Above the Law (8 April 1988)
directed by Andrew Davis
starring Steven Seagal, Pam Grier, Henry Silva, Ron Dean, Daniel Faraldo, Sharon Stone
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MPAA rating: Studio: Warner Brothers Script: Andrew Davis Music: David Michael Frank Running time: 96 minutes Suggested retail price: $14.98 (US) Tags: Action; CIA; corruption; drugs; Martial Arts; police; torture Tactical strength: [5/10]
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As the first Steven Seagal movie, Above the Law sets up the precedents for all Seagal movies to follow. Seagal plays an ethnic American with an unusual name (Nico Toscani, Casey Ryback, Mason Stone) and an abundance of martial arts skills. In the past, Seagal's character worked as a government-agency operative, usually the CIA, but has now settled on a more mundane job -- cop, cook, or even EPA investigator. During the regular course of his work, Seagal's character discovers some vast conspiracy that he feels morally obligated to put down. In the process, he finds many opportunities to kill people, sometimes with his hands but more often with firearms. At least half of the fight scenes must contain large glass panes through which Seagal can noisily throw his victims. More often than not, Seagal knows his antagonist personally from their mutual work for the CIA. While Seagal has settled for a "peaceful" family life in the post-Cold War era, his antagonist wants to amass a personal fortune by exploiting contacts from the past. The antagonist gets personal by killing one of Seagal's family or close friends, and Seagal kills the antagonist and all his henchemen.
Just because Seagal's movies follow a formula doesn't mean you can make any immediate conclusions about the quality of the movie. This formula can work extremely well (Under Siege) or fail miserably (On Deadly Ground). Above the Law comes in toward the high end of the spectrum, and the difference in this case is in the details.
In Above the Law, Seagal plays Nico Toscani, a narcotics cop with the stereotypical Seagal background. He and his partner, Delores "Jax" Jackson (Pam Grier), make a big drug bust, but the CIA intercedes and has the perpetrators released. Nico decides to investigate.
Nico also finds out that his local Catholic church has taken in some South American refugees. Nico interviews some of these poor souls, and one of the refugees tells him about a plot by drug traffickers to kill a U.S. Senator. Nico decides to investigate.
Lo and behold, the two plot lines immediately converge, and Nico plays cat and mouse for the rest of the movie with former-CIA, drug-trafficking, evil henchemen and their boss, until Nico kills them all. In fact, I can't remember a Seagal movie where the bad guy gets taken away in handcuffs. Seagal's antagonists, more often than not, die a gruesome death befitting their awful deeds.
The Seagal movies that succeed also share some common characteristics. Many writers seem to assume that action movies have to sacrifice characterization and plot for the sake of action scenes. But even if the audience wants to see the main character kick butt and blow things up, they will like the movie a lot more if they can care about the character. Above the Law gives Nico character traits and relationships that make him worth caring about. Nico has a family and a good relationship with his partner. Showing a sensitive and caring side of Nico more easily engenders our interest in his well-being. Movies like On Deadly Ground failed because Seagal's character supposedly cared for the environment, but the script neglected to establish any human relationships or demonstrate that the character could do anything more than solve problems with violence.
Admittedly a formula movie, but one that works well within the formula and still provides a satisfying time for action fans.
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