Review of Under Siege 2: Dark Territory

Introduction

Under Siege surprised many people who expected total and utter drivel but got an entertaining action movie. The success of "Die Hard on a ship" led to an inevitable sequel - Under Siege 2: Dark Territory or "Die Hard on a train".

The plot`s pretty much the same as the first movie - crazed nutter hijacks a form of transport and plans to use it to destroy something large for a great deal of money. Spin this out to 94 minutes and you`ve got Under Siege 2. However, it doesn`t take a great plot to make an entertaining movie, so despite being a clear cash in, does Under Siege 2 have anything to offer

Video

The video is 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and is of a good standard throughout the film. There are no signs of grain or dirt, and the image is stable.

Visually, the film is pretty good, with a long passenger train speeding through the countryside whilst various fights etc take place both inside and outside. There are also plenty scenes of helicopters, stealth fighters and stealth bombers.

In general the special effects are quite good and mainly consist of explosions and gunfire etc. There are several other scenes, such as the truck jumping over the train for example which are also not too bad. The spectacular finale also looks very good up until the last 10 seconds where a truly awful composited shot of a fireball looks exceptionally fake. There is also one dubious piece of rear-projection when Seagal is on top of the train.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mix on Under Siege 2 is very good.

Being a no-holds barred action film, there are plenty of explosins, gunfire, helicopter, plane and missile flypasts in addition to the train effects.

There are a couple of scenes where the quietly-spoken Seagal is a little difficult to hear, but otherwise the dialogue is clear and understandable.

Features

Nothing, not even a trailer...

Conclusion

Overall, Under Siege 2 is reasonable entertainment, but it is ultimately drivel. Basically, the lunatic who has hijacked the train hires 20 or so of the "best" mercenaries who are armed to the teeth, but of course, Steven Seagal manages to dispatch all of them with ease - and of course varying degrees of pain...

The first Under Siege was good because it was a little different to anything we had seen before, featured a strong cast and good characters. The second film is almost a carbon copy except for the move from ship to train.

Part of the problem with Under Siege 2 is that the plot is too outrageous and the "villain" is a curly-haired geek who just cannot touch the brilliance of Tommy Lee Jones in the first movie. Add a host of gormless goons who run to Seagal like lambs to the slaughter and you have a very predicatble film that offers nothing new. Makes you wonder why there wasn`t a third film...

Video and sound are good, but the total lack of extras is a let-down.

To sum up, I`d advise buying the first film, and renting the second.