MovieChat Forums > Above the Law (1988) Discussion > Things I Learned From 'Above the Law'

Things I Learned From 'Above the Law'


There's a similar thread on the "Commando" board, and it's hysterical. This classic slice of Reagan-era cheese ought to be just as educational.

1) If you're the hero, you never age at all, even over a period of 20 years. And when you're 22 years old, you'll look like you're 40, but you'll stop aging after that.

2) The best way to train someone in Aikido is to repeatedly beat the hell out of them and then *not* explain what you just did.

3) The CIA ran the Vietnam War, secretly controls the government, and can get to anyone at any time, but they can't look up your address in the phone book to find out where you live.

4) CIA assassins receive absolutely no training in marksmanship or hand-to-hand combat.

5) There are no legal consequences for kidnapping a federal agent, stealing his pants, and making him jump into Lake Michigan.

6) When you're jumping through a plate glass window, there's plenty of time to change your shoes.

7) In a shootout, if you have a choice between going for a gun or throwing your shoe at your opponent, the shoe is never the smart choice.

8) When the CIA plans to kill a US Senator, they have to bring in a sleazy local bar owner... seriously, does anyone understand what that guy from the bar was doing there at the end?

9) Plastic ties are a great way to restrain someone. And if you're tied down with them, you can rip right through them without cutting yourself.

10) Anyone can be a movie star.

Anything else?

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11) "A guy at Princeton" has a bigger database than the CIA.

12) Police officers give Nico their police-issued pistol when his police-issued pistol has been taken away, even though Nico has bags of weapons.

13) Morally upright police officers are more than happy to destroy shop windows for the sake of an interesting scene outside.

14) Trained assassins use the same weapons that third-world guerillas living below the poverty line use. They also wear suits while on the job.

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LOL Funny... especially the aging point.

1. I learned that Steven Seagal is a terrible actor who has shifty eyes.

2. I learned that Steven Seagal has the same facial expression throughout the entire movie.

3. I learned that Steven Seagal weighed like 170 lbs. in this movie, then put on like 200 lbs. over the next 8 years.

4. I learned that if Jean-Claude Van Damme starred in this movie, it would probably be even worse.

(Yeah, mine aren't as funny... whatever! LOL)

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1.If you so much look at seagal funny, youre *beep* thats it.

Even the most primitive society has an inate respect for the insane

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It was on AMC again the other day. "AMC" stands for American Movie Classics, and apparently they're pretty liberal with their definitions.

1) CIA agents who are involved in illegal drug trafficking routinely discuss their narcotics business in front of people they've never met before.

2) Real knife-fighting involves holding the knife with the blade facing you, not the other guy.

3) Having the unarmed hero thrash the knife-wielding head villain in the first ten minutes sort of defuses the tension when they meet again later.

4) In Chicago, the El trains always run on schedule, even when there are guys in adjacent trains shooting at each other.

5) Even in the US, CIA agents routinely chase local cops through crowded public places with guns blazing. If underworld drug lords are involved, they can tag along without raising any suspicions.

6) In Chicago, if you live in an apartment with El tracks running directly below your window, you're allowed to jump on top of passing trains and ride for free.

7) The Chicago police department was built with non-union labor, which is why the walls almost fall over when someone slams a door.

8) Breaking the law is bad, but breaking the law to stop other people who are breaking the law is good.

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[deleted]

[deleted]

First off I have to say I laughed out loud when I read "Cops and gangster's both love a good barbeque" and spit Gatorade out my nose when I read "Stay in school, and stay off drugs, or Nico will find you and write you another note"

Without further ado...

1) Priests have a pretty good tolerance for Dope

2) Pam Greir is a bad ass in any movie...even a Seagal movie

3) Sharon Stone can't act in any movie...even a Seagal movie

4) Henry Silva is, indeed, made of plastic (a theory I've been working on since Cinderfella)

5) I actually own waaaaay more Steven Seagal movies than a person should (12)

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12? Nice. I've got 10 (Above The Law, Hard To Kill, Marked For Death, Under Siege, Under Siege 2, Out For Justice, Fire Down Below, Executive Decision, The Glimmer Man, Exit Wounds)... The only one I still want to get is Belly Of The Beast.

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1) When Nico talks about the C-4 and says "I've burnt that sh%t, I know what it looks like and I know what it smells like" he is really of course talking about the killer Grass back in Nam'

2)When Zagon asks (about Seagall) "who the F*%+K is this Cherry?!" Seagall kicks his ass by jamming his own hand into Zagons knife. This self-defense tactic is somewhat counter-intuitive if your not human or Seagall. Also Seagall wasn't pissed that he was called a cherry, he was just pissed that Zagon was talking about him as if he wasn't in the room. manners people.

3) Nico is the only person who can controll an overdose of heroin just long enough to kill every bad-guy left in the script, thus making an easy resolution and enabling himself to collapse from too much junk.

4) Nico's uncle Branca looks like a walrus Gumbah hitman who has a funny ass name and very similar in looks and name to Blanca from Street Fighter.

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1)Drug deals don't work in broad daylight

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Thingyblahblah,

Rule A : Everyone loves to whine about Seagal movies.
Time for some cheap role reversal.

1) If you're the hero and director, you never age at all. When you're 22 years old, you'll look like you're 40, and you'll never have to sit for hours while some fag applies age make-up.

2) The best way to train yourself in Aikido is to be the person repeatedly beating the hell out of other Aikido students you practice on.

3) A CIA rouge ran the Vietnam Drugs, secretly controls the drugs, and can get to any drugs at any time, that's why he was too stoned to look up an address in the phone book to find out where he lives.

4) CIA assassins receive absolutely no training in marksmanship or hand-to-hand combat since the Church commission, because that would be dangerous and bad. Instead they are top secret undercover operatives on deadly missions at Langley behind a desk with names like Valerie Plame, mother of two bouncing baby twins.

5) There are no legal consequences for kidnapping a federal agent, stealing his pants, and making him jump into Lake Michigan, because they're so egotistical they would never report it, and likely fdrowned since a Langley desk job never teaches flotation or swimming.

6) When you're jumping through a plate glass window, go head first, shoes don't matter.

7) In a shootout, if you have a choice between going for a gun or throwing your shoe at your opponent, the shoe is never the smart choice, unless you were really trained like Maxwell Smart was, back in the day.

8) When the CIA plans to kill a US Senator, they have to bring in a sleazy local bar owner..., like they did when they killed JFK and Jack Ruby the sleazy bar owner shot the fall guy Lee Harvey Oswald. The CIA never changes.

9) Plastic ties are a great way to restrain someone, they use them at Abu Ghraib. And if you're tied down with them, you lucked out and won't be tortured.

10) Anyone can whine about a movie, and they usually do, after they watch the whole thing, the second or third time.

Now the bonus series:

11) Chicago cops love black officer ladies in pink outfits, they all want to "do her". President Lincoln was from Illinois too, there's something in the water.

12) There's a lot of Vitalis hair oil in the Windy City, and Nico owned 51% of the company post production.

13) In the armpit of the Midwest, "boys in the choir" means nefarious criminal elements. The bible belt this isn't.

14) Illegal immigration was supported by the church basements 20 years ago, this crap today is nothing new.

15) Priests in Chicago are tough #$%ks, with smart mouths, and hollywierd spoke truth to power in their movies even in 1988.

Nothing else yet because the movie isn't half over.

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you ruined it man. Everything was going along nicely and then you ruined it.

Long Live Roman

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You didn't even contribute you whiner.

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Let's start a new thread: The things I learned from reading silicondoc post. I'll get things started:

1) is an angry crew member lashing out
2) will watch above the law three more times and actually re-post his initial unfunny post
3) when there are about 8 other way funnier post, he'll write one that totally blows, thus ruining the fun for everyone else
4) thought his post would "liven" the thread

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Another mumbler who didn't type anything funny, and whined about " ruination".
I guess if Seagal commenters can't whine about Seagal, they have to whine about posters. You didn't add anything funny, did you numbnuts?
LOL

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1. we are an empire like the romans, we kill our senators.
2. when italians and blonde anglos have badies they look puerto rican.
3. the 80's ruled

so LMFAO!!!

"It's just so big!"

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1) their will never be another action hero quite like seagal.

2) seagals martial arts teachings

3) one of the most charasmatic stars thats ever grace the silver screen..(he will grace it again like fire and oil)

4) best close range fighters ever cause he wont giv u any room or space to attack him. he finish ya off.

5) very stylish and impeccably best dressed people in hollywood

6) his political views and judgement about the government and cia which was good to c someone showing what corruption we have in the world today

7) their is only one steven seagal (their is no next steven seagal)

8) seagal first and daylight second.

9) seagal is very cool, calm and very deadly fighter.

10) fight scenes are very realistic.

11) it is very difficult in choregraph aikido in fight sequence cause if the stuntmen dont react and can fall properly could injured, paralised or killed

note... aikido can do serious damage to anyone

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lol...
"I too have seen the top of her head" classic

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I learned that there are other things in life than sex.

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1. I learned that if you are going to rip off "Code of Silence", then Pam Grier is a great addition.

2...and that Henry Silva still makes a good villain.

3. Never pick a fight with a skinny guy with a pony tail - he's bound to have anger issues.

4. Always offer to rub you're own face on the cocaine mirror.

5. Randori in a convenience store is great fun.

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5) very stylish and impeccably best dressed people in hollywood
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You are having a laugh!!

And as his waist expands his dress sense gets worse. All those super baggy coats made from ethnic Native American blankets...those jackets with the bones all down the front...the shapeless Chinese style jackets...all designed to try and hide the fact that he's the wrong side of 50 and getting really fat!!

And let's not forget that stupid bloody pony tail.

"..stylish and impeccably best dressed people in hollywood.."??

I've seen wounds better dressed than Seagal!

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And as his waist expands his dress sense gets worse. All those super baggy coats made from ethnic Native American blankets...those jackets with the bones all down the front...the shapeless Chinese style jackets...all designed to try and hide the fact that he's the wrong side of 50 and getting really fat!!


Hee hee... do you suppose there are Seagal fan-fests where his fans debate on which look they think was best, whether it's Wife-Beater Seagal (Above the Law, Hard to Kill), Black Leather Seagal (Marked for Death, Out for Justice), Native American Seagal (On Deadly Ground, The Patriot), Hip-Hop Seagal (Exit Wounds, Half Past Dead), or DTV Baggy Coat Seagal (The Foreigner, Out of Reach)?

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When you're the head bad guy and you're torturing info out of a helpless priest in a sleazy hotel room, you will yell your nefarious plan at the top of your voice ("If you've told anyone about our plans to assassinate the Senator we CAN'T KILL HIM!!!") just in case there are any heroic good guys outside the door listening to make sure you're really in there doing some bad sh!t.

Watch Bedbug on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QI_1YSXt8Y

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When interrogating a priest, it is good technique to change your voice to that of a regurgitating frog and claim that torturing him will bring the torturer and torturee closer together.

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If you're among the bad guys at whom the gun is pointed at by Seagal, never say a phrase "I don't think you can drop us all buddy", as Seagal would then shoot you (and kill you), only to later reply "You're probably right. But I'll get an A for effort".

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For sure, but if I'm not mistaken, the guy said "I don't think you can drop us all, fatass"... what made the scene ironic was that his gut was 4 times the size of Nico's :)

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By the way, why DID Seagal just decide to shoot and kill that guy? I mean, what kind of threat did he pose to Seagal by saying that "I don't think you can drop us all..." line?

Oh, maybe he did say "fatass" instead of "buddy" in that line, though I think on my UK DVD version it's "buddy". It seemed kinda strange that he would shoot the fuy just for saying a threatening line like that. I mean, if he was about to throw the knife at him or something, then yeah, it would've been more justifiable. Anyone else bothered by that part?

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My guess is he shot him because the guy took two steps towards him.. perhaps it was a precursor to future Seagal showdowns where the guy doesn't actually do stuff with the weapons he has, but keeps talking and walking closer, giving our hero the necessary extra 10 minutes to deftly disarm the bad guy :)

What bothered me more was the smarmy guy amongst the henchmen who wouldn't comply with Nico's orders to get down on the ground in the convenience store. It wasn't his disregard for Nico's authority that bothered me, but the fact that a henchman wears a 3-piece suit.

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If you're in a hotel room with one of Nico's cousins full of heroin and plan to smoke pot and you plan on getting physical with her... say your prayers.

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Being an Indian convenience store owner is the hardest job to get by when Steven Seagal is around.



Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.

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ThingyBlahBlah3,
I would soooo attend this fanfest, but it would have to be in Chicago, at the Fulton Meat Market, where it all (sort of) began :) Maybe we should all just plan it ourselves, and all ten of us in the USA could show up. If anyone knows Andrew Davis, we should convince him to help make it happen.

By the way, don't forget about Oversized Long-Sleeve Shirt Seagal (Pistol Whipped) and Chinese Jacket Seagal (Glimmer Man)

I still go with Wife-Beater Seagal though, only because Above The Law is boss.

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Ive learned that lady cops need boyfriends too! lol!

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I learned an almost non-human running style ... it appears that Nico's hands guide the rythm of his legs.

Big fat guys are the easiest ones for Seagal

Beware of barthenders as they are somehow connected with the CIA

Even when its obvios that seagal is getting away in the car you still have to obey him into jumping to the water

AIkido makes you look the same from 22 to 40

Always beware as Nico can choke you from any position

Photos are not good to intimadate

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