more interesting than Ryback, played by Seagal who obviously lacks serious acting ability. Instead of using some of the ship’s crew, played by some fine character actors, as sidekicks, Under Siege opts for unrealistic token character of bimbo. While the character, played by Playboy Mate and Baywatch star Erika Eleniak, provides adequate eye candy (and her getting out of cake topless is one of the most popular moments of 1990s action cinema), dialogue lines are bad and she doesn’t have an iota of chemistry with Seagal. Despite its flaws, Under Siege provides solid amount of entertainment and the box office results proved to be the best in Seagal’s career. This led to the sequel Under Siege 2: Dark Territory being made three years later.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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