Movie of the Week: Under Siege

   

 

    Movie of the Week (1/5/14-1/11/14): I'm back! My apologizes for not having a movie last week, I know many of you missed it! But, I'm back this week, a little late, but the playoffs last night was responsible for that. And since my team lost I think a good action film to let off some steam is a good one to have this week. I'm sure many of you had a team that lost and want to let off some steam too, this is a good one to do just that. It is also Steven Seagal's best movie and has a great supporting cast to go with it along with some intense fight scenes. This is Under Siege.
    This film is set on a battleship while terrorist take it over in order to get back at the government that did them wrong by stealing nuclear warheads to use against them. During a surprise party for the captain the bad guys land on the ship by helicopter posing as the band and they then take it over by surprise themselves along with the help of a traitor. Casey Ryback is forgotten about since he was locked in the meat locker for an earlier scuffle with the traitor, an officer on the ship, and ends up escaping. From there on Ryback becomes a one man army as he tries to stop the terrorist from doing something terrible.
    I'm sure you know that Steven Seagal is Casey Ryback and really does a good job in this role because it fits him the best. He is a cook, former Navy SEAL, and he is handy with knives, his fists, explosives, and guns, which is why Seagal is perfect for this role. His acting is still not the best, but it is certainly enjoyable to watch him in his best role. We also have Tommy Lee Jones as the leader of the terrorist, William Stranix, who has a vendetta against the government and CIA as they screwed him over. Jones gives us another great performance and did a great job in the final fight scene between him and Seagal. Gary Busey is also great as Commander Krill, he plays a character that the crew doesn't like and the audience will not like because he is the traitor and it is he who Ryback doesn't get along with. All three of these main cast members really worked well together and had good chemistry when on screen. The rest of the supporting cast also is very good.
    The writing to this might seem similar to Die Hard, and in a way it is because it is pretty much that on a ship, but we have different reasons for terrorist. So it is different in several ways and it works well, it is a well written screenplay. We also have director Andrew Davis, who would go on to direct the Oscar winning The Fugitive with Tommy Lee Jones a year later. You can tell that it has his touch to it. It has that classic action feel, which The Fugitive had as well, from the late eighties and early nineties, which means that there are not a lot of cuts in the fight scenes but are shot very well in longer than usual segments, unlike today where there is a cut every couple seconds. With his touch to the film, it makes the film much better.
    The sets for this film were also very good as they matched how the real U.S.S. Missouri looked and made the film darker, which was a good fit. The movie also sounds good and has very good sound editing and mixing. With so much going on in each particular fight scene, shootout, and dialogue scene with Stranix while he is talking to the Navy commanders is edited together very well, along with the editing of the film, all of these mix together perfectly. The score is also that classic action movie score from the eighties and nineties and it is exciting to listen too, even when there is not much going on. This is a very good intense action film, with great shootouts, fight scenes, particularly the last one, sound editing, directing, and great performances from the entire cast. Let's start the New Year off with a bang!
3/4 Stars