Under Siege 2: Dark Territory

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Under Siege 2: Dark Territory

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory movie poster
Directed by Geoff Murphy
Produced by Arnon Milchan,
Steve Perry,
Steven Seagal
Written by J.F. Lawton (characters),
Richard Hatem,
Matt Reeves
Starring Steven Seagal,
Eric Bogosian,
Katherine Heigl,
Morris Chestnut,
Everett McGill
Music by Basil Poledouris
Cinematography Robbie Greenberg
Editing by Michael Tronick
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) July 14,1995
Running time 99 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $60,000,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue $104,324,083
Preceded by Under Siege

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory is a 1995 action film set on board a train traveling through the Rocky Mountains from Denver to Los Angeles. Directed by Geoff Murphy, it stars Steven Seagal as the ex-Navy SEAL, Casey Ryback and is the sequel to the 1992 film Under Siege also starring Seagal. The film was produced by Seagal along with Arnon Milchan and Steve Perry.

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[edit] Synopsis

Casey Ryback (Steven Seagal) has now retired from the Navy, and is now a chef at the Mile High Cafe in Denver, Colorado. Ryback is taking his niece Sarah Ryback (played by a then-unknown Katherine Heigl) on a trip to Los Angeles to visit the grave of Ryback's brother, who was Sarah's father. They board a train traveling through the Rocky Mountains from Denver to Los Angeles.

Travis Dane (center) with Mr. Penn (left) and Female Mercenary (right)

As the train proceeds through the Rockies, two people wave down the train on the track. The driver and an engineer step out to consult with the two people and are shot dead. It is then that a group of mercenaries led by computer genius Travis Dane (Eric Bogosian) and mercenary leader Penn (Everett McGill) hijack the train. Dane is a satellite programming expert who had worked on a top secret satellite laser weapon called "Grazer One". Dane had been fired because of his eccentric ego and then faked his death. They herd all the passengers and remaining staff into the last two cars and cut all the train's phone lines. Two of his former DoD colleagues are on board the train heading to Los Angeles to hide their romantic relationship which goes against DoD regulations. Dane has them brought to him and mentions that it is against DoD regulations for two employees to be romantically involved with each other. When one asks if that is what the whole thing is about, Dane replies with "Yeah, I faked my own death and hijacked a passenger train because I care about who you're fucking". He threatens to have one of his mercenaries insert a burning needle into their eye, causing it to explode, unless they give him the codes needed to take over Grazer One. They give him the codes and Dane says they are no longer needed, after which the first one is tossed out of the train and shot at. The other one is pushed off the train when it is crossing a bridge about 100 feet over a river. Both of them die.

Dane is hooked up with Middle Eastern terrorists who have offered him one billion dollars to use the satellite to destroy the Eastern seaboard by targeting a nuclear reactor that is under the Pentagon. Dane uses Grazer One to blow up a Chinese chemical plant in order to demonstrate Grazer One's capabilities to his investors and, after one investor offers 100 million dollars, Dane destroys an airliner carrying the investor's ex-wife.

The US government cannot stop Dane because they cannot locate his headquarters and cannot target Grazer 1 because Dane creates fifty "ghost satellites" to hide the location of the real Grazer 1. When officials destroy what they think is Grazer 1, it turns out that they really destroyed the NSA's best intelligence satellite. As long as the train keeps moving, his location cannot be fixed . Casey Ryback, who has discovered the plot, decides to take matters into his own hands. Ryback enlists a porter named Bobby Zachs (Morris Chestnut) to help him go after Dane. He also manages to send a message to the owner of the restaurant he works at and his good friend. From here on, Ryback kills the mercenaries one by one as he confronts each of them in various stages of the film, using various guns, melee weapons, and even a homemade firebomb.

Penn holding Ryback's niece Sarah at gunpoint

After Penn takes Sarah as bait for Ryback, Ryback confronts Penn, who is aware of Ryback's military past. A lethal knife fight ensues between them. Ryback disarms and kills Penn by breaking his neck, afterward quoting, "No one beats me in the kitchen." He then finds Dane who is about to depart in a chopper hovering over the train. When Dane informs Ryback that there is no way to stop the satellite from destroying Washington, Ryback shoots him, the bullet destroying his computer and knocks Dane out a window, causing Dane to say "Didn't think of that" before falling out of the train. Dane seemingly dies after falling from the train off of a bridge. The control of the satellite is restored at the Pentagon where it is destroyed by remote control, one second before it would have carried out the Pentagon targeting.

Meanwhile, the train collides with an approaching freight train (carrying several gasoline tank cars) head on, resulting in a massive collision and explosion. Ryback manages to escape from the train by grabbing a rope ladder hanging from the chopper above. Sarah and the porter, who have taken control of the chopper, reel Ryback in. Dane, who is revealed to have survived the gunshot, the fall, and the collision, has also caught the ladder and attempts to climb onto the helicopter while yelling that he and Ryback should join forces. Ryback barely looks at him before he slides the door shut, severing Dane's fingers and causing Dane to fall into the explosion below to his death. Ryback then informs Pentagon that the passengers are safe as he had previously detached the passenger section from the rest of the train.

The film ends with Ryback and Sarah paying their final respects at her father's gravestone.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Critical response

The original Under Siege was Seagal's best reviewed film, but its sequel received mixed reviews. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a three-star rating in his review, while Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "the action upstaged the actors."

[edit] Box office

At the box office Under Siege 2 opened in 2,150 theaters and made $12,624,402 with a hefty $5,871 average for the weekend. At the end of its domestic run it totaled a $50,024,083 in receipts and $104,324,083 worldwide. In comparison to the first film and with its $65 million budget, it was seen as a minor disappointment.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Siege_2:_Dark_Territory"
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