5/10
Dumb , but entertaining
9 April 2014
„Under siege 2 " is a totally over the top, totally unbelievable yet highly entertaining sequel to Seagal's best movie. Objectively if you compare it to the original it's a disappointment . The story is pretty much a copy of the first movie with small changes. It's also unrealistic and dumb in places. Despite it's faults it's still an entertaining movie.

What we have here is basically "Die hard on train". The train itself is a good location. There is lot of pretty scenery and since the train is in constant motion the movie is also fast paced. I had problems with Geoff Murphy's direction in "Young guns 2" . Here he directs "US 2" with formidable energy. The movie is edited very quickly, almost like a music video. Speaking of music Basil Poledouris score is far superior than Gary Chang's from first movie. It's one of best soundtracks for action movie ever made. The special effects are adorably cheesy and add to the overall campy entertainment value. The script has some quotable one-liners : "Nobody beats me in the kitchen" , "Chance favors the prepared mind" , "Guess I'm not trained for this...".

There is lot of cool train action here (on the train , under the train , in the train) . Every bad guy is dispatched with minimum of effort as no-one is anywhere near as hard as Casey Ryback . Broken bones, severed limbs, terrorists in agonizing pain … This movie has an obvious comic book feeling to it and I really liked the non stop carnage. They just don't make them like this anymore. Steven Seagal is basically invincible here. He gets shot , but the movie quickly forgets about it. His doing unbelievable stuff without breaking a sweat . "US 2" it does stretch reality to the breaking point and beyond, but it can be forgiven.

Steven Seagal was forced to do this movie after the failure of his very personal movie "On deadly ground" . There is even an unused footage from "ODG" here . Seagal doesn't even try to act here. His obviously unhappy that his making this movie and more stiff than usual. There is a damsel in distress here- Ryback's niece Sarah played by Katherine Hiegl who is a good eye candy and nothing more. Seagal also gets a sidekick - naive porter Bobby Zachs played nicely by Morris Chestnut.

The movie belongs to Eric Bogosian as crazed computer genius Travis Dane and menacing Everett McGill as Penn. There is veteran supporting actor Jonathan Banks ("Beverly hills cop") in small role of terrorist. Watch out for Kurtwood Smith ("Robocop") as a US general (too bad they didn't used him as a villain).

Idiotic , yet fun movie full of testosterone. Best cheap thrills you can find. I give it 5/10.
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