Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

I will never describe Steven Seagal as being an actor because he has no idea what that entails. He merely fits the bill regarding the requirements of being an action hero. He has the perfect knack for dozing his way through a film. However, in the early days of his movie career, Seagal successfully displayed his skills in the martial arts style of Akido. This was when he was in good shape, physically speaking. The opening scene in the dojo impressed me when Steven Seagal demonstrates his own style of martial arts in front of his students. His hand speed and his timing is on a par with that of Bruce Lee near enough. The story is very standard so I won't mention anything of what happens. Henry Silva makes for a creepy and sinister villain, he was always very good at playing those kinds of characters. The action scenes are capably handled and it helps that the lead is a professional martial artist. In my opinion, Steven Seagal made his best films from 1988 to about 1995 before weight gain cast a shadow over his career. The director of "Above the Law" was the same person who made Seagal's best film, "Under Siege."

"Above the Law" is a tedious action movie with too much plot and not even one memorable set piece.This was Seagal's first movie, and audiences must have lapped it up. Perhaps they were sick of Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Norris. The difference for me between Seagal and the other action movie heroes, aside from the fact that his movies always seemed grittier and low-rent, is the cruelty. You don't want to watch Seagal beat bad guys up. You can feel bones breaking; his scenes make you wince."Above the Law" could have had a great bad guy. He is, after all, played by Henry Silva. He doesn't get nearly enough screen time. We are distracted by a church keeping Central American refugees in its basement, and by drug dealers who want to assassinate some guy, and FBI ages who want to help them. This is all somehow related to the Seagal character's experience in Vietnam, where he first met Silva's evil doctor.It doesn't make much sense, but it's impossible to care.

The 1980s were a decade of Hollywood being claimed by several different actors and franchises. Horror films exploded and action stars became the next thing. The biggest of action stars to turn up at the time would be the obvious, like Sylvester Stallone & Arnold Schwarzenegger. Then came other actors like Chuck Norris, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis and Jean Claude-Van Damme. All of which these actors had played some type of action role prior to the film that made their action star debut. As for Steven Seagal, his debut was an action film with nothing prior to it either. He was lucky because if he had started any later, who knows if his career would've taken off. To most, audiences find this to be one of Seagal's best. It is by no means executed badly but there are various problems.In his film debut, Seagal plays a cop named Nico Toscani who like many other cop films at the time, considered themselves to have the authority to do whatever they felt was right. Upon being introduced to Nico, viewers are also dropped into what seems to be a very convoluted plot that at times is clear, while other times is confusing. I'm surprised the three writers couldn't handle this, considering Ronald Shusett writer of Alien (1979) and Total Recall (1990) was apart of the trio. What isn't clear is the main plot. Nico begins to think the department he works for is corrupt, but on what exactly they are dealing with is foggy. The elements involve drugs and politics, yet the order at which its described is all over the place which makes it hard to follow. That like other police thrillers, so many names are referenced at which half don't mean squat or are connected thinly to the plot.What the writers did accomplish was fleshing out Seagal's character nicely. At the very least, audiences will understand why Nico thinks his say is the final say. Understandably, after what he went through early in life, who wouldn't feel the same way? Seagal in his first role performs well. He is not able to spout out lines as memorable as his other action counterparts but there are times where his charm does shine through. The supporting cast is all right. None of them are bad and none stand out either. The only two actresses that are worth mentioning is a young Sharon Stone (before she was famous) and Pam Grier. Never saw that coming. Background wise, these characters don't go through much an arc but they at least give human performances that blend with Seagal's showing.Since this is also Seagal's first movie it was certainly important that he displayed his skills and he does do that. His hand-to-hand combat skills are phenomenal. The introduction that shows him in slow motion implementing these moves is mesmerizing. It'll have people saying to themselves, "I want to learn how to do that". I know I did, it looked awesome. The only downside to this, is that the action doesn't happen as frequently as one would think. For an hour and forty minutes, the action is spread out. Why? This is Seagal we are showing here. Along with that is the steady camera-work and editing. The music provided by David Michael Frank was nice too. Again, his forte is more in synthetic instruments (i.e. Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991)), but that doesn't mean it's bad quality. Frank contains a main theme and the Asian element at which co-exists in Nico's background is appropriate. It did work as movie, it just had more issues than expected.It has appropriate music, visually appealing hand-to-hand combat and a good first performance as Steven Seagal's film debut. Unfortunately, it could've been stronger if the plot wasn't so muddled with vague details.

Andrew Davis directed Steven Seagal as Chicago cop Nico Toscani, a Vietnam veteran who was recruited by the CIA in Japan, who was then sent to Vietnam, where he objected to the harsh interrogation techniques of Zagon(played by Henry Silva) but could do nothing. 15 years later, Nico has busted a drug gang and discovered plastic explosives. He is later shocked to learn that those he arrested were released, and is stonewalled about the reasons why. After he is suspended, Nico discovers that his old Nemesis Zagon is behind it all, and must be stopped... Seagal certainly can perform well in the action scenes, though despite the good direction, this film is just too routine and predictable to work. Sharon Stone costars as his wife.