Above the Law

Above the Law

The Hollywood contingent believes Steven Seagal is the new action movie icon Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson’s successor and Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger contemporary. More than a month ago the Los Angeles Times’ influential Calendar section ran a cover story charting the campaign to establish Seagal in the box-office big leagues. His stats: 6-feet 4; sixth degree black belt in aikido.

Ran his own martial arts school in Japan before returning here, working as an aikido instructor and bodyguard (according to the press information) for stars and heads of state. Married to actress Kelly LeBrock. A studio executive was quoted as saying that Seagal has “extraordinary” screen magnetism.

But with a buildup like that, doesn’t his first movie have to be anticlimactic? And yet curiously enough it isn’t. More or less he does deserve the buildup. He does have a strong and particular screen presence. You can see that he’s doing a lot of his own stunts; some of the fight sequences are impressive and apparently unfaked. And he isn’t just another hunk.

He can play tender; he can play smart two notes often missing on the Bronson and Stallone accordions but his aquiline face and slicked-back hair and macho moves around too much in closeups though then again he moves around too much anyway, restless on screen, swaggering sometimes instead of walking.

His first movie is “Above the Law,” and it’s nothing if not ambitious. It contains 50% more plot than it needs but that gives it room to grow into areas not ordinarily covered by action thrillers.W hen was the last time you saw Norris or Schwarzenegger in a movie where they ran cars through walls and killed people with their bare hands at mass, at baptismal fonts, meditating, hugging wives, kidding partners and making speeches about the need for a free and open society? If this movie is an audition, Seagal will try anything.

His partner is played by Pam Grier (she’s not his squeeze; he’s a happily married father), one of the more intriguing action stars of the ’70s before the collapse of the black film market took her down with it. Seagal and Grier play Chicago police detectives who engineer a major drug bust only to have their arrests quashed by the FBI, which orders them to stay away from a cocaine kingpin.

Why should this guy be immune? In a less ambitious picture we’d find out about payoff, blackmail or extortion. But “Above the Law” isn’t that picture. We flash back to our hero’s service in Vietnam with the CIA, where he first stumbled across evidence that a fellow American (Henry Silva venomous, sleek) was using his agency as a cover for drug smuggling. Now there’s another element: Central American political refugees have taken sanctuary in Seagal’s church basement, and their priest has information about Silva’s plan to assassinate a senator.

The movie was co-written and directed by Andrew Davis, who Chuck Norris’ best film remains to be “Code of Silence” and it has the best use of Chicago locations I’ve seen. Also, great locations are exploited in “Above the Law”, from the uncommon (a huge old Catholic church) to the absurd (there’s a fight to death on the roof of Executive House).

Davis is also interested in building a community around the Seagal character; therefore, we have well written scenes with his wife (Sharon Stone), priest (Joe Greco), uncle (Jack Wallace) and tough cop (Joseph Kosala, a real Chicago cop). Like in his last picture, supporting players that do not look or sound like professional actors are used by Davis which adds an extra layer of realism to action.

He doesn’t look or sound like one either but Segal is effective for being casted as a professional actor. There’s something about his voice that makes me think he sometimes would rather keep talking after he barks out typical action dialogue it has some quality to it such as Richard Gere’s does.

He can be physical enough so as to make violent scenes appear believable menacingly while at the same time we could believe sensitivity coexists with brutality in him always. Could it be true that he is Hollywood’s hottest new action star? I don’t know but what I am certain about is this guy has got talent!

Watch Above the Law For Free On Gomovies.