Director: Andrew Davis
Screenplay: Steven Pressfield, Ronald Shusett and Andrew Davis
Starring: Steven Seagal, Pam Grier, Henry Silva, Sharon Stone, Daniel Faraldo, Ron Dean, Jack Wallace, Chelcie Ross, Joe V. Greco, Miguel Nino, Thalmas Rasulala, Nicholas Kusenko, Gregory Alan Williams
Country: United States
Running Time: 99 Min
Year: 1988
BBFC Certificate: 18
Action star Steven Seagal was catapulted to worldwide fame in 1992 with the global hit Under Siege. It was his most successful film yet and came after four films that were a box office success, with Seagal’s star on the rise.
Those movies were Hard to Kill (1990), Marked for Death (1990), Out for Justice (1991) and Seagal’s 1988 debut feature Above the Law, also known as Nico, in which he co-starred with Pam Grier, Henry Silva and Sharon Stone.
Directed by Andrew Davis and filmed on location in the director’s hometown of Chicago, the film follows former Special Operations veteran Nico Toscani (Steven Seagal), recruited by the CIA during the Vietnam War. We learn of his back story growing up – including real archival photos of Seagal – and of a Vietnam operation where he locked horns with another agent Kurt Zagon (Henry Silva) for the latter’s torture of prisoners.
Years later we find Nico is an Aikido expert and Chicago detective sergeant in the vice squad who is investigating a drug ring with his new partner Delores “Jacks” Jackson (Pam Grier). Nico is now married to Sara (Sharon Stone) and has a newborn child, who we meet at their christening.
Nico investigates arrests some suspects as part of his investigation into the drug ring. All seems to be going well until the suspects are allowed to walk free without charge and Nico forced to give up his badge and gun.
This doesn’t stop our hero though who decides to take matters into his own hands, alongside Detective Jacks to try to take down a crime boss. That crime boss’s name? Kurt Zagon, who Nico had a confrontation with in Vietnam.
The film is an important one, not least for being Seagal’s debut but also as it is seen as being the first American film to feature aikido in fight sequences.
Above the Law is a good vehicle for Seagal to introduce him to cinema audiences. I’ve never found him to be the most charismatic of leading men, but he’s solid here though not the most natural in delivering his lines. He has a screen presence and his chemistry with Grier and Stone isn’t bad at all, though.
But it’s for his action sequences that most fans will be tuning in, and we get a good showcase of his ability in some well-choreographed fights and set pieces. They include an opening bar room brawl as Nico tries to find information, gun fights and car chases. In all these elements it’s an entertaining action film.
The cinematography by Robert Steadman captures the streets of Chicago well, with some occasional flourishes like the POV of a car during a car chase, and the location filming in Chicago, which gives the movie a real sense of time and place.
Outside of Seagal, the rest of the cast play their parts well. Grier is her usual magnetic screen presence and very likeable, and perennial tough guy Henry Silva is a vicious and nasty villain who the film would have benefited from being on screen more. He is surrounded by henchmen who are essentially collateral damage for Nico to fight through.
Stone’s part is relatively small but she looks every inch the star and it’s almost a bridging role from bigger earlier roles in the likes of King Solomon’s Mines (1985) and Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987) to bigger future stardom with Total Recall (1990) and Basic Instinct (1992), amongst others.
Also look out for blink and you’ll miss it appearances by Michael Rooker and John C.Reilly, who both appear during the opening bar brawl. The latter is an uncredited extra.
The story is nothing we haven’t seen before but it’s engaging and kept me entertained throughout. On the less positive front though, is the film being very much a product of its time with a string of racial slurs and other questionable language, particularly in the Vietnam sequence. They really jarred with me in 2026.
But overall, Above the Law is a good showcase for debutant Steen Seagal and, in Henry Silva, has a strong villain. It is always a pleasure to see Pam Grier and the film also provides an opportunity to see an early role for Sharon Stone. Whilst it is a been there and seen that story, it’s told in a solid way, there are some good and effective action sequences and the film is fast paced and builds to a memorable climax with a brief but vicious final fight.
Film: 
Above the Law is released on dual format 4K UHD and Blu-ray by Toy Robot Video on 9 November 2026. The new 4K restoration from the original camera negative and approved by director Davis is a really good one. The film looks fantastic throughout with lots of fine detail and a natural look and level of grain. It also sounds great, with dialogue crystal clear, sound effects popping and the score shining through.
Special Features:
New 4K restoration from the original camera negative, approved by director Andrew Davis
New audio commentary with director Andrew Davis and actress Pam Grier
New Sounds of Seagal, interview with composer David Michael Frank
Archival interview with Steven Seagal during the promotion of Above the Law
Theatrical Trailer (new 2K scan from the interpositive)
The new audio commentary is a really strong one with Davis providing lots of neat details about the background to the making of the film and some of the sequences, while Grier is warm and engaging and provides some levity as she watches the film and her comments add a richness alongside the facts and background detail. It is very entertaining.
Composer David Michael Frank is interviewed for the disc’s other new extra, a wide-ranging 17-minute piece which runs through how he got into music, the earliest record he was ever bought and other influences, such as Broadway shows. He talks about the score for the film too. It is a really good interview. Frank is engaging throughout and really interesting to listen to. I’m a huge film score fan, so always enjoy hearing from composers or watching appreciations of scores.
The archival interview with Seagal runs for 15 minutes. Seagal shares how he got into being an actor, his thoughts on violence in films, and some background on the film. There are also some interesting comments on him at the time being the next big action star.
The theatrical trailer – in which the film is called Nico – runs for just over a minute and took me right back to the 1980s in its delivery. There are some cracking lines from the voiceover guy to sell the film.
A trailer for the home video release of the film runs for 20 seconds and is a nice inclusion.
In closing, Toy Robot Video have provided a strong release for Steven Seagal’s debut Above the Law. The new restoration is great, meaning the film itself is well presented and this is supplemented by a great new commentary and interview with the film’s composer.
Disc/Package: 