UNDER SIEGE and Other Reviews
A film review by Michael John Legeros
Copyright 1995 Michael John Legeros
Contents ========
- UNDER SIEGE 2 - THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD - NINE MONTHS - SWIMMING WITH SHARKS
UNDER SIEGE 2: DARK TERRITORY =============================
(WB) Directed by Geoff Murphy Written by Richard Hatem & Matt Reeves Cast Steven Seagal, Eric Bogosian, Katherine Heigl, Morris Chestnut, Everett McGill MPAA Rating "R" (presumably for language and violence) Reviewed at General Cinemas at Pleasant Valley, Raleigh (15JUL95)
==
This bastard son of DIE HARD--and there are so very *many* of them!--has a playful awfulness that's missing from the other summer blockbusters. Master thespian and martial-arts expert Steven Seagal returns to the role of Casey Ryback, the former Navy SEAL turned civilian chef. This time, he's taking a train ride through the Rockies. Why? Because he doesn't want to fly, or something like that. (His parents just died in a plane crash. Or was it his brother? Who can tell?)
Along for the trip is his pretty niece (Katherine Heigl), who gets to spar with her uncle for all of fifteen minutes before she and the rest of the passengers are taken into custody by a band of terrorists. They chose this train because it's there, and because it's such a great way to transport a satellite uplink that will let Eric Bogosian (as the villain, if you can buy *that* one!) control a satellite with truly devastating power. Scary.
Meanwhile, Ryback is hiding in one of the compartments. He's a master of guns, knives, and a mysterious form of yoga that can hold all facial muscles immobile, even during dramatic close-ups. Like UNDER SIEGE, PASSENGER 57, DIE HARD 2, and all the rest of those movies, our hero spends the duration of the film slowly staking the bad guys while trying not to fall in/out/onto something. Of course, Bruce Willis never had to undergo the humiliation of falling off a train ala Gene Wilder in THE SILVER STREAK. Luckily, these bad guys are really not-so-bad guys. They actually back the train up to get him!
Grade: D+ (delightful)
THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD ==========================
Director Frank Oz (LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS) and screenwriter Melissa Mathison (E.T.) adapt the Lynne Reid Banks's children's classic to pleasant effect. The story of a young boy who gets to play dice with the universe doesn't really go anywhere, but the actors are appealing and the FX are great. (Anyone else see the resemblance between Litefoot and Keanu Reeves??) Certainly it's a better family film than either POCAHONTAS or THE MIGHTY MARVEL MORPHIN' MUTANT TEENAGE NINJA POWER RANGERS MOVIE.
Grade: B
NINE MONTHS ===========
Director Chris Columbus continues to experiment with tone, trying his hardest to juxtapose sentiment and slapstick the way he did so well in HOME ALONE. He partially succeeded with his last film, the stuffy MRS. DOUBTFIRE. Here, he fails. The characters in this remake of the French farce NEUF MOIS need a more intimate approach than what's attempted here. (In fact, the film's best joke is a throwaway--the characters race past a marquee that reads HOME ALONE VII.)
The cast is good, though, and they'll survive to film another day. And nobody does reticence quite like Hugh Grant, even if NINE MONTHS is a really poor showcase for Scandal Boy. Hugh could do better. With Julianne Moore, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Arnold, Joan Cusack, and a scene-stealing Robin Williams.
Grade: C-
SWIMMING WITH SHARKS ====================
Another funny film about film, this one boasting another smooth comic performance from Kevin Spacey. (Remember THE REF?) He does an Oscar-worthy turn as a tyrannical studio executive who gets *his* after a year of abusing his fresh-from-film-school assistant (Frank Whaley). Boasting torture sequences right out of DEATH AND THE MAIDEN, this pitch-black comedy may be too much for some. Hilarious.
Grade: B+
-- Michael J. Legeros Raleigh, NC legeros@cybernetics.net
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