I remember seeing a movie poster for "Above The Law" late one night, at a TTC subway station. The movie hadn't generated any pre-release buzz that I was aware of, but something about the ad piqued my interest.
Perhaps precisely because I had so few expectations, I was totally blown away. The black and white photographs accompanying the semi-autobiographical intro, followed by the Aikido demonstration with slo-mo sequences, were magical.
Having seen "Platoon" a year or so previously, the scenes in Vietnam possessed a visceral quality. I could feel the heat and humidity of the jungle, and smell the fear. I had learned that anything could and did happen during that conflict.
The bulk of the movie takes place in Chicago, a city I knew well (we have lots of family in the area, and I'd been there as recently as the year before). The plot elements dealing with crime and corruption were eye-opening to my naive, young mind.
Steven Seagal was cool back then (I could never stand Jean-Claude Van Damme). Casting blaxploitation star Pam Grier as Nico Toscani's partner was genius. The movie also featured Sharon Stone in an early, minor role.
I ended up seeing "Above The Law" three or four times, followed by each of Seagal's next four movies when they came out. I lost interest after "On Deadly Ground", although by then, it had become clear that Seagal was kind of a jerk.
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