Seagal has worked on the set of several films as a director of action scenes and coordinator of the work of stuntmen. The very first film with his participation hit the top ten, and the name of the protagonist became a household name. That is, he managed to fill his hand and, according to rumors, break Sean Connery’s wrist when he coached him on the set of Never Say Never.
Nico Toscani, at the age of 17, goes to Japan to study aikido. Then he is recruited by the CIA and sent first to Vietnam, then to Laos.
In Laos, he observes how a group of corrupt Tsrushniks, instead of military operations, are engaged in protection of opium supplies. Niko leaves the CIA and becomes a police officer in Chicago. But when the wars are already over, and explosions are already thundering on the streets of American cities, where the drug cartel under the roof of the CIA is trying to impose its own rules. Niko alone, guided by Nixon’s rule: “No one is above the law and no one is below the law.”
The film’s prologue is filmed as a newsreel of Segal’s
youthful photographs and training scenes at his aikido school, which led many viewers to view “Above the Law” as a film based on real events.
In “Above the Law” Stephen convincingly demonstrates the usefulness of aikido in street fights. Of the other tricks – riding on the roof of the car with the breaking of the side glass with a fist.
Niko has a conviction that “there is strength in truth”, and secondly, self-confidence, which, in particular, helps Niko disarm five submachine gunners with a small pistol. When Niko climbs the outer
stairs to the roof of the high-rise building where the enemies have settled, he mentally mumbles: “I found out that I have a huge family …”
Speaking of family. You know it for sure that there’s no any thing in this world that I wouldn’t have done for my family… Niko tells his wife (Sharon Stone) when she asks him to back off. However, after that, he continues to stick to his line, risking himself, his partners and his family. The film is good and interesting. Although we have already watched it and we know well how it will end, watching it still captivates.