Under Siege **** (1992, Steven Seagal, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Busey, Erika Eleniak) – Classic Movie Review 1,017

Andrew Davis’s 1992 action thriller film Under Siege is a humdinger, hitting the target bull’s eye. Steven Seagal excites in his best film as ship’s cook and former Navy SEAL Casey Ryback.

Director Andrew Davis’s 1992 action thriller film Under Siege is a humdinger, hitting the target bull’s eye.

Steven Seagal excites in his best film as ship’s cook and former Navy SEAL Casey Ryback. He fights back when ruthless loony terrorists William Stranix (Tommy Lee Jones) and Commander Krill (Gary Busey) take over his boat, the USS Missouri, the US Navy’s biggest battleship.

Soon millions of lives hang in the balance as the evil, ruthless, stop-at-nothing villains try to carry out their plan to steal the Missouri’s lucrative nuclear arsenal in mid-Pacific.

Davis directs in best heart-pounding style in a fast-paced, ultra-thrilling action-thriller, with Seagal on his best form, and Jones and Busey excellent as the antagonists, a fine pair of villains.

It was released in the US on 9 October 1992, and became a critical and commercial success, receiving two Academy Award nominations for sound production and grossing $156,563,139 worldwide against a $30 million budget.

It is the only Seagal movie to receive Academy Award nominations: Best Sound Effects Editing (John Leveque and Bruce Stambler) and for Best Sound (Donald O Mitchell, Frank A Montaño, Rick Hart and Scott D Smith).

It may have been a critical success, but it bypassed most critics. It was then the most successful film that had not been screened for any critics before its release. It was later released in the UK on 26 February 1993, and screened for critics.

The less thrilling Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, directed by Geoff Murphy, followed in 1995 with Seagal re-creating his role.

It was shot on the USS Alabama (standing in for the USS Missouri) docked in Mobile Bay in Mobile, Alabama. To give the illusion that the film’s USS  Missouri was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the crew created a 100-feet long barge with a 60-feet high framework with a giant black cloth on top. The barge was then moved around the USS Alabama to block out city buildings and lights.

Davis also made Above the Law (with Seagal), The Fugitive, (with Tommy Lee Jones and Harrison Ford), Chain Reaction, Collateral Damage and A Perfect Murder.

Harrison Ford must have liked Under Siege. He saw a rough cut of it and approved Andrew Davis to direct The Fugitive (1993).

Executive Decision (1996) and Machete (2010) are considered other Seagal highlights.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1,017 derekwinnert.com