The Greatest Movies and Film Stars of the '90s
Actors : Steven Seagal, Michael Caine, Joan Chen, John C. McGinley, R. Lee Ermey
An Alaskan oil worker is left to die in the Arctic wilderness after threatening to go public about unsafe drilling practices. Ultimately, he plots his revenge after being rescued by a tribe of Eskimos.
Actors : Steven Seagal, Gary Busey, Tommy Lee Jones, Erika Eleniak, Damian Chapa
Steven Seagal can consider himself lucky if he ever makes a better movie than this one, which was appropriately dubbed "Die Hard on a battleship" when released in 1992. Seagal handles the heroic duties with his usual wooden efficiency, but the movie's greatest assets are a punchy script and the scene-stealing performances of Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey. The two play leaders of a terrorist group who take over the venerable battleship USS Missouri during its final commissioned voyage. They're crazed psychotics who seize control of the ship's nuclear arsenal, but they don't know that Seagal--as the ship's cook, no less--is a former Navy hero, lurking in the shadows and waiting to spoil their nefarious scheme. Director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive) helms the action with skillful style, and as the cheesecake stripper who proves handy with a hand grenade, Playboy Playmate-turned-actress Erika Eleniak gives Seagal another reason to strut his macho stuff. Under Siege is hormonal hokum for gun-happy viewers, but as action movies go, this one's a definite guilty pleasure. --Jeff Shannon
Actors : Steven Seagal, William Forsythe, Jerry Orbach, Jo Champa, Shareen Mitchell
Steven Seagal has always been an awkward action hero. Initially, he had a certain amount of credibility thanks to his nebulous association with secret government agencies and mastery of aikido, which helped to excuse his bad acting. But as a self-righteous action hero in the vein of Schwarzenegger and Stallone (which helps to explain his bad acting), Seagal fell into unintentional self-parody faster and more dramatically than either of his two predecessors. In Out for Justice, Seagal plays Gino Felino, a Brooklyn-born cop known and respected by everyone--both good and bad--in his neighborhood. The worst of the neighborhood baddies is Richie Madano (William Forsythe), a crack-smoking killer who murders his partner and terrorizes the neighborhood. Technically, Felino is a terrible cop--touching evidence at murder scenes, stealing evidence, intimidating witnesses--but only by breaking those rules can he bring in this horrible criminal. As his soon-to-be-ex-wife discovers, he does everything because he cares too much. Julianna Margulies (ER) has a small but thankless role as Richie's hooker girlfriend, and Gina Gershon (Face/Off, Bound) has an equally thankless role as Richie's foul-mouthed, bar-owning sister. The movie plays like a vanity piece for Seagal, and in that vein, it is fascinating to watch. --Andy Spletzer
