Nico, Acima da Lei

In Japan, the Sicilian martial arts expert Nicolo "Nico" Toscani (Steven Seagal) is recruited by the CIA Special Agent Nelson Fox (Chelcie Ross) to join the Special Operations Forces in the border of the Vietnam and Cambodia. In 1973, Nico witnesses the torturer Kurt Zagon (Henry Silva) interrogating prisoners of war and he is disgusted and quits the CIA, returning.

Fifteen years later, Nico is married with a baby with his wife Sarah (Sharon Stone) and they live in the same house of his mother. Nico is a tough and incorruptible narcotics detective of the Chicago Police Department very close to his partner and friend Delores 'Jacks' Jackson (Pam Grier) and his friend Detective Lukich (Ron Dean). When Nico and Jacks investigate a drug traffic operation, they arrest the gang of the drug dealer Tony Salvano (Daniel Faraldo) but they find that they are smuggling the plastic explosive C4 instead. However there is an interference of the FBI and Salvano and his partner are released by FBI Agent Neeley (Nicholas Kusenko) and the detectives are forbidden of proceed with the investigation. But Nico does not stop and is suspended from the police force. But when there is an explosion in the church of his neighborhood and his friend and parish priest Joseph Gennaro (Joe V. Greco) is murdered, Nico chases Salvano and discovers a corruption ring that is planning to kill the American Senator Ernest Harrison (Joe D. Lauck) that is investigating the involvement of the CIA with drug traffic.

"Above the Law" is the excellent debut of Steven Seagal in the cinema industry. When I saw this movie for the first time twenty-five years ago, I immediately became fan of this actor that used the style of Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood associated to great fight choreography and violence. Today I have seen it again on DVD and the story is still full of action and has not aged after all these years. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Nico Acima da Lei" ("Nico Above the Law")

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 .

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

ABOVE THE LAW is still Steven Seagal's best. He's done many entertaining films since, but this ones remains his best. It's a great urban crime drama with Seagal in peak form as a cop with lightning-fast moves and a knack for delivering justice. Okay, the story of a cop being suspended and ignoring orders to finish the case on his own has been done a gazillion times, but I've never cared about repetition. I just care about the overall outcome of the film. The story isn't great, but keeps you interested and moves at a good pace, with Seagal dispensing bad guys left and right. I love the gritty urban feel of the movie. Director Andrew Davis makes good use of his hometown Chicago's locations. Pam Grier is good, and (avoiding convention) isn't killed off for being the star's partner, and Sharon Stone, as Seagal's wife, has learned to act in the three years since KING SOLOMON'S MINES. Henry Silva is creepy as the bad guy, surrounded by a group of weasel henchmen who eventually all get their ticket punched by Seagal. David Michael Frank also composes a great contemporary-styled soundtrack that deserves a full soundtrack release; it's great music, and a great theme. The action is fun, the pace is good, and Seagal does a good job as always with his slick moves. It may not be great, but it sure is fun.

I was watching television the other day, just flipping through the channels when I came upon 'Above the Law'. I hadn't seen this movie in years, and was anxious to watch it again. I must say that I was impressed. I believe it deserves no less than a 9/10. Why? The martial arts in superb as well as the action in general. Moreover, this movie operates on many different levels of meaning.

M.A. Rogers, in his commentary believes that Seagal's behavior contradicts his affirmation that nobody is above the law. This is not so. I believe that his actions are morally justified, inasmuch as there exists in the plot-line no other way for justice to be done. If the police force is corrupt and the C.I.A. are up to no good (not to mention the usually scum), what is one to do? It is therefore up to Toscani (Seagal) to take on a 'poetic license' of sorts and bring the transgressors back to justice.

M.A. Rogers, however, cogently points out in his commentary, that Seagal portrays a double-edged character. On the one hand he is easily angered, while on the other he puts out this "Mr. Cool" who is rife with obnoxious comments. This is why the film does so well. Important also is the scene in which his wife (Sharon Stone) pleads with him. She asks him to put down his 'pride'. She loves him because he is not like other men, but begs him to think of his family and back down. One cannot help, upon viewing this scene, to think of book six of "The Iliad" by Homer, where Andromache pleads with Hektor to stay in Troy for her sake and for the sake of his new-born son Astyanax. The emotion of the scene in Above the Law is heightened because of Seagal's show of restrained emotion: one isn't convinced that he is a 'family man'. He is. His stern face shows that he is a hard man, with a burden on his shoulders and an obligation to save his society as well as his family from an ailment that abounds everywhere. There is lots more to say on the matter, but I will leave that to another commentary. If you are at all a fan of the genre, than you must see it, even if you care only for the action. But I must make it clear that this movie is just as deep and sophisticated as any current drama. One just has to look beyond the surface.

Michael W. Helfield