NICO (ABOVE THE LAW) A Film Review Copyright Dragan Antulov 1999
When first Steven Seagal movies appeared in former Yugoslavia, local video distributors didn't look very inventive in marketing them. HARD TO KILL, MARKED FOR DEATH and OUT FOR JUSTICE were distributed as NICO 2, NICO 3 and NICO 4 - presumably as sequels to the first Seagal movie, NICO (ABOVE THE LAW). Fact that Seagal had played different characters in each of the films, and that the plot and characters actually hadn't had anything in common, didn't seem to bother local (mostly pirate) distributors. For die-hard Seagal anti-fans (and they seem to be more vocal than Seagal fans) that could be the ultimate proof of Seagal's limited acting skills and his inability to be anything more than mediocre star of formulaic action films indistinguishable from each other. On the other hand, Seagal's fans might take this example as a proof that Seagal in his debut as an actor and producer, directed in 1988 by Andrew Davis, actually made very good and lasting impression.
Protagonist of this film is Nico Toscani (played by Steven Seagal), son of Sicilian immigrants who went to Japan to study martial arts. His talents brought the attention of CIA, which recruited him and sent him to take part in some covert operations on Vietnamese-Cambodian border in 1973. There he became disgusted with his superiors like Zagon (played by Henry Silva), who used war as an opportunity to engage into lucrative drug trade. Fifteen years after leaving the Agency, Nico works as Chicago police detective and one day finds out about major drug deal that involves Salvadorian drug lord Salvano (played by Daniel Faraldo). Nico and his partner, female detective Jax (played by Pam Grier), manage to arrest Salvano, but the drug lord is immediately released at the request of high Federal officials. Not listening to the orders to back off, Nico begins his own investigation that would link Salvano and his old pals from CIA.
For many people, NICO is the best Seagal film. It might be arguable whether it is the best Seagal film or not, but NICO still has all important Seagal trademarks. Luckily, Seagal's lack of skills in scriptwriting and acting is compensated. We might disregard Seagal's wooden acting when in action scenes that feature Seagal using his superb fighting skills and doing most of his own stunts. Sometimes preposterous elements of the plot (Nico just "bails out" after being witness to the dirtiest possible CIA covert operation; spectacular, but definitely unrealistic assassination attempts etc.) are contrasted with the realistic atmosphere. Chicago-born director and script co- writer Andrew Davis uses his hometown locations and local acting talents with great success. Some of the supporting actors are great, like former blaxploitation star Pam Grier, while some, like Sharon Stone in rather thankless role of Nico's wife, show even less talent than Seagal himself. What distinguishes this film from the multitude of formulaic 1980s action films is the political message, more in line with the writings of Noam Chomsky than with the speeches of Ronald Reagan. CIA and, indirectly US government as a whole, is empowered with huge powers, which, unchecked because of "national security" considerations, might prove to be the ultimate threat to American democracy and world peace, much greater than any "evil empires" out there. This message is explicitly delivered to the audience through Seagal's sermon, another of his trademarks. This message might look somewhat dated now, after the end of Cold War, when USA lost motivation to be engaged into dirty little wars in Central America. However, even those who don't care much about political messages in the movies might really enjoy NICO as flawed, yet still entertaining example of an action genre.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
Review written on December 27th 1999
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax Fido: 2:381/100 E-mail: dragan.antulov@st.tel.hr E-mail: drax@purger.com E-mail: dragan.antulov@altbbs.fido.hr
Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in Croatian http://film.purger.com
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