Die Hard on a battleship, Steven Segal starrer Under Siege really wanted to be taken seriously as a thriller first and foremost, and a fun action film second. The sequel, Under Siege 2 Dark Territory, has made the conscious decision to swap those priorities around. So the more serious tone od Andrew Davis's original is supplanted by the hyper bullshit tone of Geoff Murphy's follow up...and all the better for it.
Setting aside that nutters Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey are absent for this film (as well as Erika Eleniak's boobies), Under Siege 2 is better in nearly every way apart from it's setting. While the mundane interior of a trans-continental passenger train is no match for the cooler battleship/on the ocean locations there's much to recommend. Basil Poledouris's epic score perfectly compliments the old fashioned, heroic bullshit on display, the photography is richer than the blandness of the first film, the action more immediate and more striking, the James Bond plot far dumber and so more in keeping with the more fun tone, and the supporting cast is great. Young Katherine Heigl shows star quality in this early role, Brenda Bakke (so lusted over in Hot Shot Deux) oozes sex appeal, Eric Bogosian is memorable as the cocky, brainiac villain and his crew are diverse enough to populate a Joss Whedon ensemble show about mercs. Leader of the pack is Everett McGill as Bogosian's right hand man; stern, hard, and with a white as snow buzz cut he makes a strong adversary for the inevitably invincible Segal.
This is of course Steven Segal's show and he has seemingly insisted that the script be tailored to his unique brand of bullshit by having him referred to as a hero at every opportunity, bragging about bullets wounds being 'nothing', making every character love him despite his uncharismatic, grumpy exterior and beating bad guys to a pulp without breaking a sweat. Add to that some iconic one liners, "assumption is the mother of all fuck ups" / "Who the fuck is Casey Fucking Ryback!?" and you've got yourself some big budget action bullshit of the highest magnitude. Lap it up.
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