Review of Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995) by Alvin Y — 19 Jun 2010

Life is full of surprises, and in 1995 I experienced two of them - going to a cinema to see a Steven Seagal movie, and enjoying it.

In fact, I enjoyed 'Under Siege 2' so much that years later, I even bought a copy on DVD.

Up until 'Under Siege 2', though, I couldn't stand Seagal at all. In bits and pieces of his movies that I had seen during the early '90s, I had thought that not only couldn't Steve act or fight very well, he was even hopeless at running.

So despite my lack of love for Seagal, what compelled me to go see 'Under Siege 2' at the movies? It looked like it had an interesting premise, most of the action seemed to take place on a train (I love trains), and the Port Macquarie Ritz was a good cinema with great ticket and candy-bar prices.

Fortunately, 'Under Siege 2' turned out to be pretty good overall. It was exciting, fast-paced, funny and gripping, and even Steve wasn't too bad (in one scene, he even made me laugh out loud with his deadpan delivery of a great line of dialogue). There was also a strong supporting cast and great eye-candy like the train, the countryside it hurtled through, and a very babelicious teenage actor by the name of Katherine Heigl (sigh).

Did 'Under Siege 2' turn me into a Seagal fan? No, but it showed what he could do at his best - and from what I later heard and saw (like the ghastly 'Glimmer Man'), it's a shame he didn't have more movies of this calibre.