Nico

This is Steven Seagal's film debut , here he also co-wrote and co-produced . The pictures in the opening credits , including the one of the baby Nico , are actually real pictures of Steven Seagal in his youth . It deals about Nico , a tough Chicago cop , he's a CIA ex-agent , Vietnam veteran and Aikido expert . He teams up with a police woman (Pam Grier) , forming a two-fisted duo . Nico takes on drug smuggling ringleader (Daniel Faraldo) and undergoes a violent confrontation against corrupt Cia agents (Henry Silva) and criminal gangs.

The picture packs noisy action , buddy movie , thriller , shootouts, suspense and results to be quite entertaining . Violent and not particularly literary but worthy entry in action genre . Wooden Seagal plays the violent Nico , he cleans up Chicago city by means of punches , kicks, bounds and leaps , martial arts abound with fights certainly slick . The sword-fighting sequence was staged using Steven Seagal's own martial arts . Steven Seagal personally selected every weapon seen in the film . The Aikido expert Seagal saves the day in this exciting movie which co-produced and wrote developing some autobiographic events about his real-life . In the film appears Sharon Stone in role secondary , as Nico's wife , furthermore Michael Rooker, almost extra and Ron Dean , an actor which director Andrew Davis likes to use in most of his movies . The picture contains enough action and violence for fans of the genre and the addicts will give this a passing grade because being professionally directed by Andrew Davis . He has shot most of his films in Chicago and he's an action movies expert (The guardian , Collateral damage , Chain reaction , The fugitive) and previously gave credibility in a vehicle for Chuck Norris (Code of silence) and again directed to Seagal in his best movie (Under siege) . This one is an acceptable thriller , exciting and tense at times with fine work , as always , from director Andrew Davis . If you're a former Steven Seagal fan you'll like it because is a strong outing for action buffs .

Although I have never been a big Steven Seagal fan, I instantly liked this film when my uncle gave it to me for Christmas one year. It is one wild ride. I enjoyed the awesome stunts and action scenes in the film, and I had to laugh out loud at some of the scenes because it was fun to watch. Although I didn't care for Sharon Stone's acting in the film (she seemed to be too much of a weakwilled whiner, as opposed to her later films), Steven Seagal and Pam Grier were excellent as the main heroes. The film reminded me of the fun I had watching cop movies like Dirty Harry mixed with martial arts movies, so I recommend it to fans of those kinds of films.

This movie obviously isn't deep, but it is fun. The plot moves along quite nicely, there's plenty of humor, and the martial arts scenes are very well done. Seagal actually does have a presence on screen (as opposed to say, Chuck Norris or Claude Van Damme). The movie is low budget, but it has the virtue of recognizing the fact and not attempting effects shots that don't work (as opposed to "Under Siege 2").

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"Above the Law" was Seagal's debut film. It wasn't the best, but we got to see martial arts on display that was for maiming and dismembering instead of marathon fighting like most. His disabling moves weren't for the faint of heart.

Seagal played Nico Toscani, a Chicago P.D. detective that caught on to a plot to kill a senator. He and his partner Delores Jackson (Pam Grier) shot and fought their way to discover the culprits (OK, so it was mostly Toscani).

Toscani, like just about every action hero, fearlessly went up against incredible odds, danger, and death knowing that even if he didn't have a gun he was always armed and dangerous. You can look at this as heroic or unfathomably stupid. I'm sure it comes down to whether or not you like Seagal.

Before he was "out for justice" on the mean Brooklyn streets and "under siege" by terrorists on a U.S. Navy battleship, he was above the law. Yes, I'm talking about that quick-fisted, pony-tailed martial arts hero Steven Seagal and his 1988 starring debut "Above the Law."

Though his career hasn't panned out the way this debut promised, it is nonetheless a dynamic introduction to the mysterious world of Seagal, who plays Nico Toscani, a Chicago cop who as a child took up the Japanese martial art of Aikido and was some time later recruited by the CIA for covert operations in Vietnam.

After witnessing the cruel torture and executions of some Vietnamese hostages by ruthless CIA chemical interrogator Zagon (Henry Silva) and his cohorts, who also seem in on a secret drug running operation, he walks away from his career and retires to life as a cop on the streets of Chicago with wife Sara (Sharon Stone) and partner Jacks (Pam Grier). Things get dicey when two suspects collared in a recent drug bust are allowed to go free. The department silences concerns by announcing that the two men are part of a huge undercover investigation. But Nico doesn't buy it.

He suspects that something bigger is underway, and he's right. It isn't long before he stumbles onto a covert drug running operation right under his nose that involves his old CIA buddies, a local drug kingpin, some corrupt FBI officials and old nemesis Zagon, who is also involved in a political assassination plot. So Toscani, Jacks, and his Aikido fists of fury go to work on some really bad guys.

Directed by Andrew Davis and co-produced by Seagal (who also shares a story credit), "Above the Law" promises a mean and gritty portrait of law enforcement with the magnetic screen presence of the charismatic (if not necessarily wooden) Seagal in the lead. The picture opens with some black & white home movie footage of Toscani and accompanying narration, showing us this mysterious man's history. Seagal, who became the first American to open an Aikido dojo in Japan and at the time held a sixth-degree black belt in the art, was a world-renowned security expert before he started appearing in the movies and snapping necks, bending limbs, and using his opponents' own momentum and strength against them.

"Above the Law" does has some script problems, but it's balanced out by some rough & tumble action shoot-outs and nasty fights where Seagal throws his opponents into things and breaks and twists limbs 180 degrees in the opposite direction. But that is what his chosen sport Aikido does, as it employs joint locks, pins, and other methods meant to redirect and utilize an attacker's own strength and power against him. And Seagal does it perfectly.

Is "Above the Law" a sensational debut for Steven Seagal? Certainly, at least for his loyalists. As a casual fan, he has certainly made better movies since then and improved his "acting" skills but what will always dazzle us are the nifty arm-twists and breaks that prove he is a master of his Aikido craft.

8/10