Review of Above the Law (1988) by Fraser B — 03 Mar 2009

So there's these motherfuckers, yeah, and they think they're ABOVE THE LAW or some shit, so our boy Nico 'Steven Seagal' Tuscani is forced (partly by his belief in a just and noble universe, but mostly by not wanting to go home and hang around his annoying, weepy wife) to take them down. Fortunately for the viewer Nico is a total badass and thus more than up to the challenge.

So yeah, the film itself is nothing short of average, and the plot is either dull and implausible or dull and incomprehensible (depending on how closely you're following the story between fight scenes). However, as an action vehicle for a young and surprisingly lean Seagal the film, like my main man, gets the job done.

Despite its glaring and obvious faults things still move along well enough, mostly thanks to the (potentially limitless) strengths of our home boy. Seagal holds his own well on-screen, especially considering this is his debut, and comes across like one promising motherfucker; making it look easy too. Except when he runs. You should really work on your running, Steve. Not cool, brotha.

In conclusion, if you consider yourself an action movie connoisseur and this happens to be playing, you should give it a watch. There's some pretty fun macho-action stuff to enjoy, and plenty of unintentionally amusing 'acting' to compliment it all. One guy even tries throwing his shoes at Big Steve in a last, mad attempt to save himself from being driven through a wall - needless to say, he lives to regret this, albeit very briefly.