REVIEW: Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)
Runtime: 100 Mins
Rated: R
What To Expect: “A force of armed men, probably numbering above 20, has taken over the grand continental passenger train travelling from Denver to L.A. Signature equipment including high bandwitdh satellite transmission equipment have been floated on board. Aggressors appear to be professional and fully armed” — Emergency email from Casey Ryback.
It seems sometimes that to get a good review on this site, you keep having to go back a decade or two. Like the mid 1990s. Under Siege 2 is an unfairly underrated movie. It’s struggling to stay above a 5/10 on the IMDb and 30% on Rotten Tomatoes. I think it was a victim of changing times, certain people were starting to turn on violent action movies around this time.
A “god damned maniac” has hijacked a train and is using it as a command platform, from whence he is threatening to blow up Washington with a weapon from space. Anyone on board who resists is threatened with being stabbed in the eyeball. Hell, even Mike from Breaking Bad is their driver. But surely when they took Sensei Seagal’s niece on the same train, they should’ve known that wrists would be slashed and their men would be thrown in front of speeding 200 ton behemoth? What, this type of retribution was too manly for Captain America, during his train action sequence? Sad, when we were kids, Seagal’s methods were more… direct.
Die Hard 4 ripped this movie off by the way – ex-government genius uses vehicle on the move to evade detection. There’s also a sniping sequence stolen by the movie Snowpiercer. Don’t tell anyone though, it’s not en vogue to admit anything original or cool came from a movie like this, even though it is a Die Hard clone. I mean how can you not like this? I mean, here is a movie where subterenean penetrator weapons anchored from space are used to incinerate ex-wives! (for an extra $100,000,000).
The movie is not as good as the original, that goes without saying. The villains are weaker (yet curiously superior to many of today’s pissant baddies). I think the ending should have been more considered too, the final jump is a bit weak to me. But its shortcomings are bailed out by superior dialogue. “Fuck, you ruined my coat!”. “Hey man, touch me again and it’s yo ass!” And while Eric Bogosian is no Alan Rickman, he’s certainly a manlier villain than anything the likes of Tom Hiddleston have put out in recent times.
1995 seemed like the end of an era, or the beginning of the end. Like I said movies like this were becoming maligned and as such, the likes of Steven Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme had to tread carefully. Sadly both men let their egos destroy their respective careers right around the same time.
I guarantee that Under Siege 2 has aged better than you think or might hope. Give it another try. Seen it too recently? Check out the similar-ish movie, Narrow Margin, starring manly man Gene Hackman.
mucho macho
September 18, 2014 at 4:32 pm
Mr. Night Rider u are on point on this 1. Agree with
U 100% regarding this movie. Just doesnt get the love it deserves.
1) Villains= Hackers are barely scary in movies like D.H.4 but here Bogosian is of course a nerd but a creepy, sadistic 1.delivering lines with gusto such as: ” Remember i was smarter than u b4 i worked there, i was smarter than u while i worked there, & i’m still smarter than u!”
Also his henchmen were manly rough dudes.Everett Mcguill was 1 tough fucker.looked liked he could actually fucked Seagal up if it wasnt for the Sensei’s ego. Plus Peter Green, underrated, underused manly crazy fucker.
2) Practical effects such as the use of models to me @ times come across more realistic on screen than some cgi effect. To this day still. The action is well timed & played out.
3) The body count was high. Much like D.H.2 they killed innocent people. Now even bad guys have to be politically correct which makes 0 sence.
4) Morris Chestnut was annoying to me as fuck in this..He later went on to play a Seagal villain on the movie ” Half Past Dead” coinsidentally.
5) Last but certainly not least.》》》 BRENDA BAKKE. An underrated piece of ass of a woman.Hollywood never gave this chick her due. My teenage hormones would go crazy 4 this broad. Felt terrible she wasnt in the movie longer.always a great sight for the eyes. Check her out in an other underrated manly movie “GUNMEN” That movie came out around the same time ’94 i think. Great kick ass action movie with Mario Van Peebles, Christopher Lambert,Dennis Leary, Patrick Stewart, & Bakke..Bakke was an super sexy evil bitch in this. Seek out “GUNMEN” for those interested in manly action flicks.
Under Siege 2 even though not the grand slam part 1
was..still a home run. Nice to see it get some love..
p.s. Bring back Brenda Bakke i say & this type of action movie
The_Night_Rider
September 18, 2014 at 8:12 pm
I just read today that Gary Busey was contracted for two Under Siege movies and Seagal as producer had to buy him out, because he died in the 1st.
TheOldMcClane
September 19, 2014 at 12:22 am
Need to check this one out again. Remember it being kinda cheesy.
mucho macho
September 19, 2014 at 12:27 am
Yeah..story goes that the Producers of the movie wanted to bring Busey badly. Give the story more continuity. Since u never actually saw him die, just the sub exploting , they wanted to bring back the character. I think i read an article once that mentioned that the character was due to have burned marks on his face & body if he did reappear.
Seagal for some reason objected to this but since Busey at the time still had some ” cloud” & still
wasnt the side show he later became had a “play or pay” deal. Meaning he got paid wether the movie got made or not or wether he not get a part in it even if the movie got made & he didnt work on it.
Busey is a good actor..kinda weird how far off the rails he went.
2 great additional movies in which he played the bad guy>> “Drop Zone” & ” Surviving the Game”
Night dont know if u have seen the latter but check out that that movie if u havent.
Busey , Rutger Hauer as villains in an action movie…what else can u ask 4!?!?..haha
Felton Raiman
September 19, 2014 at 4:49 pm
From what I’ve read the Canadian workprint cut features some extra violence.
-Ryback stabbing one eyed terrorist in neck while blood pours out.
-longer and more brutal final fight between Ryback and Penn, at one point Ryback pushes Penn onto hot cooker which is why he has a large mark on his face after falling down the stairs.
mucho macho
September 19, 2014 at 5:11 pm
I will love to watch that version of the movie Felton. A lot of movies from that era went for it in terms if violence but they still got censored a lot. I still will love to watch the ” Hard Target” director’s cut 1 day if they ever release it.