'Under Siege' movies succeed in spite of Steven Seagal

Last night, for shits and giggles, my wife and I watched both Under Siege movies back-to-back, and I'm not going to lie, I had a great time. I find the appeal of these movies -- and really any Seagal movie -- fascinating, since the star has no charisma and little presence as a man of action.

Seagal's inflated ego and creepiness are the stuff of legend. For years he tried to pass himself off as the heir apparent to the likes of Bruce Lee even though he never appeared to be in very good shape and all of his 'fight scenes' were edited within an inch of their lives. In fact through two Under Siege movies I think I saw him fully throw a kick maybe twice?

In the second movie especially, he sort of lumbers around while everyone else in the movie hero worships him. His line deliveries are all in the same self satisfied whisper and he never has much of a human connection with anyone he's acting alongside.

Contrast this with the other A-list action stars of his heyday: Van-Damme was always an impressive physical specimen, Schwarzenegger was affably funny, Bruce Willis could be believably human and Stallone (my personal fave) could always elicit audience sympathy and usually played underdog status.

In the world of Under Siege, Seagal's character Casey Ryback -- super-soldier turned super-cook (a conceit the movies think is far funnier than it is) -- is a legend in his own time, a one man army who leaves both films with a single scratch on the cheek.

And putting all this aside, these movies (especially the first one) are quite fun in spite of him. The first film, which is easily his best and most successful, benefits enormously from two great bad guys -- Gary Busey and Tommy Lee Jones. They have great chemistry together as a naval officer and a ex military man turned mercenary who take over the ship Seagal's on for nefarious reasons.

Jones especially is a wildly entertaining firecracker in the movie. Watching this reminded me of what a wonderful actor he is and can be when he gets the right kind of material to chew on. Here, he's teamed with director Andrew Davis, who would team up with him again the following year to even great effect in The Fugitive.

Jones and Busey manage to raise Seagal's game a bit, and they are so formidable you are able to, for once, view Ryback as potentially outmatched. By the second film he's saddled with an irredeemably annoying Eric Bogosian (who was terrific in last year's Uncut Gems), so there threat just isn't there. But there is plenty of god awful special effects, dialogue and performances (a Katherine Heigel pops up as Seagal's niece) to keep you entertained.

All the hallmarks of the genre are here -- gratuitous nudity, excessive violence (who shoot someone five times when once will do?) and sheer stupidity. It's easy for me to watch movies like this with a lot of affection because this was the era of action films I came up with.

The stars didn't emote much, the movies were short and sweet (and usually meaningless). And right now, as we're all searching for joy and comfort, this really hit the spot for me.