Under Siege 2: Dark Territory is the first formula-thriller of the summer that works -- better than I thought it would. It's an enjoyable trip that includes some innovative action sequences, kick-butt special effects, and more explosions than you can count.

Steven Seagal stars as Casey Ryback, the ex-Navy SEAL-turned cook, who shish kabobs bad guys faster than he dices ham. Last time we caught up with him on a soon to be decomissioned battleship. This time he's on the Grand Continental train with his lovely niece Sarah (Katherine Heigl), on their way to Los Angeles.

Complicating his vacation is a team of terrorists headed by Travis Dane (Eric Bogosian), who plans to hijack a satellite orbiting Earth via this mobile headquarters. The new satellite is top secret -- and for good reason. The US Air Force has developed the orbiting platform as a new super weapon. It can cause ruptures in the Earth's crust; a sort of earthquake inducer. Travis plans to target the Pentagon's subterranean nuclear reactor, and in one quick blast reduce it and half of the east coast to rubble.

Of course Seagal has the gumption, and enough kitchen knives, to stop him. A train porter (Morris Chestnut) becomes his timid side-kick, and gets rescued a number of times by Seagal's last minute timing.

Eric Bogosian as the evil techno-psycho taunts his former employers at the US Air Force, and he does a fairly good job with his underwritten character.

What will get your blood rushing is the final climax. I'll only supply you with the location and props for the big finale: It involves two trains, two F-117 stealth fighter-bombers, a helicopter, 200 passengers, a grenade, an orbiting satellite, the fate of the East Coast, the SEAL's niece, and of course one pissed off cook; all colliding head-on over a bridge. Great ending compared to Judge Dredd and Die Hard With a Vengence.

Had the film had a bit more intelligence and better actors it would have been four stars. Naturally Seagal can't act, but at least he down plays it in this one, whispering half his lines.

While most sequels can't muster half the muscle of the original, I was pleased to find at least one release this summer which can.

Copyright (c) 1995 Tony Zidek