Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Comeuppance Reviews When a team of baddies led by the diabolical William Strannix (Jones) takes over a battleship, the USS Missouri, with the goal of stealing the Tomahawk missiles contained onboard, things don't look good for the crew of the ship or the stateside higher-ups. When a helicopter carrying SEAL Team 5 sent to save the ship doesn't make it, Strannix appears to be on the verge of accomplishing his mission. He just didn't count on one thing: Casey Ryback (Seagal). Ryback is the self-described "lowly, lowly cook" on the vessel, but the truth is that he's a highly-trained SEAL himself with more than enough know-how to singlehandedly bring down the evil plans of the bad guys. Tagging along with Ryback is Jordan Tate (Eleniak), Playboy's "Miss July '89" (which Eleniak was in real life as well). Hey, if you fall asleep in a giant cake you're supposed to pop out of, strange things happen. Will Ryback stop Strannix and his plans for world domination? You probably already know the answer... Under Siege is mainstream Hollywood action that even people who are not typically action movie fans have seen. It was wildly popular at the time, despite the fact that it's the first Seagal movie to break with the "Three Word Title" tradition. Seagal re-teamed with Above the Law (1988) director Davis - who also directed Chuck Norris in Code of Silence (1985) - and the results have that glossy, professional Hollywood sheen to it that even action movie "noobs" will find palatable. The fact that Davis's next film was The Fugitive (1993) makes sense; it's a natural extension of the groundwork laid down with Under Siege. Most of the street-level grit found in the early clutch of Seagal titles such as Out For Justice (1991) is missing here, presumably in a bid to garner a larger audience. It seems to have worked, even though Seagal's viewing public was already pretty darn huge at the time. While the movie does lose a bit of steam towards the end because it doesn't have to be as long as it is, all in all Under Siege is solid. It's nothing to go wild about, but it's like the USS Missouri itself: big, solidly built, steady, and professionally cared-for. To Under Siege's eternal credit, it's not a submarine slog, bogey slog, ship slog, or any other kind of slog, which it easily could have been. It's simply what we call a "DieHardInA" movie, which were everywhere in the 90's. It seemed every time you turned around, terrorist bad guys were taking over buildings, ships, nuclear plants, water treatment facilities, PathMarks, Waldenbookses, CompUSA's or any other kind of structure that holds human beings. For a more in-depth look at the 90's DieHardInA trend, please see our review of Sudden Death. In that case it was a hockey rink, in case anyone needed reminding. One of the main reasons Under Siege stays afloat (sorry) is the cast. First off, we have our old buddy Seagal, who is actually pretty likable here and you do root for him. He's backed up by the spunky Eleniak as his sidekick, and on the baddie side we have Tommy Lee Jones, who of course is excellent as the evil Strannix, and he has Gary Busey as his sidekick. Now that's a power-team if there ever was one. Colm Meaney as another bad guy adds color, as do other incidental characters played by familiar faces such as Bernie Casey, George Cheung, Nick Mancuso, Andy Romano, and Dale Dye, among many others. Interestingly, Tommy Lee Jones gets into a knife fight with Seagal in the climactic battle, and Jones also played a knife expert in The Hunted (2003), and those to date are the only two TLJ movies on Comeuppance. Overall, by our standards at least, the violence is relatively toned-down. Sure, Seagal tears somebody's throat out and shoves another guy into a circular saw, but somehow it all feels more muted than usual. Under Siege was perhaps the peak of Seagal's Hollywood career and is not bad by any means. It's a bit mainstream for our personal taste but if you're trying to get a non-action fan into action movies, this is a good and easy way to break them in to the genre.

Tracy Winters Stupid albeit entertaining military film about a collection of traitors whom attempt to procure an American naval vessel.Steve Seagal is not too bad as an ex-navy Seal who now holds the position of a cook on board the ship in question. When the gun-play erupts, not one of the many bad guys swarming around the deck and innards of the ship walks through the door at the right time to shoot Seagal in the back -- they only appear after Seagal has wasted somebody uninterrupted so he can turn around just in time for the next pigeon to enter the room and blow him away as well (just like Rambo and all those other cardboard action movie characters).For all its ineptitude, this movie remains a solid action flick. Actually, one of Seagal's best films (my personal favorite Seagal film, for what that's worth.... I'm not a die-hard Seagal fan).Don't forget to see Steve in 'On Deadly Ground' where he plays a peaceful ecology activist who has the audacity (and hypocrisy) to punch the crap out of a guy in a bar to the point where the guy is ready to drop dead, as well as Seagal, 'our hero', wearing animal skins and littering the Alaskan tundra with his cigarette butts.

Troy Schulz I don't like Steve Seagal. I honestly don't thing anybody really likes Steve Seagal. Most of his movies are pretty terrible and go direct-to-video. But to every rule there is an exception, and that exception is the 1992 action-thriller, Under Siege (aka Die Hard on a Battleship). Our story follows Casey Ryback (Seagal in one of his better performances) a cook on-board the soon-to-be-retired USS Missouri and ex-Navy SEAL (aren't they all?). Ryback remains a constant pain for the disliked Commander Krill (Gary Busey in full- on Busey mode), who in fact intends to hijack the ship alongside Strannix (Tommy Lee Jones, the best actor in the film) during the Captain's birthday party. Freeing himself from a meat locker (don't ask), Ryback and Miss July 1989 (Erika Eleniak) fight to free the ship from its captors. From the plot description I just gave, this probably sounds like a parody of action movies you would find on The Simpsons. And in many respects, it is. But the rather generic plot is handled well, fast-paced and with enough action to keep audiences satisfied. Director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, Holes) handles the many shootouts well, with smooth tracking shots through the ship's narrow corridors giving the action a sense of energy while remaining comprehensible. Busey and Jones' banter is a constant source of (mostly intentional) laughs, and Basil Poledouris' work on the score is excellent as always. One of the better Die Hard-knockoffs, I think its worth a rental.

utgard14 Rogue CIA operative William Strannix (Tommy Lee Jones) and his gang of mercenaries take over the battleship USS Missouri with inside help from batshit crazy Navy officer Krill (Gary Busey). At first things are going pretty smoothly for them but it turns out they forgot one little thing: the ship's cook, former Navy SEAL Casey Ryback (Steven Seagal). Watch Ryback Die Hard it up and take out the bad guys one by one, leading to the inevitable final fight with Strannix for the fate of the world...or something like that.Awesome actioner with a wonderful cast. Steven Seagal's best and most polished movie. When you have Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey as villains, the script pretty much writes itself. Both are terrific with colorful performances like you might expect. Seagal does his usual stuff, which is probably hit or miss with most people. I actually like his early movies so I can't complain. Special mention to beautiful Erika Eleniak, who has probably her best film role in this. She's a comedic sidekick character and is quite good at it. She also has a brief topless scene, which hurt absolutely nothing. It's a fun movie. One of the few Seagal movies that can be enjoyed on its merits without the slightest hint of irony.