SYNOPSICS
Above the Law (1988) is a English,Spanish,Assyrian Neo-Aramaic movie. Andrew Davis has directed this movie. Steven Seagal,Pam Grier,Henry Silva,Ron Dean are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1988. Above the Law (1988) is considered one of the best Action,Crime,Drama,Mystery,Thriller movie in India and around the world.
Nico learned martial arts in Japan, and was in Vietnam for the CIA, and now is a cop in the vice squad of Chicago. A junkie tells him about a big drug deal; However it turns out that the deal was about C4 explosives and that one of the parties was the CIA. Nico gets ordered to keep out of it, but can't imagine why the CIA would sell C4, so he investigates further. While risking his and his young family's life, he discovers that the CIA tries to cover it's connections to drug dealers in Middle America and wouldn't even stop from murder.
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Above the Law (1988) Reviews
Seagal goes above the law in "Above the Law"
Before he was "out for justice" on the mean Brooklyn streets and "under siege" by terrorists on a U.S. Navy battleship, he was above the law. Yes, I'm talking about that quick-fisted, pony-tailed martial arts hero Steven Seagal and his 1988 starring debut "Above the Law." Though his career hasn't panned out the way this debut promised, it is nonetheless a dynamic introduction to the mysterious world of Seagal, who plays Nico Toscani, a Chicago cop who as a child took up the Japanese martial art of Aikido and was some time later recruited by the CIA for covert operations in Vietnam. After witnessing the cruel torture and executions of some Vietnamese hostages by ruthless CIA chemical interrogator Zagon (Henry Silva) and his cohorts, who also seem in on a secret drug running operation, he walks away from his career and retires to life as a cop on the streets of Chicago with wife Sara (Sharon Stone) and partner Jacks (Pam Grier). Things get dicey when two suspects collared in a recent drug bust are allowed to go free. The department silences concerns by announcing that the two men are part of a huge undercover investigation. But Nico doesn't buy it. He suspects that something bigger is underway, and he's right. It isn't long before he stumbles onto a covert drug running operation right under his nose that involves his old CIA buddies, a local drug kingpin, some corrupt FBI officials and old nemesis Zagon, who is also involved in a political assassination plot. So Toscani, Jacks, and his Aikido fists of fury go to work on some really bad guys. Directed by Andrew Davis and co-produced by Seagal (who also shares a story credit), "Above the Law" promises a mean and gritty portrait of law enforcement with the magnetic screen presence of the charismatic (if not necessarily wooden) Seagal in the lead. The picture opens with some black & white home movie footage of Toscani and accompanying narration, showing us this mysterious man's history. Seagal, who became the first American to open an Aikido dojo in Japan and at the time held a sixth-degree black belt in the art, was a world-renowned security expert before he started appearing in the movies and snapping necks, bending limbs, and using his opponents' own momentum and strength against them. "Above the Law" does has some script problems, but it's balanced out by some rough & tumble action shoot-outs and nasty fights where Seagal throws his opponents into things and breaks and twists limbs 180 degrees in the opposite direction. But that is what his chosen sport Aikido does, as it employs joint locks, pins, and other methods meant to redirect and utilize an attacker's own strength and power against him. And Seagal does it perfectly. Is "Above the Law" a sensational debut for Steven Seagal? Certainly, at least for his loyalists. As a casual fan, he has certainly made better movies since then and improved his "acting" skills but what will always dazzle us are the nifty arm-twists and breaks that prove he is a master of his Aikido craft. 8/10
Excellent Debut of Steven Seagal
In Japan, the Sicilian martial arts expert Nicolo "Nico" Toscani (Steven Seagal) is recruited by the CIA Special Agent Nelson Fox (Chelcie Ross) to join the Special Operations Forces in the border of the Vietnam and Cambodia. In 1973, Nico witnesses the torturer Kurt Zagon (Henry Silva) interrogating prisoners of war and he is disgusted and quits the CIA, returning. Fifteen years later, Nico is married with a baby with his wife Sarah (Sharon Stone) and they live in the same house of his mother. Nico is a tough and incorruptible narcotics detective of the Chicago Police Department very close to his partner and friend Delores 'Jacks' Jackson (Pam Grier) and his friend Detective Lukich (Ron Dean). When Nico and Jacks investigate a drug traffic operation, they arrest the gang of the drug dealer Tony Salvano (Daniel Faraldo) but they find that they are smuggling the plastic explosive C4 instead. However there is an interference of the FBI and Salvano and his partner are released by FBI Agent Neeley (Nicholas Kusenko) and the detectives are forbidden of proceed with the investigation. But Nico does not stop and is suspended from the police force. But when there is an explosion in the church of his neighborhood and his friend and parish priest Joseph Gennaro (Joe V. Greco) is murdered, Nico chases Salvano and discovers a corruption ring that is planning to kill the American Senator Ernest Harrison (Joe D. Lauck) that is investigating the involvement of the CIA with drug traffic. "Above the Law" is the excellent debut of Steven Seagal in the cinema industry. When I saw this movie for the first time twenty-five years ago, I immediately became fan of this actor that used the style of Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood associated to great fight choreography and violence. Today I have seen it again on DVD and the story is still full of action and has not aged after all these years. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Nico Acima da Lei" ("Nico Above the Law")
Seagal is a martial arts hero in serious trouble...
Born in Palermo, Sicily and raised in Chicago, Nico Toscani (Steven Seagal) is a martial arts hero in serious trouble... When his eyes are about to be opened, he is recruited into the CIA by a crazy drunk guy named Nelson Fox... Toscani holds the record for having more relatives under federal indictment than any other cop in the city... He hates the cocaine lawyers and the bad weather, but he is a loving husband and a caring father with no sins to confess... Nico is a narcotics cop who can't swallow his pride... He smashes crack dealers' faces into their cocaine mirrors, and wiretaps bad guys' phones without asking for permission... He assaults his opponents in bars and starts putting them in orbit... Nico wants to be number one on the most wanted list... Toscani makes a big drug bust, and discovers some plans to kill a senator who can't be bought out... He stands against a psychopathic leader who have used his 'little beauties' many times to extract information... 'Above the Law' is the first Steven Seagal movie which reveals the chilling truth about a powerful institution always political, largely ineffective and frequently corrupt...
Cop, ex-CIA in Vietnam, repelled by torture and drug-running of agents runs into drugs and explosives and CIA in Chicago
People miss the strong political message in this first of Seagal's movies: the Amnesty movement sponsored by religious leaders in the US especially in the Catholic church that is hiding refugees from death squads in Central America has learned of a plot to assassinate a US Senator investigating CIA involvement in drug-running and torture and assassinations in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua. Seagall learns that the same people who were involved in drug-running and torture in Vietnam are behind plot to assassinate the Senator during a speech in Chicago sponsored by groups against US involvement in Central American civil wars. The open anti-war position and critique of US policy by an honest cop gets ignored as is the tie-in between mafia drug dealers and the CIA.
Seagal Unfairly Criticized As Actor
This was Steven Seagal's first movie and pretty much summed up the way his films were going to go: marital arts-crime stories with overly despicable villains and our hero saving the women by out-fighting everyone. Jean Van Damme and others followed with the same recipe which, by and large, has been pretty successful. Before I saw this, I had read national critics blasting Seagal's acting talents but that was unfair; he's not a bad actor. It was also a surprise to see Sharon Stone playing a nice role and without makeup! That certainly changed quickly with her Basic Instinct-type persona. It was fun to see Henry Silva again. As a kid growing up in the '50s and '60s, I used to see Silva on television a lot. He always played a bad guy, and played the part well....as he still does. Overall, a decent action flick but not one of Segal's more memorable films. He make a big upgrade with his next film, "Hard To Kill."