Name: Retro Film Review: Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)
Item: Under Siege 2: Dark Territory
Rating: 50
Author: @drax

(source: tmdb.org)

Following the disastrous directorial debut in On Deadly Ground, Steven Seagal became something of a whipping boy for film critics - man who simply couldn't expect to find any kind word about himself in reviews. The author of this review wasn't among those movie reviewers who gave up on Seagal after his 1994 disaster. It is truth that Seagal's ego more often than not doesn't match his abilities, but a decent filmmaker can put those limited abilities to good use. One of such examples is Geoff Murphy with his 1995 action film Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, sequel to Seagal's 1992 hit Under Siege.

In this film Seagal reprises the role of Casey Ryback, former Navy SEAL turned chef. He accompanies his 17-year old niece Sarah (played by Katherine Heigl) on a train trip from Denver to Los Angeles. Along the way, the train is taken over by the group of well trained gunmen led by vicious Penn (played by Everett McGill). The purpose of the raid is not to take hostages, but to provide moving headquarters for Travis Dane (played by Eric Bogosian), brilliant but occasionally demented scientist and former employee of federal government. Dane uses his knowledge against former employers by taking control of the super-secret orbital satellite, equipped with powerful weapon able to cause earthquakes on Earth's surface. Dane uses that weapon to threaten USA with the destruction of Eastern Seaboard. Since the train is moving, US authorities are unable to track Dane's location, so only one man can stop the evil scientist - Ryback, whose deadly skills are again going to be put for good use.

On certain levels Under Siege 2 is even better than its original. The villains in this film are less flamboyant and memorable than in Under Siege, but the plot is at least somewhat more realistic (it is easier to imagine terrorists taking over train than entire battleship). The setting is also more interesting – Colorado scenery provides much more eye-candy than the ocean. Finally, there is less need for character exposition here and Seagal have less reason to do what he can't do best (act) and more opportunity to do what he can do best (display martial arts). Thankfully, director Geoff Murphy knows how to use such opportunities and turn this into something more than another soulless variant of Die Hard - some of the action scenes are quite impressive, including finale, which is quite spectacular and breath-taking despite the usual Hollywood disregard for the laws of physics. The actors like Bogosian, McGill, Heigl are relatively good in their cliched roles (including Maurice Chestnut as train porter who becomes Ryback's sidekick), while the music by Basil Poledouris is also fine. In the end, Under Siege 2 could be recommended as solid two hours of entertainment. And this film also features a scene that could summarise Seagal's career and be used as his defence against the critics. After realising that the train is taken over by bad people and before using his combat skills to save the day, his character reminds himself and the audience: "This is what I'm trained for." You couldn't ask for anything more.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on November 18th 2002)