Tag Archives: Film

Here Are The Winners From The Critics Choice Awards

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Probably much like you, I skipped the Critics Choice Awards this year.  That said, here’s what won.  (Winners are listed in bold.)

BEST PICTURE
Bugonia
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Jay Kelly
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams
Wicked: For Good

BEST ACTOR
Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another
Joel Edgerton – Train Dreams
Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan – Sinners
Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent

BEST ACTRESS
Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another
Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value
Amanda Seyfried – The Testament of Ann Lee
Emma Stone – Bugonia

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Benicio del Toro – One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
Paul Mescal – Hamnet
Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
Adam Sandler – Jay Kelly
Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Elle Fanning – Sentimental Value
Ariana Grande – Wicked: For Good
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan – Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another

BEST YOUNG ACTOR / ACTRESS
Everett Blunck – The Plague
Miles Caton – Sinners
Cary Christopher – Weapons
Shannon Mahina Gorman – Rental Family
Jacobi Jupe – Hamnet
Nina Ye – Left-Handed Girl

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
Ryan Coogler – Sinners
Guillermo del Toro – Frankenstein
Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value
Chloé Zhao – Hamnet

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Noah Baumbach, Emily Mortimer – Jay Kelly
Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
Ryan Coogler – Sinners
Zach Cregger – Weapons
Eva Victor – Sorry, Baby
Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar – Train Dreams
Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don Mckellar, Jahye Lee – No Other Choice
Guillermo del Toro – Frankenstein
Will Tracy – Bugonia
Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell – Hamnet

BEST CASTING AND ENSEMBLE
Nina Gold – Hamnet
Douglas Aibel, Nina Gold – Jay Kelly
Jennifer Venditti – Marty Supreme
Cassandra Kulukundis – One Battle After Another
Francine Maisler – Sinners
Tiffany Little Canfield, Bernard Telsey – Wicked: For Good

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Claudio Miranda – F1
Dan Laustsen – Frankenstein
Łukasz Żal – Hamnet
Michael Bauman – One Battle After Another
Autumn Durald Arkapaw – Sinners
Adolpho Veloso – Train Dreams

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Kasra Farahani, Jille Azis – The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Tamara Deverell, Shane Vieau – Frankenstein
Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton – Hamnet
Jack Fisk, Adam Willis – Marty Supreme
Hannah Beachler, Monique Champagne – Sinners
Nathan Crowley, Lee Sandales – Wicked: For Good

BEST EDITING
Kirk Baxter – A House of Dynamite
Stephen Mirrione – F1
Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
Andy Jurgensen – One Battle After Another
Viridiana Lieberman – The Perfect Neighbor
Michael P. Shawver – Sinners

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Kate Hawley – Frankenstein
Malgosia Turzanska – Hamnet
Lindsay Pugh – Hedda
Colleen Atwood, Christine Cantella – Kiss of the Spider Woman
Ruth E. Carter – Sinners
Paul Tazewell – Wicked: For Good

BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP
Flora Moody, John Nolan – 28 Years Later
Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, Cliona Furey – Frankenstein
Siân Richards, Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine, Shunika Terry – Sinners
Kazu Hiro, Felix Fox, Mia Neal – The Smashing Machine
Leo Satkovich, Melizah Wheat, Jason Collins – Weapons
Frances Hannon, Mark Coulier, Laura Blount – Wicked: For Good

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, Daniel Barrett – Avatar: Fire And Ash
Ryan Tudhope, Nikeah Forde, Robert Harrington, Nicolas Chevallier, Eric Leven, Edward Price, Keith Dawson – F1
Dennis Berardi, Ayo Burgess, Ivan Busquets, José Granell – Frankenstein
Alex Wuttke, Ian Lowe, Jeff Sutherland, Kirstin Hall – Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter, Donnie Dean – Sinners
Stephane Ceretti, Enrico Damm, Stéphane Nazé, Guy Williams – Superman

BEST STUNT DESIGN
Stephen Dunlevy, Kyle Gardiner, Jackson Spidell, Jeremy Marinas, Jan Petřina, Domonkos Párdányi, Kinga Kósa-Gavalda – Ballerina
Gary Powell, Luciano Bacheta, Craig Dolby – F1
Wade Eastwood – Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Brian Machleit – One Battle After Another
Andy Gill – Sinners
Giedrius Nagys – Warfare

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Arco
Elio
In Your Dreams
KPop Demon Hunters
Little Amélie Or The Character Of Rain
Zootopia 2

BEST COMEDY
The Ballad of Wallis Island
Eternity
Friendship
The Naked Gun
The Phoenician Scheme
Splitsville

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Belén
It Was Just an Accident
Left-Handed Girl
No Other Choice
The Secret Agent
Sirāt

BEST SONG
“Drive” – Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Blake Slatkin – F1
“Golden” – Ejae, Mark Sonnenblick, Ido, 24, Teddy – KPop Demon Hunters
“I Lied to You” – Raphael Saadiq, Ludwig Göransson – Sinners
“Clothed by the Sun” – Daniel Blumberg – The Testament of Ann Lee
“Train Dreams” – Nick Cave, Bryce Dessner – Train Dreams
“The Girl in the Bubble” – Stephen Schwartz – Wicked: For Good

BEST SCORE
Hans Zimmer – F1
Alexandre Desplat – Frankenstein
Max Richter – Hamnet
Daniel Lopatin – Marty Supreme
Jonny Greenwood – One Battle After Another
Ludwig Göransson – Sinners

BEST SOUND
Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo, Juan Peralta, Gareth John – F1
Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern, Greg Chapman – Frankenstein
Jose Antonio Garcia, Christopher Scarabosio, Tony Villaflor – One Battle After Another
Chris Welcker, Benny Burtt, Brandon Proctor, Steve Boeddeker, Felipe Pacheco, David V. Butler – Sinners
Laia Casanovas – Sirāt
Mitch Low, Glenn Freemantle, Ben Barker, Howard Bargroff, Richard Spooner – Warfare

Here Are The 2025 Nominations of the Columbus Film Critics Association

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here are the 2025 nominations of the Columbus Film Critics Association.

Best Film
Bugonia
Frankenstein
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
No Other Choice
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams
Wake Up Dead Man
Weapons

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Ryan Coogler, Sinners
Rian Johnson, Wake Up Dead Man
Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident
Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme

Best Lead Performance
Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another
Joel Edgerton, Train Dreams
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon
Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another
Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent
Jesse Plemons, Bugonia
Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value
Emma Stone, Bugonia

Best Supporting Performance
Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value
Delroy Lindo, Sinners
Amy Madigan, Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners
Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
Adam Sandler, Jay Kelly
Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value
Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

Best Ensemble
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Wake Up Dead Man

Actor of the Year (For an Exemplary Body of Work)
Josh Brolin, The Running Man, Wake Up Dead Man, and Weapons
Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another and The Phoenician Scheme
Josh O’Connor, The History of Sound, The Mastermind, Rebuilding, and Wake Up Dead Man
Amanda Seyfried, The Housemaid and The Testament of Ann Lee
Emma Stone, Bugonia and Eddington

Breakthrough Film Artist
Odessa A’zion, Marty Supreme (Acting)
Miles Caton, Sinners (Acting)
Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another (Acting)
Carson Lund, Eephus (Directing and Screenwriting)
Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby (Acting, Directing, and Screenwriting)

Best Cinematography
Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Sinners
Michael Bauman, One Battle After Another
Dan Laustsen, Frankenstein
Claudio Miranda, F1
Adolpho Veloso, Train Dreams
Łukasz Żal, Hamnet

Best Film Editing
Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Andy Jurgensen, One Battle After Another
Stephen Mirrione, F1
Joe Murphy, Weapons
Michael P. Shawver, Sinners

Best Adapted Screenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, Train Dreams
Guillermo Del Toro, Frankenstein
Park Chan-Wook, Lee Kyoung-Mi, Don McKellar, and Jahye Lee, No Other Choice
Will Tracy, Bugonia
Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet

Best Original Screenplay
Ryan Coogler, Sinners
Zach Cregger, Weapons
Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident
Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein, Marty Supreme
Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value

Best Score
Alexandre Desplat, Frankenstein
Ludwig Göransson, Sinners
Jonny Greenwood, One Battle After Another
Daniel Lopatin, Marty Supreme
Max Richter, Hamnet

Best Documentary
Cover-Up
Orwell: 2+2=5
The Perfect Neighbor
Predators
Seeds

Best Foreign Language Film
It Was Just an Accident
No Other Choice
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sirât

Best Animated Film
Arco
The Bad Guys 2
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Predator: Killer of Killers
Zootopia 2

Frank Gabrenya Award for Best Comedy
The Baltimorons
Friendship
The Naked Gun
One of Them Days
Splitsville

Best Overlooked Film
The Ballad of Wallis Island
The Baltimorons
The Mastermind
Peter Hujar’s Day
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
Warfare

Brad reviews NOWHERE TO RUN (1993), starring Jean-Claude Van Damme!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

In NOWHERE TO RUN, Jean-Claude Van Damme plays Sam Gillen, a recently escaped convict who finds himself hiding on the outer edges of a rural farm owned by widowed mother Clydie Anderson (Rosanna Arquette) and her two children, Mookie and Bree (Kieran Culkin and Tiffany Taubman). Through a variety of circumstances, Sam learns that a ruthless developer, Franklin Hale (Joss Ackland), and his enforcer Mr. Dunston (Ted Levine), are trying to force all of the farmers to sell their land, using violence if necessary. When bad guys show up one night and threaten Clydie and her kids, Sam emerges from the woods and kicks their asses. Soon Sam finds himself fighting off more of Hale’s goons, romancing the beautiful widow and becoming more emotionally connected to the kids. With his past closing in, Sam decides to do whatever it takes to protect Clydie and her kids, even if that costs him his freedom.

The late 80’s and early 90’s saw the emergence of two new action stars… Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme. As a constant patron of our local video stores, I was there at the beginning of their careers and rented each of their new movies as they became available. Van Damme would establish himself in hit films like BLOODSPORT (1988), KICKBOXER (1989), DEATH WARRANT (1990) and UNIVERSAL SOLDIER (1992). As a big fan, I found myself in a movie theater in January of 1993 to watch his latest film, NOWHERE TO RUN. 

With a plot that resembles an old western… a man corrupted by wealth tries to force a widow off her land until a kind-hearted drifter steps in… NOWHERE TO RUN isn’t trying to reinvent the action genre, but it does give Van Damme a different kind of role. His Sam Gillen isn’t a wisecracking action hero or an unstoppable martial artist. Rather, he’s a flawed man with a particular set of skills who’s looking for redemption. I think Van Damme plays that soulful weariness better than most would give him credit for. Rosanna Arquette brings a credible presence to this genre film that helps sell the relationship between her and Van Damme, and the presence of her kids, also amps up the stakes and gives the story a genuine sense of vulnerability. When Sam decides to fight back, it’s not to protect himself, but to protect people worth standing up for. That motivation helps make the film more engaging than you might normally expect from an early 90’s action film. 

Speaking of action, NOWHERE TO RUN doesn’t feature a ton of action, but what it does have is effective. The early sequence where Van Damme’s character initially steps in to help the terrorized family is especially strong. There are several additional fight sequences and a prolonged motorcycle chase to provide some entertainment, but don’t expect wall-to-wall action or you could be disappointed. Joss Ackland (LETHAL WEAPON 2) and Ted Levine (THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS) are suitably nasty villains so we definitely want to see them get their comeuppances, and the film effectively obliges. I also like the fact that NOWHERE TO RUN is set out on a rural farm. This setting enhances its “western” feel, and I certainly appreciate that unique element for an action film of this era. 

At the end of the day, I enjoyed NOWHERE TO RUN when I watched it in the movie theater back in 1993, and I enjoyed it again today. It’s certainly not flashy and action packed like HARD TARGET or TIMECOP, but it is a solid, and surprisingly emotional Van Damme film. I recommend it. 

Scenes That I Love: Rambo Rages In Rambo: First Blood Part II

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s scene that I love comes from the 1985 film, Rambo: First Blood Part II.  In this scene, Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo — having survived being abandoned yet again in Vietnam — let’s the CIA knew exactly what he thinks about their operation.  As directed by George Pan Cosmatos and performed by Stallone, this scene is pure 80s action.

If you ever meet James Cameron, remind him that he wrote the script for this film and see how he reacts.

Here’s a scene that I love:

4 Shots from 4 Films: Special George Pan Cosmatos Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

Today, we celebrate the birth of director George Pan Cosmatos!  It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 George Pan Cosmatos Films

The Cassandra Crossing (1976, dir by George Pan Cosmatos, DP: Ennio Guarnieri)

Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985, dir by George Pan Cosmatos, DP: Jack Cardiff)

Cobra (1986, dir. George Pan Cosmatos, DP: Ric Waite)

Leviathan (1989, dir by George Pan Cosmatos, DP: Alex Thomson)

January Positivity: Tapestry (dir by Ken Kushner)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Oh, how I have struggled with Tapestry.

Seriously, I have lost track of the number of times that I’ve tried to watch 2019’s Tapestry, just to give up on it as I realized that it was next to impossible to actually follow the film’s story.  Earlier today, I tried to watch it again and I finally made it all the way to the end.

It’s the story of a family.  Ryan (Stephen Baldwin) is an executive who loses his job but doesn’t tell his wife about it.  She doesn’t find out until his former place of employment calls the house.  “He’s at work,” she says.  “Oh, he got another job already?” is the response.  Awkward!  What’s even more awkward is that Ryan is eventually hired back at his company but now he’s just a lowly salesman, with a boss who is several years younger than him.

Throughout this, we hear narration from his mother (Tina Louise) and the first part of the film is so haphazardly edited that I have to admit that I was frequently confused as to whether or not his mother was dead or alive.  Having now watched the entire film, I now know that his mother was alive but dying for the majority of the film, though her narration was still coming from beyond the grave.  Ryan’s father was played by Burt Young and I’ll say right now that I am a Burt Young fan.  I’ve seen the Rocky movies.  Burt Young’s performance as the always-drunk Paulie was always spot on, even if Paulie himself wasn’t always the most likable character.  That said, I also spent the first part of the movie confused as to whether or not the father was meant to be alive or not.  The film is so weirdly edited that it’s hard to keep track of who anyone is or where they are at any particular moment.

As Ryan, Stephen Baldwin mopes through the film, which I guess is understandable considering that his parents may or may not have been dead.  I mean, if it was confusing to me as a viewer, I can only imagine what it was like for him as a child.  It’s hard to really get a handle on who Ryan is supposed to be as a person or how we’re supposed to feel about him.  In many ways, he seems as depressed when his life is going well as he is when his life is falling apart.  Baldwin seems to be disconnected from the film, which is a polite way to say that he doesn’t really seem to be making much of an effort.

And that’s a shame because Stephen Baldwin is actually not a bad actor.  Back in the day, when he was actually invested in a role and making an effort, he was a consistently good actor, even if he did have a tendency to appear in terrible movies.  Like Alec, he could do both comedy and drama but he didn’t have Alec’s tendency to overact.  With this film, Stephen just glumly goes through the motions.  It’s a bit boring to watch.

That said, I will say that, now that I’ve actually seen it, the end of the film is effective.  Maybe it’s because I’ve lost both my parents but I did find the film’s final thought — that Ryan’s mother was heading to a better place even as she kept an eye on her family — to be a comforting one.

The National Society of Film Critics Honors One Battle After Another

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The National Society of Film Critics have announced their picks for the best of 2025.  And here they are:

Best Picture
Winner: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (57 points)
Runners-up: SINNERS (29 points) & THE SECRET AGENT (27 points)

Best Director
Winner: Paul Thomas Anderson, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (54 points)
Runners-up: Jafar Panahi, IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT (48 points) & Richard Linklater, BLUE MOON and NOUVELLE VAGUE (39 points)

Best Actress
Winner: Kathleen Chalfant, FAMILIAR TOUCH (45 points)
Runners-up: Rose Byrne, IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU (39 points) & Renate Reinsve, SENTIMENTAL VALUE (37 points)

Best Actor
Winner: Ethan Hawke, BLUE MOON (57 points)
Runners-up: Wagner Moura, THE SECRET AGENT (43 points) & Michael B. Jordan, SINNERS (36 points)

Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Teyana Taylor, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (56 points)
Runners-up: Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, SENTIMENTAL VALUE (47 points) & Wunmi Mosaku, SINNERS (41 points)

Best Supporting Actor
​Winner: Benicio del Toro, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (54 points)
Runners-up: Delroy Lindo, SINNERS (37 points) & Stellan Skarsgård, SENTIMENTAL VALUE (30 points)

Best Screenplay
Winner: Jafar Panahi, IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT (53 points)
Runners-up: Robert Kaplow, BLUE MOON (50 points) & Kleber Mendonça Filho, THE SECRET AGENT (40 points)

Best Cinematography
Winner: Autumn Durald Arkapaw, SINNERS (50 points)
Runners-up: Adolpho Veloso, TRAIN DREAMS (36 points) & Michael Bauman, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (29 points)

Best Nonfiction Film
Winner: MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I — LAST AIR IN MOSCOW (56 points)
Runners-up: THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR (22 points) & ORWELL: 2+2=5 (18 points)

Best Film Not In The English Language
Winner: THE SECRET AGENT (58 points)
Runners-up: IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT (57 points) & SENTIMENTAL VALUE (38 points)

Best Experimental Film: MORNING CIRCLE (Basma al-Sharif)

Film Heritage Award: The late Ken and Flo Jacobs, an irreplaceable, gravitational center of the American avant-garde, with a shared artistic sensibility that helped define experimental cinema.

Film Heritage Award: The Film Desk, for releasing key movies from all over the world, in 35mm prints and on home video, and publishing books that have enriched the public’s knowledge of cinema.

Film Heritage Award: Cinema Tropical, for its tireless efforts to distribute, program and promote Latin American cinema in the U.S.

Special Citation for a Film Awaiting U.S. Distribution: LANDMARKS (Lucrecia Martel)

Brad discusses THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960), directed by John Sturges!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Way back in 1960, Director John Sturges took Akira Kurosawa’s timeless classic SEVEN SAMURAI (1954) and translated its themes of honor and sacrifice into the American western THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. A classic on its own, the film stars such cinematic legends as Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Eli Wallach, and Charles Bronson. The storyline of a small group of men protecting a village from bandits proved to be an irresistible subject once again, especially the way it was handled here. Its theme music by Elmer Bernstein is one of the most instantly recognizable pieces of music in western cinema. It’s not easy translating a masterpiece without suffering quite negatively in comparison, and I’ve always admired how Sturges and his team of writers were able to create a film that both honored the source material while successfully transferring its content to a different part of the world. 

The lead performances of Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen anchor the film, and the screenplay masterfully takes the time to introduce us to each of the seven men and their myriad of reasons for taking on this mission. We care about the men because we get to know them. After Brynner and McQueen, we learn James Coburn is the most badass, Robert Vaughn is the most cowardly, Brad Dexter is the most money hungry, and Horst Buchholz is the most naive. Unsurprisingly, my favorite of the characters is Bernardo O’Reilly, played by Charles Bronson. In my opinion, the character of O’Reilly represents the heart of the story. His character is as tough as it gets and great with a gun, but it’s the way he cares for the actual people, especially the children of the village, that really stands out. It’s in these small moments and exchanges between Bronson and the kids, where the film seems to transcend the genre and become something even more reflective and meaningful. So when Bronson pays the ultimate price, it’s not for some grand purpose or ideal, it’s specifically for those kids, and the moment becomes powerful. For my money, Bronson gives one of the more moving turns in classic western cinema that remains under appreciated to this day. 

In 2025, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN celebrated its 65th anniversary, with many theaters around the country screening the film again. I was lucky enough to catch one of those screenings at a theater in downtown Little Rock. It was a wonderful night at the movies. Today, on what would have been his 116th Birthday, I celebrate Director John Sturges and this great film that has meant so much to me!

Brad reviews UNDER SIEGE (1992), starring Steven Seagal! 

Posted on by Bradley Crain

I’ve always liked UNDER SIEGE. After his sudden emergence with a series of brutal action films in the late 80’s and early 90’s, like ABOVE THE LAW and OUT FOR JUSTICE, Steven Seagal entered the world of high concept action filmmaking when he starred in this “Die Hard on a Battleship.” Seagal would not be the underdog cop taking on drug dealers, coked up mafia hitmen, or crooked cops here. Rather, he emerges as a full blown movie star in a big budget studio action film. Directed by Andrew Davis, whose credits include Chuck Norris’ best movie CODE OF SILENCE (1985), Seagal’s debut ABOVE THE LAW (1988) and the next year’s global smash THE FUGITIVE (1993), this is the movie where everything came together for Seagal. I watched UNDER SIEGE at the movie theater myself in 1992 and had a great time with it. I didn’t realize at the time that this would be his career peak, with a global box office of over $156 million. No other film would really even come close. 

Casey Ryback (Seagal) is a “cook” aboard the USS Missouri, a battleship that is scheduled to be decommissioned. He’s also a former badass Navy SEAL who was demoted after punching out his commanding officer when a mission in Panama had gone wrong. When a group of mercenaries led by ex–CIA operative William Strannix (Tommy Lee Jones) seize control of the ship under the guise of a birthday celebration, they overlook Ryback. In classic John McClane style, Ryback goes on to become a fly in their ointment, a monkey in their wrench, and a big-time pain in their asses! Moving through the narrow corridors of the ship, and with the assistance of Playboy Playmate Jordan Tate (Erika Eleniak), Ryback begins taking out mercenaries one by one. But will he be able to stop Strannix and his partner Krill (Gary Busey) from stealing the ship’s nuclear Tomahawks and preserve the safety and security of the world? I’ll give you one guess!

First and foremost, UNDER SIEGE is a damn good action movie. It definitely helps that a director as talented as Andrew Davis is calling the shots. His film delivers on the entertainment front, with lots of well staged shootouts, violent scenes of close quarter, hand-to-hand combat, and a cake emergence sequence that still makes my head spin! I think the battleship makes for a great “movie” setting for this type of action. With its concoction of narrow hallways, engine rooms, and mess halls, there’s all kinds of interesting places for fighting and killing. Back in 2007, I was lucky enough to take a tour of the USS Alabama battleship, the primary filming location for UNDER SIEGE, which only enhances my appreciation for the work done here. On the heels of his confident and charismatic performance in the prior year’s OUT FOR JUSTICE, this is Steven Seagal at his most watchable. He’s in peak physical condition, so he can believably kick all the ass that’s necessary for this kind of film, and he’s also likable in his role as the underestimated “cook.” He will never be mistaken for Bruce Willis, but Seagal is good here.

Great action movies will usually have great villains, and UNDER SIEGE is especially blessed in this area. Tommy Lee Jones goes way over-the-top, chewing on scenery like he’s at a Golden Corral buffet, turning Strannix into the type of irrational lunatic that I love in my early 90’s action movies. And looking back now, Gary Busey seems to do what he does best. His traitorous Commander Krill comes off as goofy, disgusting, and unstable. In other words, he’s perfect. Even though Seagal does smile more in this film, Jones and Busey do bring an energy to the movie that balances out Seagal’s more stoic character, providing the type of spark not often found in the star’s movies. 

At the end of the day, I rank UNDER SIEGE as my second favorite Steven Seagal film, slightly below my preference for the more down and dirty OUT FOR JUSTICE. What it lacks in grit is more than made up with entertainment value, strong performances, and action on a scale that the star’s future films would never rise to again. If I were put in a position where I could only recommend one Steven Seagal film to a person who’d never seen one of his movies before, I’d probably go with this one. It’s an excellent, mainstream 90’s action movie.