Under Siege - Arrow Video Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Some action actors have a long, successful career with multiple peaks and valleys. Others have a steady rising action, peak, and then enter a long, slow, stale decline of terrible direct-to-video trash - but you can’t convince them that most of their movies are junk. Steven Seagal is in the latter category. His first four films were solid, showing he was becoming more confident as a box office success, leading man, and action star. While I wouldn’t quite call it his “best,” Under Siege was Seagal’s peak film - it all steadily went to hell after that. 

Now, some 19 years ago, our own Peter Bracke reviewed Warner’s first (and amazingly only) Blu-ray release of Under Siege. Looking back on that review, I don’t entirely disagree with his points about the film’s limitations, but it read as though, looking through the lens of the cartoon version of himself, Seagal was at the time (and still is today) versus the action star he was becoming when the film was released. Now I don’t hide away from the idea that this film is a true-blue Die Hard clone, but it’s at least a good one. When I was all of 10, my Dad and I had become Seagal fans, rented/owned Seagal’s previous films, and Under Siege was the first one we saw in theaters. We were blown away. Big action, colorful badguys, and Seagal was at least halfway convincing in his role as a former SEAL Chief-turned-cook. This film should have been the first leg in a longer, better career for the action star.

It’s been several years since I last earnestly looked at the film, and I’m pleased that Nostalgia didn’t do me dirty. Sure, it’s not the best film ever made, but it’s energetic and entertaining from frame one. I give a lot of that credit to Andrew Davis and his knack for staging action sequences and maintaining momentum even through dry scenes. Even simple exposition conversations have a kinetic energy that makes the film feel like it's always moving. But this is also where Seagal’s ego was starting to take over, becoming more of a presence than a performer. Helping keep the cast lively, Davis extracted a classic bonkers Busey performance while letting Tommy Lee Jones steal the film. It's also worth noting that Tommy Lee Jones actually has more screentime than Seagal! Erika Eleniak is along for the ride, but after a quick flash of T&A, she's given little to do beyond giving Seagal someone to talk to. 

Under Siege is Seagal’s peak effort, critically and commercially. If you honestly look at everything that came after, it’s a mix of flat-out bad (On Deadly Ground) to merely watchable (Under Siege 2: Dark Territory) to bad but bizarrely entertaining (The Glimmer Man), to the glut of wretched, unwatchable drek he started pumping out on video in the DVD era. (For clarification, I don’t consider Executive Decision a real Seagal film since he’s arguably not the lead.) While Under Siege is his peak, I still think his first film, the other Andrew Davis outing, Above the Law, was Seagal’s best film. It’s his best performance as an actor. The fight sequences are better shot and don’t try to hide his growing rotundity in shadows and black clothing. The plot is a bit more grounded with that extra grit of Chicago in the 1980s. But I will say Under Siege is a close, close second-place finisher. 33 years later, this flick is just as entertaining as ever and was a gas to reconnect with.

Now for a different take, here’s Peter Bracke’s 2006 Blu-ray Review

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
Thanks to Arrow Video, Under Siege sails for the 4K seas as a single-disc release. For this review, we were issued a basic Check Disc without any of the packaging or frills. The 4K is pressed on a BD100 disc. Final packaging will include reversible insert artwork and a booklet with additional content. The Disc loads to an animated main menu with standard navigation options.

Boasting a brand new restoration from Arrow and approved by director Andrew Davis, it’s pretty obvious to say that this new 2160p Dolby Vision presentation wipes the deck with the old 2006 Warner Bros. VC-1 encoded Blu-ray. I didn’t need to feel so old about myself that a piece of my Blu-ray collection was from that long ago, but there you go. 19 years is a hell of a stretch without an upgrade, and even then the 1080p experience was decent enough, but not revelatory. Right from the jump, I was impressed with how clear and lively this image was. From those opening shots of the actual U.S.S. Missouri battleship taken during Fleet Week to the U.S.S. Alabama as the stand-in vessel, the clarity and depth of what we’re seeing feels more real and focused than before.

Facial features of our cast, the texture differences from the galley shipmen’s uniforms to the dress whites to Tommy Lee Jones’ bedazzled leather rocker jacket, all see an immediate improvement. Film grain is tightly rendered; it can be a little thicker in some of the darker shots or optical effects, but nothing distracting, whereas in some of the much brighter interiors, it can almost appear almost absent, but nothing looks like it’s been smoothed into oblivion. Color is a case of “it is what it is.” The Dolby Vision grade certainly looks great, but given what the characters wear and the setting, not a lot of places for colors to “pop,” but some red emergency lights get their time, and skin tones are healthy. Black levels and shadows are in much better shape this round. Segal’s black-clad orbicular frame doesn’t get lost in the darkness for some of the fight sequences anymore. I waffled on the rating for this: 4.5/5 felt too generous, but 4.0/5 also feels a tad too low. It's not earthshattering for the format, but for this film, it is a welcome upgrade.

Offering a very welcome upgrade to the audio package, the film enters the format with a packed Dolby Atmos mix and an excellent LPCM 2.0 track. To say the old Dolby Digital 5.1 track was rather forgettable is just being honest and truthful. This Atmos track actually feels like a true wall-to-wall surround experience with appropriate attention paid to those sides and rears rather than feeling incidental. Davis likes to keep that camera moving around the tight corridors and spaces, especially during the hustle and bustle of the opening, and that activity moves beautifully from the front/center channels to the sides before they fade into the rears. And now with the height channels, there are nice drifts for activity to carry upwards, the big birthday bash, gunfire, the water flowing onto the prisoners, all of those moments deliver excellent height. Explosions, gunfire, helicopter rotors, and jet engines all punch up that extra weighty LFE nicely. Some of the bigger explosive sound effects sound more enhanced, but nothing is distractingly out of place. Slightly different, but not horribly artificial. 

But there’s also a great LPCM 2.0 track to enjoy. Obviously, it doesn’t quite carry the same workload as the Atmos in respect to channel placement and impact, but replaying some of the bigger action sequences, I thought it sounded quite good. Certainly very healthy and present in all respects. I do think it's odd that there isn't a specifically driven 5.1 track, but between the two, you've got two solid tracks. Dialog is clear for both tracks without issue.

Considering this film’s past disc releases never had any extra features at all, it’s not hard to say this is the best selection of extras this film ever had. But that’s not quite doing this material justice. We get a great new Director/Writer commentary with Davis and J.F Lawton, along with some excellent new interviews with Andrew Davis, Erika Eleniak, actor Damian Chapa, and an interview with visual effects supervisor William Mesa. 

• Audio Commentary featuring Andrew Davis and J.F. Lawton
• I’m on a Boat (With a Bomb) (HD 19:08)
• One of the Guys (HD 13:52)
• A Tight Ship (HD 18:35)
• The Introvision Files (HD 27:51)
• Trailer

To believe that Steven Seagal was once a bona fide A-list Hollywood action star, you had to have been there. It was a time. It was a place. And it was a hell of a ride. Great rides have a crescendo, and in the case of Seagal, that moment is Under Siege. Critics dug it. It was a box office success. But amazingly, Warner Bros. hardly did anything with this film on video in the last 33 years. That all changes thanks to Arrow. Not only are we finally getting an impressive Dolby Vision/Atmos A/V presentation package, but we’re also getting genuine bonus features, and they’re all worth your time (especially the new commentary). Yes, Under Siege can be cast off as a simple Die Hard clone, but at the very least, it’s a good, explosive, entertaining Die Hard clone! It also happens to be Segal's last, actually, genuinely good movie. So, for this maiden voyage onto 2160p disc, you can consider Under Siege Recommended