A Must Have!
Summary
Under Siege remains one of Steven Seagal’s best films and this 4K is essential for fans as the quality is faultless with some wonderful special features. A highlight being Andrew Davis talking about working with Steven Seagal. This is great stuff and well worth adding to the collection.
Plot: Action icon Steven Seagal serves up his signature brand of bone-crunching justice in Under Siege, the ultimate 90s action spectacle from director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive), co-starring Tommy Lee Jones (Black Moon Rising) and Gary Busey (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) at their most unhinged.
When a gang of mercenaries hijack the USS Missouri during its farewell voyage, their plan is simple: steal the ship’s nuclear warheads and hold the world to ransom. But they’ve overlooked one tiny detail – the ship’s cook. Unfortunately for them, Casey Ryback (Seagal) isn’t just any cook… he’s a one-man army with a taste for mayhem.
Packed with explosions, knife fights, and more one-liners than you can count, Under Siege is a gloriously over-the-top blast of 1990s action, now available in a stunning new director-approved restoration that packs a hell of a punch!
Review: My Arrow 4K of Under Siege arrived yesterday, so I thought it was time to spruce up my old review of the film.
Like Outlaw Vern states in his hugely entertaining book Seagalogy, Under Siege marked the beginning of the Silver era of Seagal. Marked for Death, Above the Law, etc are considered the Golden era when this movies were genuinely entertaining.
Under Siege is one of the many Die Hard clones that surfaced in the 90’s but it’s also one of the best; it was Seagal’s first foray into big budget action and he makes the transition well.
He plays Casey Ryback; a Chef with attitude aboard a Navy ship, but as with every good action hero he has a problem with authority and rarely shows any respect towards his superiors. This has him getting locked in a meat locker while terrorists take over the ship.
Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey are on villain duties and this is really their movie as they both chew the scenery to perfection. Watching Gary Busey in drag is definitely a highlight and remains one of the funniest scenes of the movie.
Tommy Lee Jones is always worth watching and Strannix is one of his best characters to date; he’s completely unhinged and I like how we never actually find out how he and Ryback know each other.
Under Siege is well paced with plenty of action and Ryback dispatches bad guys without breaking a sweat; he does get injured though which is rare which makes him mildly more human than usual.
We all know the best scene of the movie features Erika Eleniak… you know, the scene where she saves Ryback’s life? What scene were you thinking about? Her character Jordan starts off as a crying damsel in distress, but it doesn’t take long for her to find her courage and help Ryback to save the day.
Gary Chang provides the score and it’s suitably militaristic and exciting although admittedly I do prefer the score to the second movie as it’s more memorable.
Arrow as you’d expect did not disappoint with this 4K and the film looks and sounds fantastic; a lot of it takes place at night and it’s always clear with the darker scenes still looking great with minimal grain.
4K ULTRA HD LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
• Brand new 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative by Arrow Films approved by director Andrew Davis
• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Original lossless stereo audio and a brand new Dolby Atmos mix
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new audio commentary with director Andrew Davis and writer J.F. Lawton
• I’m on a Boat (With a Bomb), a newly filmed interview with director Andrew Davis
• One of the Guys, a newly filmed interview with actor Erika Eleniak
• A Tight Ship, a newly filmed interview with actor Damian Chapa
• The Introvision Files, a newly filmed interview with visual effects supervisor William Mesa
• Theatrical trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring two original artwork options
• Collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by Vern and a serial fiction by Martyn Pedler
The new interviews are excellent with the best one being director Andrew Davis who is wonderfully honest, discussing Steven Seagal’s arrogance and how he had changed since working with him on Above the Law. He has some great stories and this alone makes this 4K worth picking up. Erika Eleniak also talks about how nervous she was making the movie but Gary Busey and Tommy Lee Jones were amazing with her and gave her flowers. Damian Chapa also goes into details about working on the film and the commentary from Andrew Davis is informative and entertaining.
Overall, Under Siege is one of Seagal’s best films with some great action scenes and scene stealing villains. Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey own this movie with their larger than life performances and the action is all so slick that the movies still holds up well. The 4K from Arrow is a must have with enjoyable special features and the film looks better than ever. Arrow, if you’re reading this can we please have Marked for Death next? Pretty please?