OllieSuave-007 This is an action flick starring Steven Seagal, in his first motion picture appearance, as former Special Operations Vietnam vet Nico Toscani, who works as a Chicago cop who tries to expose those broiled in a CIA-involved illegal weapons trade.This movie only has a handful of action scenes, but the plot is still pretty suspenseful and fast-paced, from the cover-up angle involving the CIA to the assassination plot of a U.S. senator. The acting was fine for the most part, with villains you would love to hate. But, I thought Seagal's performance was a little emotionless and stoic, but his awesome martial arts skills and quick wit are entertaining to watch. I also enjoyed Pam Grier's character - Seagal's partner-in-crime Delores Jackson.Overall, it's not a bad action-flick - somewhat entertaining.Grade B-

jadavix "Above the Law" is a tedious action movie with too much plot and not even one memorable set piece.This was Seagal's first movie, and audiences must have lapped it up. Perhaps they were sick of Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Norris. The difference for me between Seagal and the other action movie heroes, aside from the fact that his movies always seemed grittier and low-rent, is the cruelty. You don't want to watch Seagal beat bad guys up. You can feel bones breaking; his scenes make you wince."Above the Law" could have had a great bad guy. He is, after all, played by Henry Silva. He doesn't get nearly enough screen time. We are distracted by a church keeping Central American refugees in its basement, and by drug dealers who want to assassinate some guy, and FBI ages who want to help them. This is all somehow related to the Seagal character's experience in Vietnam, where he first met Silva's evil doctor.It doesn't make much sense, but it's impossible to care.

blazesnakes9 When it comes to action stars, they are at first, calm and collected in some scenes in an action movie. Some of those action stars tend to show off their skills like martial arts. But even though they may have that gift of turning the audience with their screen presence, we can sometimes forget that they are playing an character. A character who is essential and important to the movie.In Above the Law, Steven Seagal is the star of the movie. However, this is his first one. Seagal plays a Chicago cop who was recruited by the CIA in 1969 in Japan. In 1973, he was sent to Vietnam and while there, he witnesses a brutal torture of a Cambodian resident under the spell of a vicious man, (Henry Silva). Seagal's friend advises him to leave Vietnam and go home. 15 years later, Seagal is a Chicago policeman, working with a partner, (Pam Grier), who is retiring in a couple of months. When he learns that a major shipment is going down in Chicago, Seagal's character, Nico Toscani, finds out a cache of explosives. Things get worse after that. Toscani father's church is blown up and it's up to him to find out who is responsible for the bombing. This leads Seagal through a change of pace as he breaks the rule and risks his entire police career by trying to rights the wrongs.Seagal does an impressive job of playing an main character who is believable. In some scenes, he knows how to act calm and play it straight. When it comes tot he action scenes, Seagal knows how to show off his martial arts skills. Most action actors tend to lost their character by putting too much emphasis on their skills. But not Seagal. He may be different than Charles Bronson or Clint Eastwood, but you got to give him credit for what does best. It's a shame that he wouldn't repeat the same thing twice because after he starred in Above the Law, Seagal starred in another film called Hard to Kill and Under Siege. His career then started to take a turn for the worse when he decided to drop out of Hollywood and starred in a number of bad action movies. Those ween't really worthy of his career, but Above the Law certainly shows what Seagal is meant on the big screen.The supporting cast is also very good. Pam Grier, who was also a major star in the 1970's is very good and sort of surprising to see her starred along aside Seagal. Grier is very convincing as Seagal's partner. She is noticing just how his behavior is getting in the way of his police appearance. The movie was directed by Andrew Davis, who also directed Code of Silence, which is, perhaps, the best Chuck Norris movie ever made. Davis certainly knows how to make a city story interesting. He photographed Chicago very clearly and very skillfully. When it comes the action scenes in this movie, Davis knows how to step back and let Seagal perform his fighting skills, which is pretty impressive. After he made Above the Law, Andrew Davis directed Seagal again in the 1992 action thriller, Under Siege. According to my perspective, I believe that with the teaming of Seagal and Davis being strong, I think that with the tools they have to make a decent action picture, they certainly do know how to make them exciting, not nauseating. It's rare to find a bonding between actor and director, especially in the action genre. Most action directors now don't really work together to make scenes seem exciting.With the exception of Seagal's performance, Above the Law has a plot that is sort of complicated if you follow everything very carefully. But as an action movie, it is effective even when Seagal is on the big screen. This movie proves that he can act in character and even, if I dare to say so, out of character. He is that good. ★★★ 3 stars.

LeonLouisRicci One of Steven Seagal's best Movies was this debut and it had Critics and Action Fan's buzzing for good reason. It was all here in this Cop/Mob/CIA Film that pulled few punches and was as Plot rich as these Flicks get.Bad guys can make a Movie and here we have Zagon. From the beginning he is presented as a Masochistic Psychopath that is on the Government's Black ops payroll. He is a drug dealer, needle wielding, Above the Law, Mega-Criminal that will be the Heroes biggest Fish-Fry.Segal is a lean, mean (but sensitive), and relentless purveyor of pure here and he is charismatic on screen announcing that he will be a force to reckon. This is in his Top-5 for sure with more than competent Direction from Andy Davis and the Movie looks great. The Action never stops and is helped along with a strong, if maybe too full, Script that raised the bar for the other Martial Arts/Action Stars.After this one Seagal never looked back and is still making some instantly forgettable and slightly entertaining DTV Movies to this day. Recently he showed up in a strong Cameo in the Robert Rodriguez Funfest, Machete (2010).