Back in the days there were very few shops that sold VHS’ where I lived. One man had monopoly with three stores and kept the prices unreasonably high for years. Still, the curious movie adventurer I was I frequently visited them, mostly the one named Cudrio. Apart from the prices and the greedy owner I remember they had some alluring and frightening films. The cover I picked up the most was Society. Looking at the back of that cover always promised me a world of demented terror impossible to fathom, at that point in time at least. It took about a decade before that film would find its way to my horror shelf. Society is demented fun, with excellent practical effects from the highly uneven director Brian Yuzna. The ending has a rare “what-the-fuck” quality to it. Those who have seen it know what I’m talking about.
But that’s not really the film in question. I took my bicycle down to buy a couple of movies one day. The movies chosen were Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, rated 18, and cop/dog buddy action comedy Top Dog starring Chuck Norris, rated 15. I had just turned 12 at that time. My longing for action was temporarily crushed at the counter. Clearly this kid wasn’t of the right age. However, they gave me the opportunity to call my father at work to verify that this was indeed okay. Apparently they had had a couple of cases with angry moms not appreciating what their kids had purchased. I hadn’t really asked him before about that, but was he really going to say no? Of course he didn’t and with Under Siege 2 and Top Dog in my backpack I headed home. It has been years since Top Dog crossed my retinas, but from memory it was decent, if rather routine, cop and canine with attitudes fare. Under Siege 2 on the other hand was a different beast. The cover made it look really cool to a 12 year old.
The Norwegian cover for Under Siege 2. The literal translation from Norwegian reads; "Hijacking in High Velocity". I was always fascinated by the "Action Collection" covers. Somehow it made the whole thing seem cooler.
At that point I hadn’t seen the first Under Siege flick, but that didn’t matter. We had an action film rated 18 and that was plenty. The first one was purchased on a Danish VHS about three months later.
Anyway, the first time I saw Under Siege 2 I was blown away. It was a fast-paced, slick and brutal action film. Steven Seagal as chef and top trained elite soldier Casey Ryback was the epitome of cool. That isn’t the case(y) today. Another exciting element was the setting, a moving train. I’ve always had a fascination with movies set on a train and it started, strangely enough, here. It’s a small setting, but with lots of possibilities! Everett McGill as the leading mercenary, Marcus Penn, was a mighty villain too. You know someone is badass if they use pepper spray to freshen their mouth! He also delivers a line that has ever since lingered in the back of my mind; “Assumptions is the mother of all fuck-ups!” I really think he was on to something! Assumptions have time and again led to mistakes, so he deserves credit for alerting me about this fact at such an early age. Years later I discovered the very same quote was actually used the previous year in the Australian drag queen comedy Priscilla: The Queen of the Desert. It doesn’t really change anything though. There are plenty of other great quotes as well. After the mercenaries, dressed as railroad men, stop the train the conductor walks off the train and asks what‘s going on. “Someone’s been shot. Who? You!” BANG! That’s some quality writing right there!
Under Siege 2 also marks Steven Seagal’s last great film (there were some duds before this one too though). No, I’m not counting his minor role in Executive Decision the following year, in case you were wondering. This was the last of his streak of brutal early 90s films. They were very unapologetically violent. The ruthlessness displayed in these films (and plenty other from the first half of the 90s) still makes me raise an eyebrow today. The primary example is a scene in Out for Justice (1991) where a stone cold William Forsythe drags a woman halfway through her car window and executes her at point blank range for honking the car horn at him. There is one quote acknowledging this; “He’s killing people like it was free!” It’s not pretty there or in Under Siege 2, but you’ll feel infinitely rewarded as Seagal moves his eyebrows just a tad when killing them.
In later years I have discovered why this was better than it really had any right to be. First off, director Geoff Murphy is the man responsible for one of my favorite 80s sci-fi films, The Quiet Earth. He has also been second-unit director on all three Lord of the Rings films. Second, it was co-written by Matt Reeves today better known as the director of Cloverfield and Let Me In.
Many movies have a tendency to become disappointments as you grow older (don’t watch the original Narina series again!), but with Under Siege 2 that is not the case. It simply never ceases to entertain me. I think this sequel is on par with the first one even though that one had Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Busey and a topless Erika Eleniak coming out of a cake, a frequently replayed scene, going for it. Seagal’s career isn’t the greatest anymore, to say the least, but back then he actually made some stuff well worth watching. Under Siege 2: Dark Territory was my introduction to his filmography and is part of the reason I still have a soft spot for the man with the iron face. Well done Mr. Seagal. Well done.
8/10 in case you were wondering.
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar