Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)

Director: Geoff Murphy

Cast: Steven Seagal, Katherine Heigl, Eric Bogosian, Everett McGill, Morris Chestnut

Country: United States

Rating: R

Run Time: 100 minutes

Seagal was on top of the world with 1992's Under Siege. Both his most financially and critically successful film, Under Siege helped catapult Seagal to "A" list action stardom. Unlike most action stars, Seagal chose to follow up his typical blockbuster with a not so typical environmental action film titled On Deadly Ground. Dubbed "the Seagliest of the Seagal films", On Deadly Ground was a flop for both critics and general audiences. It seemed that audiences just wanted to see some more straightforward Seagal action without any of his own personal environmental themes and agendas getting in the way of the narrative (I have not seen the film so I cannot express my opinion). Therefore, Seagal came back to typical blockbuster action filmmaking with Under Siege 2: Dark Territory! 

The scowl of death.

Under Siege 2 plops Casey in yet another "Die Hard" situation but on a train instead of a ship. The film starts by showing us that some satellite that can shoot lasers has been completed and fully weaponized. The movie than jumps to Casey's story (yeah, who cares about some laser). His brother recently passed away and now he has to take a train to the funeral. He also has to reconcile with his niece (a young Katherine Heigl) on the train too. However, there isn't much time for reconciliation because a butt load of terrorists led by Travis Dane (Eric Bogosian) and Penn (Everett McGill) take over the train as easy as pie. Their reasons: they wish to get the pass codes for that space laser from two of the train's passengers and also want to use the train as their own personal base. The terrorists start taking money from various people around the globe in exchange for lasering whatever they want. Even though this sounds like an easy way to make money, they don't realize that Casey Ryback is on that train! The terrorists stand no chance as Seagal is once again "under siege" and as awesome as ever.

I was kind of harsh on the first Under Siege and said that it was a suspense-less Die Hard rip off. After having watched how lousy Die Hard 2 was in the freakin' series that started it all, I realized that the Under Siege films aren't as bad as I thought they were. I guess you could say I kind of loosened up for this film and had a bit more fun with it. It's also just more fun regardless of my realization. The film takes place on a train and makes for more exciting and unique opportunities for action, the bad guys control a laser in space from the train, and all of the villain actors look like they are having a blast. The plot is so absurd and the villains are so over the top that I couldn't help but embrace the film's silliness. Seagal's bloody trademark action also helps make the film that much more entertaining.

Katherine Heigl had to start somewhere.

One of my favorite things about this film was its fun setting. A double decker train (if that's even a word) makes for a great action film. Seagal gets to climb on the outside of it, kick people out of doors, and even make use of the bar's ingredients for a home made bomb. It just doesn't get any better than that. One of my favorite stunts involves Casey Ryback getting separated from the train. In order to get back on, he finds a Jeep and drives the thing on a dirt road above the train. He aims the car at the train, leaps out, and rolls down the hill as the Jeep flies over the train. Seagal than does one final jump on to the train and bam! Easy as pie. But in all seriousness, I think that we need more action films set entirely on trains. The only other films I think of off of the top of my head that take place on trains are horror films: Terror Train and Snakes on a Train. And no I have not seen Snakes on a Train but I do know about it.

As soon as I popped in this film, I was immediately taken aback by how good the score was. I did not remember any of the music in the original Under Siege being any good. But this film's score was surprisingly very good! I think being composed by Basil Poledouris (RoboCop, Conan the Barbarian, Starship Troopers) is always a big help. I just wanted to point this out though because I was not expecting a Seagal film to have a memorable film score.

The filmmakers were clearly having a lot of fun in the action department with this film. My favorite kill occurs when Seagal dumps lighter fluid down a staircase. When a terrorist runs down the staircase, Seagal blasts the guy with a flare gun! He falls down onto the lighter fluid and bursts into flames! But Seagal isn't finished with that guy yet. Seagal than kicks the dude out the door and off of the train to his death! Another awesome stunt occurs when Seagal breaks a dude's neck and than tosses him off of the train right into a wooden out house! It's an awesome stunt done completely with practical effects and a stuntman. They don't get better than that if you ask me.

"Assumption is the mother of all f*** ups."

I think I liked the villains in this film far more than the first film. While the actors aren't as well known as Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey, they both match and surpass each of those actors' craziness. Bogosian chews the scenery up like a thick piece of beef jerky. He clearly had the time of his life with this role and makes for an entertaining villain. Everett McGill is great as the memorable right hand man Penn. He is built up the entire picture as an unstoppable villain who wants to kill Casey Ryback more than anything for messing up their plan. We eventually get the sweet face off between the two near the end of the film. While I wasn't crazy in love with their fight (it contains corny sped up footage), the build up was excellent and Poledouris' music brought it all home for me.

Katherine Heigl isn't half bad as Ryback's niece. She's no Ellen Ripley, but she's not bad. The worst character in the whole film is Bobby the porter (Morris Chestnut). Man, talk about an annoying character! Bobby is a cocky train porter who gets roped up into the action with Seagal. He spends the whole movie shouting, "Aw man I don't wanna die!" or "Hell yeah, I've got a gun!" He even kills like three or four people in the movie! This is a guy who has no training and yet he kills professionally trained terrorists. Sigh. 

The great Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad) also graces us with his presence for a few moments. It's worth mentioning that in one of the final Breaking Bad episodes, "Freight", Jonathan Banks's character helps Walt steal liquid from a train in the desert. The episode was originally titled "Dark Territory" as a reference to this film where Jonathan Banks also stops a train. What an awesome action movie reference, am I right?!

"Nobody beats me in the kitchen!"

Under Siege 2 is easily one of the most dated action films I have ever watched. And that's not just because Steven Seagal is the star of a multi-million dollar blockbuster picture, oh no. It's because of the terrible green screen effects. I'm sorry, but any time a character stands in front of an open door or a window, the background is obviously a green screen. It's a shame because there is some awesome practical explosions and model work here too that shows why the 90's was so great. But these effect shots are painfully obvious. They pulled me right out of the movie whenever they popped up.

I really loved a lot of the little touches they put into this film. My favorite one is Casey's big reveal. He steps out of a car and whips around to the sound of a score spike. I wish I could have been in the theater back in 1995 to see audiences shout, "Yeah! Casey!" I also love that we get to see Casey cook down in the train's kitchen. Man, this cook cannot get away from a kitchen for the life of him! Casey even mentions that he is writing a memoir while on the train. The villains eventually get ahold of it and we the audience see that the first chapter is titled: "Don't be a hero." I don't know what's up with that title because Casey is the definition of an average person turned super hero.

Check out that Seagal kick on top of the train!

The only thing I have to say is...where is Under Siege 3?! I would love to see Casey Ryback defend another form of transportation from evil terrorists. But alas, Seagal is most likely never going to return to this character. Unlike most action stars, Seagal doesn't care about relying on old characters to revive his career. It seems that reviving the character of Casey Ryback in Under Siege 2 was a one time thing for Seagal. I'm certain that if he had made an Under Siege 3 that he would have landed big box office dollars. Under Siege 2 was made for $60 million and still made $100 million even after On Deadly Ground flopped hard.

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory is dumb fun at its finest. Seagal is really entertaining as the lead here and I love that he wears all black. Casey Ryback is an awesome action character and it's a shame that he only starred in two films. The villains in this flick are highly entertaining too.  The annoying porter character and the lousy green screen shots might distance some people from this film entirely. However, I think that Under Siege 2 is a solid sequel that does not go bigger or crazier than the first. I would argue that the film is on an equal playing field with the first film even though they both take place in completely different settings.

Rating: 7/10 - A solid sequel that successfully replicates the first film's formula.

Franchise:

Under Siege (dir. Andrew Davis, 1992)

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (dir. Geoff Murphy, 1995)