Above the Law

Steven Seagal’s debut, Above the Law follows tough-as-nails cop Nico Toscani (Seagal) as he’s drawn into a plot involving crooked FBI agents, a menacing drug kingpin, and a roomful of illegal aliens. There’s a lot going on within Above the Law and it’s ultimately clear that the overstuffed narrative contributes heavily to the movie’s eventual downfall, with the increasingly impenetrable storyline ensuring that one’s interest dwindles steadily as time progresses. (It certainly doesn’t help, either, that the film moves at a pace that’s often unreasonably deliberate.) Having said that, Above the Law unquestionably benefits from Seagal’s surprisingly strong turn as the incorruptible central character – with the actor delivering a sympathetic and nuanced performance that one wouldn’t have necessarily expected (ie Seagal’s work here is a far cry from the apathetic, mechanical nature of his recent output). It’s worth noting, too, that the movie boasts a number of impressively thrilling action sequences, as director Andrew Davis effectively exploits Seagal’s obvious fighting abilities on an ongoing basis – while also emphasizing a series of larger-than-life set pieces (including a car chase that climaxes with Nico strangling a goon while riding on top of the automobile). Such positive attributes are, in the end, unable to compensate for a hopelessly (and needlessly) complicated narrative, and it’s clear that Davis and company would’ve been well-advised to pare down some of the many story elements.

** out of ****