nims-1975 Like many of Seagals other earlier movies such as Hard To Kill, Marked For Death, Out For Justice, Under Siege, On Deadly Ground etc, Above The Law is an excellent Martial Arts Thriller which is also just amazing and enjoyable to watch. Steven Seagal was very handsome in his earlier movies with his hair nicely combed and with a ponytail tied back and dressed smartly it really made him look very nice. Above The Law has some excellent acting by Steven Seagal, Pam Grier, Sharon Stone and Henry Silva and is a film which has some Powerful and Excellent Martial Arts Fighting by Seagal, Non Stop Action, Shoot Outs, Car Chases etc. Van Dammes films such as Kickboxer, Bloodsport and, No Retreat No Surrender maybe very good but Seagals Earlier movies are much much better than his and Seagals fighting is much more Powerful.

crosbiemj One Steven's better movies, good action w/o over doing it. A very good cast, some good lines, and moved along nicely, a good pace. On a technical note, of older films that have had the audio track updated to DD 5.1, this is one of the best results I've heard. The dialog was very pronounced, not muffled like many are. And the music score was very noticeable. Unlike some of the old westerns which the music track level was so low, go almost go unnoticed.

OllieSuave-007 This is an action flick starring Steven Seagal, in his first motion picture appearance, as former Special Operations Vietnam vet Nico Toscani, who works as a Chicago cop who tries to expose those broiled in a CIA-involved illegal weapons trade.This movie only has a handful of action scenes, but the plot is still pretty suspenseful and fast-paced, from the cover-up angle involving the CIA to the assassination plot of a U.S. senator. The acting was fine for the most part, with villains you would love to hate. But, I thought Seagal's performance was a little emotionless and stoic, but his awesome martial arts skills and quick wit are entertaining to watch. I also enjoyed Pam Grier's character - Seagal's partner-in-crime Delores Jackson.Overall, it's not a bad action-flick - somewhat entertaining.Grade B-

Benjamin Cox Having given a couple of Steven Seagal film a right good kicking recently, I felt kinda bad for him and sought out this, his debut feature film. My reasons? Well, I figured that he would be in the prime of his youthful exuberance and not the overweight has-been he is today. He also has a respected action director in Andrew Davis (who would later helm "The Fugitive" and Seagal's best film "Under Siege") and Blaxploitation legend Pam Grier as co-star. The signs were good that this might not be a total bust along the lines of "Hard To Kill" or "Half Past Dead". Sure enough, it's a refreshing change to see Seagal do what he was meant to do as he looks and sounds every inch the legitimate tough guy. Sadly, the film's overly complicated plot tends to get in the way of the action and makes the film strangely dull. This is the first time in ages I've seen a film to fail my patented Nokia test (ending up playing games on my phone halfway through) which isn't a good sign for any action film.I'm gonna have to refer to other sources for this synopsis because I simply couldn't follow the film well enough but Seagal plays Nico Toscani, a Sicilian living in Chicago with his wife Sara (Sharon Stone) and infant daughter. Nico was recruited into the CIA by agent Nelson Fox (Chelcie Ross) during Vietnam but quit upon witnessing a torturer named Kurt Zagon (Henry Silva). Fifteen years later in Chicago, Nico works as a cop alongside his partner Delores Jackson (Grier) and arrest local drug pusher Tony Salvano (Daniel Faraldo). To Nico's disgust, the Feds get involved and release Salvano, citing an existing investigation and warn them both to stay away. But Nico doesn't take no for an answer and soon begins his own independent pursuit of Salvano and those involved, especially when his family are threatened by dark forces...There is also something else about immigrants living below a church and Nico's friend and pastor Father Gennaro (Joe V. Greco) being blown up during Mass. In truth, "Above The Law" crams in far too much story for a film of this type that I reckon if they stretched it out a bit, you could have had enough for a trilogy. Thankfully, they kept it to just the one. It's not that the film is a bad one as action movies go. Seagal moves much faster and smoother than he does in his later work and for once, he is impressive in the film. His acting style and delivery aren't so much of a distraction here as they usually are and he works well along with Grier and Stone (who are both criminally underused). But for a movie about a go-it-along cop taking the baddies down, it loses its focus by introducing more and more elements into the story. For example, is it not a huge coincidence that the very man who made Nico distrust the CIA is the same man who is behind the numerous schemes happening around Chicago? And when some two-bit hoodlums are thrown in with the CIA, the FBI and the Mafia were probably in there as well (he's Sicilian, remember?) then what you end up with is a series of shoot-outs and fist fights that don't really seem to have any connection or cohesion with the plot. At some point, I completely lost track of whether Fox was a good guy or a baddie. To be honest, I still don't know and I have the film's Wikipedia page open as I write."Above The Law" might not change the world but like most of Seagal's back catalogue, it is a macho and meaty action flick that satisfies the undemanding fan but leaves most viewers wanting something more. In his debut picture, Seagal acquits himself far better than he normally does - he even throws in a nod to the story about how he broke Sean Connery's arm on the set of "Never Say Never Again" as a stuntman. But "Above The Law" is a largely unmoving experience, devoid of any real charm or substance but at least it has some ambition behind it instead. It isn't as dumb as many of Seagal's later films ("Half Past Dead" is a prime example) which seem to specialise in rounding up anonymous thugs so Seagal can do his martial arts on them or shoot them dramatically. Sadly, it simply isn't as engaging as an action film can be - take "Die Hard" where you cared about McClane's struggle against Hans Gruber or "Terminator 2" when the future of civilisation was at stake. You neither care about the story (even if you could follow it) or the characters who merely perform to genre stereotypes (the partner who needs protecting, the "Godfather" impersonator at the family gathering, the nun who doesn't say much, etc). "Above The Law" might be a faintly boring cop film and compared to his later films, one of Seagal's better efforts but it certainly isn't above the standards we have today.