User reviews

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")

Before the hair transplant, before he ate all the pies, before he went mad, and before everything was uttered in an inaudible whisper Seagal made his debut with this confusing, over-plotted thriller directed by Andrew Davis. Seagal plays Nicola Toscani, a ludicrously-named ex-CIA cop (as are virtually all Seagal characters) with family in the Mafia. Seagal conjured up the story (which was then expanded, of all people, by Steven Pressfield and Ronald Shusett) and it's probably his first effort at ego-massage. The opening narration is semi-biographical and the beginning of Seagal confusing fantasy and reality.

The plot, despite being from 1988, still comes across as contemporary and relevant. Nico quits the CIA in the 'Nam after witnessing a crooked superior taking advantage of the war to become a drug baron. Many years later he encounters that same villain who is abusing his status of being 'above the law' to seize more drug territory and pump more drug money into the CIA. War is always profitable.

It would be an intriguing plot for a 135-minute movie. But Above the Law tries to cram it all into 99 minutes and in the style of early 80s Charles Bronson. Don't get me wrong, Andrew Davis has always had muscular direction and takes the material seriously, but the heavy story and ambitious commentary are mostly squandered for the sake of making sure the credits roll after an hour and a half. The ending seems rushed, leaving just a little to much confusion and too many dots unconnected.

Still, it's interesting to see Seagal young, thin, and talking clearly.

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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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.

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

This was Steven Seagal's first movie and pretty much summed up the way his films were going to go: marital arts-crime stories with overly despicable villains and our hero saving the women by out-fighting everyone. Jean Van Damme and others followed with the same recipe which, by and large, has been pretty successful.

Before I saw this, I had read national critics blasting Seagal's acting talents but that was unfair; he's not a bad actor. It was also a surprise to see Sharon Stone playing a nice role and without makeup! That certainly changed quickly with her Basic Instinct-type persona.

It was fun to see Henry Silva again. As a kid growing up in the '50s and '60s, I used to see Silva on television a lot. He always played a bad guy, and played the part well....as he still does.

Overall, a decent action flick but not one of Segal's more memorable films. He make a big upgrade with his next film, "Hard To Kill."

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.

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

I have decided to work my way through Steven Seagal's filmography having not watched him in anything since 1996.

Nico: Above The Law (1988)

Nicolo 'Nico' Toscani is a bad ass Chicago cop who "should be wearing a number not a badge" His partner is Jacks a strong, well written woman played by the excellent Pam GrierHis wife is played by Sharon Stone, but she isn't really given much to dI.

Segeal makes a decent acting debut. He is certainly effective. I forgot how receeding his hair was back then. He was really lean back then too. He does have a strong screen presence. It is obvious he is doing a lot of his own stunts too, Annoyingly some of the fight sequences are full of quick cuts and close ups. There is a shockingly bad use of a dummy (you can see it in the trailer)

It's more layered than your usual action flick, but it's not very original (it is really similar to Code Of Silence which is also directed by Andrew Davis) and there is some ropey acting at times

I do not know if my Blu-ray is cut, but the ending seems to be cut. Segeal has a lot of blood on his face for someone who was only punched twice.

Nico: Above The Law grossed $18 million at the domestic box office (on a $7 million budget) to end 1988 as the 56th highest grossing movie of the year.

I think I've got it figured out, why we like action movie heroes so much. It's the sudden escalation of violence that they unepectedly initiate. There may be a verbal encounter between the hero and a heavy. The hero asks a simple question. (Here, the question is, "Did you ever see this girl?") The heavy makes some rude reply. "Why doan you get your greazeball face outta here?" The hero smiles silently, half turns away, then quick as lightning swings back and cracks the guy's face open like a cantelope. This generates the sort of adrenalin rush in the viewer that is missing from the viewer's own life. The psychologist Daniel Berlyne called it an "arousal jag."

The action sequences themselves have reached the zenith of gore, so blood is no longer very exciting. Their success depends on choreography, turning the fights and shootouts into a kind of "Singin' in the Blood." Of course, let's face facts, there are only so many bridges to fall off, so many tall buildings to dangle from, so many ways a car can spiral through the air after hitting a dumpster -- so you have to borrow things. Remember how Clint clung to the roof of the heavy's car as it plowed through the alley in "Magnum Force"? Ditto here.

Let's give the hero a partner who belongs to a minority group too, just to show that he can banter with the guy (or, in this case, the woman) and isn't prejudiced. Come to think of it, a partner who is a member of a minority group AND a woman kills two birds with one stone. Come to think of it, I imagine it's pretty easy to banter with Pam Grier. We ought also to give the hero an odd-looking gun but they forgot to do that here. We should have a romance between the hero and his female partner, but not in this case because she's black. I don't believe white folks would object to such a liason but African-Americans might and I wouldn't blame them. But we can have the hero be either a tragic widower (his wife offed by bad guys preferably) or a happily married man and a father.

Seagal cannot be described as a good actor or a bad one because he doesn't seem to enact any role other than Steven Seagal. That's not a put down. The heroes in these action flicks are interchangeable. Willis, Schwarzenegger, Bronson, Norris -- it doesn't matter. They may look and speak a bit differently from one another, but those are accidents, not essences. The essence of their similarity is this: they escalate the violent encounter suddenly and unexpectedly. They don't use much in the way of strategy, it's all physical skill. What I mean is, they're not Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade. They're Superman.

I recommend seeing this only if you're REALLY mad at somebody that you can't punch out or hit over the head with a number nine iron. This should do a good job of displacing your anger and may even stop you from kicking your dog.

Above The Law is Steven Seagal's debut acting role and despite what a lot of people may think of him and his movies nowadays his first 5 or so movies are very decent action crime thrillers and are well liked amongst fans of old school action and genre movies. Seagal is a hard as nails cop who doesn't play by the rules who makes a living busting low level street thugs and drug runners before he stumbles upon a conspiracy involving crooked CIA agents who are planning to assassinate a US senator. The plot and characters are cliche by today's standards because we've all seen a hundred very similar movies by now but it's honestly really refreshing to go back and revisit this kind of movie. The action scenes are well choreographed and violent in a cool 80's/90's style, the acting is well done by pretty much everyone involved and there's absolutely zero shakey cam so you can actually tell what is happening during the fight scenes! Seagal is believable in the role and the supporting cast features some great character actors you will recognise such as Pam Grier as Seagal's sassy partner and Henry Silva as the slimey bad guy who is evil pretty much for the sake of being evil. Recommended if you are a fan of the good old days of action movies where the hero's were unapologetically masculine and tough and the action wasn't toned down to get a PG/13 rating.

Also check out Seagal's other early movies Hard to kill, Marked for death and Out for justice.

This is an action flick starring Steven Seagal, in his first motion picture appearance, as former Special Operations Vietnam vet Nico Toscani, who works as a Chicago cop who tries to expose those broiled in a CIA-involved illegal weapons trade.

This movie only has a handful of action scenes, but the plot is still pretty suspenseful and fast-paced, from the cover-up angle involving the CIA to the assassination plot of a U.S. senator. The acting was fine for the most part, with villains you would love to hate. But, I thought Seagal's performance was a little emotionless and stoic, but his awesome martial arts skills and quick wit are entertaining to watch. I also enjoyed Pam Grier's character - Seagal's partner-in-crime Delores Jackson.

Overall, it's not a bad action-flick - somewhat entertaining.

Grade B-

Notable for being Steven Seagal's film debut and one of his better Warner Bros era movies. Seagal, the quintessentially indestructible 90's action hero, and producer/director Andrew Davis would of course go in to develop Under Siege in a few years time.

In Above the Law, Seagal plays Nico Toscani, a tough Chicago cop who has some pretty cool martial arts moves and, consequently, lots of opportunities to deploy them. After a prelude taking place in during the latter stages of the Vietnam War, the action - gun fights, car chases and plenty of fight scenes - shifts to the Windy City, where Nico and partner Delores 'Jax' Jackson (Pam Grier) are on the hunt for some bad guys who happen to have access to military explosives, which ties neatly back into the Vietnam prelude. There are plenty of cheesy action movie lines, the usual few minutes of adversity for Nico, and a very satisfying ending.

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.

An American police drama; A story about a martial-arts expert and former CIA agent working as a Chicago cop who becomes the target of some mysterious and powerful criminals, and corruption in his own back yard. Seagal's strength is his screen presence and the credibility that goes with him doing his own stunts; fight sequences are choreographed impressively to show the simplicity of combat technique. The story covers a lot of ground - not just individual crimes, but a theme about authority acting above the law. Some of the early scenes in the film suffer from lack of projection, and there are leaps in the timeline which can be confusing, and there is little explanation of the extreme violence meted out by the villains, which becomes a stretch in believability.

This is the one that excited the world about this new action star with the unconventional martial arts style. So many rumors surrounding the project and the man. Was it, or wasn't it, somewhat autobiographical? Regardless, it is a fun martial arts action thriller. Plenty of action and fighting. Seagal's Aikido is not a conventional movie fighting style but he makes it work in a big way. Middle aged men everywhere began to wear their hair in a ponytail to emulate Seagal's ultra-cool style in this movie about corruption and revenge. If you can only watch one in Seagal's long list of films this is still the one.

This is one bad movie! I first saw it on video and laughed so much because I could not believe how bad it was! Steven Segal is such a dreadful actor-he is so wooden. He may be able to fight but he certainly can't act!It was a typical 80's action movie with awful dialogue to match the awful acting and storyline. If you want a laugh then rent this on video and sit down and crack open a few beers and witness a truly bad piece of moviemaking!

Above The Law(called Nico in Norway)is Steven Seagal`s first film, and it`s still a good film. Steven Seagal plays Nico Toscani, a hard-boiled cop, who`ll do anything to get the bad guys. On a bust, Nico discovers C-4, with which he is familiar with from his own past as a CIA-agent in Kambodja. The FBI drop the case against the man, who had C-4 in his car, but Nico continues to investigate on his own. Above The Law is good, violent and oldfashioned fun, and is definetely worth a look for the hardcore actionfan or Seagal-fan. 8/10

"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.

"NICO: ABOVE THE LAW" (1988, Andrew Davis) is a slow, turgid, pointless film that served to disappoint me greatly.

There isn't enough action, the acting is bad, the music is bland and the pacing is really off.

Seagal is incredibly unlikable throughout and the villains are forgettable and their presence was sometimes confusing. I also found the film difficult to follow because I kept drifting off, reminiscing about "OUT FOR JUSTICE".

Boring, unlikable, pointless, anticlimactic, bland, waste of time.