This was Steven Seagal's first movie and pretty much summed up the way his films were going to go: marital arts-crime stories with overly despicable villains and our hero saving the women by out-fighting everyone. Jean Van Damme and others followed with the same recipe which, by and large, has been pretty successful.

Before I saw this, I had read national critics blasting Seagal's acting talents but that was unfair; he's not a bad actor. It was also a surprise to see Sharon Stone playing a nice role and without makeup! That certainly changed quickly with her Basic Instinct-type persona.

It was fun to see Henry Silva again. As a kid growing up in the '50s and '60s, I used to see Silva on television a lot. He always played a bad guy, and played the part well....as he still does.

Overall, a decent action flick but not one of Segal's more memorable films. He make a big upgrade with his next film, "Hard To Kill."

I don't know who to blame more, the screenplay or the direction for the many action sequences in this film that start with shoot em ups we're basically nobody tries to get out of the way. It seems like this could be "Death Wish: The New Crew" as Stephen Seagal seems able to get through every attempted assassination attempt on him, basically taking on the CIA as he finds out about criminal conspiracies they are involved with.

Every 5 minutes, there's either a shootout in a warehouse district or a church bombing or a group of thugs cornering him in an alley. He's advised to go into hiding with wife Sharon Stone (totally underused) and their child, yet he chooses to stick around. After a while, it's nothing more than Seagal as Mighty Mouse with the many bad guys cast as bumbling coyotes, and that premise wears itself out very fast. The result is a crude, angry action film that has no merit.

Why have Pam Grier as his partner when she doesn't really do anything but walk threw a party as every other cop ogles her, tell a creep on the streets making a pass at her to buzz off or appear in the background when soft voiced Seagal is being the big hero? You're supposed to get a little bit of expose on Seagal's character, but the Vietnam War flashback really reveals nothing other than the fact that he decided his one aim in life was to beat up all the Creeps in the world yet be equally as creepy. Seagal, the new action kid on the block with this, may think he's above the law, but fortunately that didn't make him above the critics.

Steven Seagal's acting debut is a fast-moving little crime thriller, involving drugs smuggling, police corruption, and a maverick cop (guess who?). This above average thriller has a pretty generic plot, but there are lots of fight scenes to keep things moving swiftly along, and also the benefit of a young-looking Seagal. The pacing is spot on and a tight budget used to full extent in terms of screen spectacle. This was before Seagal became a totally indestructible killer who the bad guys couldn't lay a finger on, here he looks fragile and takes a beating before the final credits. Therefore, this guy is always on the line, instead of the viewer knowing that he's going to kill everybody without a single scratch. The freshness of Seagal's debuting character is what makes him of greater interest than normal.

The fight scenes in this film basically show off Seagal's different abilities, whether it be jumping on the roof of a car to grab the bad guys, using his gun to take criminals down, or of course his famed martial arts skills which show him taking on multiple opponents with little effort required, packed with the bone-breaking violence we know and love. People are thrown through windows and into tables and there are plenty of exciting moments, like when a small shop becomes a battleground or the shoot-out in a multi-storey car park at the end. Added to this are memorable images such as a row of highly trained killers, walking down the street calmly while firing automatics. The fight choreography is excellent and the photography also superb, kudos to the cameraman for shooting the various scenes so well and making them look this good.

Seagal is supported by an interesting cast for once with numerous familiar faces in supporting roles. Genre favourite Henry Silva, the only man to look scarier without makeup than Christopher Walken, is sadistically evil as the chief villain, a torturer no less who enjoys inflicting sadistic torment on his enemies. His features constantly perverted in a twisted grimace, Silva makes an excellent bad guy and for once his death truly fits the crimes he has committed - let's just say it involves a ton of explicit bone-breaking. Up-and-coming starlet Sharon Stone has a small and rather thankless role as Seagal's wife, although '70s blaxploitation icon Pam Grier as Seagal's partner fares a little better with a part which is still somewhat underwritten.

NICO: ABOVE THE LAW remains far more believable than other actioners of the time like Schwarzenegger's COMMANDO, thanks to the plot which always keeps its feet on the ground and isn't too elaborate to seem contrived. The events occur with an emphasis on realism and a degree of characterisation to engage the viewer. These events could happen and do happen, and there's a gritty feeling to the film. It's a bit clichéd, for sure, but the formula works, which is why it has been used so many times before and since. The clever drama gives Seagal one of his best roles and the film has a hard edge to it which his later actioners lack. Therefore it deserves an very good rating, as it's a solid thriller which succeeds in all that it tries to achieve, thanks to solid direction from Andrew Davis (UNDER SIEGE) at the near peak of his game.