Entertainment Today and Beyond

STEVEN SEGAL Talking UNDER SIEGE 3!

In an interview with MTV, Steven Segal says that there are a few offers on the table for UNDER SIEGE 3; even going as far to day that he would like the storyline to be extraterrestrial in nature. While I don’t know exactly what those offers could be, I would be quite surprised if Warner Bros, who produced the first two entries in the series, would really be keen on financing a third, considering the former big screen action hero is now 57 and has been reduced to making straight to DVD fare for over a decade. I will say this though – if Segal was somehow able to make a real comeback, I could think of nothing better than to do it with his ass kicking navy cook character, CASEY RYBACK.

I have always had mixed feeling about Segal. He’s always come across as a guy way too full of himself, although I am a big fan of the Under Siege series. After breaking onto the scene with ABOVE THE LAW in 1988, he went on to do successful B movie fare like HARD TO KILL, MARKED FOR DEATH and OUT FOR JUSTICE. It was 1992’s UNDER SIEGE that Segal elevated his game. Warner Bros upped the ante by increasing the budget in comparison to his other films and surrounding him A-list talent, with names like director ANDREW DAVIS (The Fugitive) and actor TOMMY LEE JONES, who was terrific as the film’s main villain. UNDER SIEGE opened to solid reviews and went on to gross 156,000,000 on a budget of 35,000,000.
His next film in 1994 was ON DEADLY GROUND, an environmental message film that Segal also directed. While watchable, the film was heavy handed and short on action. It also featured a silly over the top performance by MICHEAL CAINE, as the film’s villain. The movie was roasted by critics and an underperformer at the box-office, damaging Segal’s new found status in the business. Segal returned to his most high profile property in 1995, reprising the role of Casey Ryback in UNDER SIEGE 2, with the action taking place on a train this time around. Surprisingly, at least to me, Warner Bros didn’t screen the film in advance for critics, although it received a THUMBS UP on the AT THE MOVIES show by both Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. I remember going to see it at a matinee the day it opened and enjoyed it very much. It’s a film I still watch almost every time I stumble upon it on TV.

With his star starting to fall hard, Segal took a small role in EXECUTIVE DECISION (1996) starring KURT RUSSELL in which his character is killed off in the first 30 minutes of its running time. It’s actually one of the most surreal moments in movie history as nobody expected it. After starring in the poorly received bomb, THE GLIMMER MAN the same year, the fledgling action star went on to do another environmental themed film, FIRE DOWN BELOW. The movie was a watch-able time killer but nothing more! That would be the last time I paid to see Segal on the big screen. Despite a try at a comeback in films like EXIT WOUNDS (not very good) in 2001 and HALF PAST DEAD (even worse) in 2002, Segal was relinquished to a career of straight to DVD features.

So now he’s talking about a big screen return in a third Under Siege film. For his sake I hope it happens, but I just can’t see a major studio, or even private investor, forking over the type of budget to make it viable. We’ll have to see how this plays out.  Still, his legacy as an action hero has been solidified with the Under Siege films and his earlier work before them – are always a fun watch!

October 4, 2008 Posted by Entertainment Today & Beyond | And Beyond - Trailers & News | Exit Wounds, Fire Down Below, Half Past Dead, Steven Segal, The Glimmer Man, Under Siege, Under Siege 3 | Leave a Comment