Under Siege 2: Dark Territory
Encyclopedia
Under Siege 2: Dark Territory is a 1995 American 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. The film's cast was made up of cameos and supporting roles by Everett McGill
, Peter Greene
, Kurtwood Smith
and a young Katherine Heigl
. Nick Mancuso
, Andy Romano
, and Dale Dye
were the only other cast members besides Seagal to reprise their roles from the first film.
) has retired from the U.S. Navy and is a chef at the Mile High Cafe in Denver, Colorado
. Ryback is taking his estranged niece Sarah Ryback (Katherine Heigl
) to Los Angeles
to visit the grave of Ryback's brother (Sarah's father). They board the Grand Continental, a train traveling through the Rocky Mountains from Denver to Los Angeles.
As the train proceeds through the Rocky Mountains, it is flagged down by two men. The engineer and the brakeman step out and are gunned down. A group of terrorists led by computer genius Travis Dane (Eric Bogosian
) and mercenary leader Marcus Penn (Everett McGill
) then hijack the train, cutting the train's phone lines, and taking the passengers as well as the staff hostage by herding them into the last two train cars. However, Ryback manages to slip away by hiding in the cool room of the kitchen after he killed one of the mercenary. Dane is a classic mad scientist, a evil genius of physics who worked on a top secret military satellite particle weapon called Grazer One. The military had fired Dane and then he faked his own death. Two of Dane's former Department of Defense
colleagues are on board the train, hiding their romantic relationship that goes against Department of Defense regulations. Dane has them brought to him and 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 then are thrown from the train, killing them Ryback sees this from the roof.
Middle Eastern terrorists have offered Dane one billion dollars to destroy the Eastern seaboard
by using Grazer One to target a nuclear reactor located under the Pentagon. Dane destroys a Chinese chemical plant in order to demonstrate Grazer One's capabilities to his investors and, after one investor offers an additional 100 million dollars, Dane destroys an airliner carrying the investor's ex-wife.
The U.S. government can't locate Dane's headquarters and can't target Grazer One because Dane creates fifty "ghost satellites" to hide the location of the real Grazer One. When officials destroy what they think is Grazer One, it turns out that they destroyed the NSA's best intelligence satellite. As long as the train keeps moving, his location can't be fixed. Ryback, who has discovered the plot, takes matters into his own hands. Ryback enlists an eager porter named Bobby Zachs (Morris Chestnut
) to help him. He also sends a message to the owner of the Mile High Cafe, with whom he is friendly. Ryback successfully manages to kill the mercenaries one by one. Bobby discovers that they are on the wrong tracks and are on a collision course with a Southern Pacific freight train carrying several gasoline tank cars.
After Penn takes Sarah as bait for Ryback, Ryback confronts Penn, who is aware of Ryback's military past. Ryback ultimately disarms and kills Penn by breaking his neck. 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 injuring Dane, who fall out of a window of the train. Control of the satellite is restored at the Pentagon and it is destroyed by remote control one second before it would have fired on the Pentagon, just before the two trains collide head on.
The crash happens on a trestle which results in a massive explosion that destroys the bridge. Ryback escapes from the train by grabbing a rope ladder hanging from the chopper above. The bloodied Dane, who is revealed to have survived the gunshot and the crash, has also caught the ladder and attempts to climb onto the helicopter while screaming for his life. Ryback slides the door shut, severing Dane's fingers and causing him to fall to his death into the explosion below. Ryback informs the Pentagon that the passengers are safe, as he previously detached the last 2 cars from the rest of the train. Ryback and Sarah pay their final respects at her father's gravestone.
of the Chicago Sun-Times
gave the film a three-star rating in his review, while Peter Rainer of the The Los Angeles Times wrote that "the action upstaged the actors." Despite these positive reviews, the film has 34% positive professional critical ratings at Rotten Tomatoes and hence is certified Rotten.
in 2,150 theaters and made $12,624,402 with a hefty $5,871 average for the weekend.
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
from Denver to Los Angeles. Directed by Geoff Murphy
Geoff Murphy
Geoff Murphy is a successful New Zealand filmmaker best known for his work during the renaissance of New Zealand cinema that began in the last half of the 1970s....
, it stars Steven Seagal
Steven Seagal
Steven Frederic Seagal is an American action film star, producer, writer, martial artist, guitarist and reserve deputy sheriff. A 7th-dan black belt in Aikido, Seagal began his adult life as an Aikido instructor in Japan...
as the ex-Navy SEAL
United States Navy SEALs
The United States Navy's Sea, Air and Land Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's principal special operations force and a part of the Naval Special Warfare Command as well as the maritime component of the United States Special Operations Command.The acronym is derived from their...
, Casey Ryback
Casey Ryback
Casey Ryback is a fictional character and action hero from the Under Siege films of the 1990s. Played by Hollywood action star Steven Seagal, Ryback is a Chief Petty Officer and former Navy SEAL operator turned chef with top training in martial arts, explosives, special-weapons and tactics...
and is the sequel to the 1992 film Under Siege
Under Siege
Under Siege is a 1992 American action film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Steven Seagal as a former Navy SEAL who must stop a group of mercenaries, led by Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey, on a U.S. Navy battleship...
also starring Seagal. The film was produced by Seagal along with Arnon Milchan
Arnon Milchan
Arnon Milchan is a film producer, Israeli intelligence agent, and arms dealer. Milchan produced many films such as The War of the Roses, Once Upon a Time in America, Pretty Woman, Natural Born Killers, Under Siege, The Devil's Advocate, The Fountain, Unfaithful, L.A. Confidential and many others...
and Steve Perry. The film's cast was made up of cameos and supporting roles by Everett McGill
Everett McGill
Everett McGill is an American actor, best known for mostly playing villains in films like Licence to Kill, Silver Bullet, Dune, Yanks and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory.-Life and career:...
, Peter Greene
Peter Greene
Peter Greene is an American character actor.A native of Montclair, New Jersey, Greene did not pursue a career in acting until his mid 20s...
, Kurtwood Smith
Kurtwood Smith
Kurtwood Larson Smith is an American television and film actor. He is best known for playing Clarence Boddicker in RoboCop and stern parental characters , and for his appearances in the genre of science fiction...
and a young Katherine Heigl
Katherine Heigl
Katherine Marie Heigl is an American actress and producer. She is possibly best known for her role as Dr. Izzie Stevens on ABC's Grey's Anatomy from 2005 to 2010, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series in 2007...
. Nick Mancuso
Nick Mancuso
Nicodemo Antonio Massimo "Nick" Mancuso is a Canadian cinema and stage actor.-Career:Mancuso was born in Mammola, Calabria, Italy and immigrated to Canada in 1956...
, Andy Romano
Andy Romano
Andy Romano is an American actor, known for playing "J.D." in the 1960s Beach Party movies ....
, and Dale Dye
Dale Dye
Dale Adam Dye is an American actor, presenter, businessman, and retired U.S. Marine captain who served in combat during the Vietnam War.-Early life & Marine service:...
were the only other cast members besides Seagal to reprise their roles from the first film.
Plot
Casey Ryback (Steven SeagalSteven Seagal
Steven Frederic Seagal is an American action film star, producer, writer, martial artist, guitarist and reserve deputy sheriff. A 7th-dan black belt in Aikido, Seagal began his adult life as an Aikido instructor in Japan...
) has retired from the U.S. Navy and is a chef at the Mile High Cafe in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
. Ryback is taking his estranged niece Sarah Ryback (Katherine Heigl
Katherine Heigl
Katherine Marie Heigl is an American actress and producer. She is possibly best known for her role as Dr. Izzie Stevens on ABC's Grey's Anatomy from 2005 to 2010, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series in 2007...
) to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to visit the grave of Ryback's brother (Sarah's father). They board the Grand Continental, a train traveling through the Rocky Mountains from Denver to Los Angeles.
As the train proceeds through the Rocky Mountains, it is flagged down by two men. The engineer and the brakeman step out and are gunned down. A group of terrorists led by computer genius Travis Dane (Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...
) and mercenary leader Marcus Penn (Everett McGill
Everett McGill
Everett McGill is an American actor, best known for mostly playing villains in films like Licence to Kill, Silver Bullet, Dune, Yanks and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory.-Life and career:...
) then hijack the train, cutting the train's phone lines, and taking the passengers as well as the staff hostage by herding them into the last two train cars. However, Ryback manages to slip away by hiding in the cool room of the kitchen after he killed one of the mercenary. Dane is a classic mad scientist, a evil genius of physics who worked on a top secret military satellite particle weapon called Grazer One. The military had fired Dane and then he faked his own death. Two of Dane's former Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
colleagues are on board the train, hiding their romantic relationship that goes against Department of Defense regulations. Dane has them brought to him and 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 then are thrown from the train, killing them Ryback sees this from the roof.
Middle Eastern terrorists have offered Dane one billion dollars to destroy the Eastern seaboard
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
by using Grazer One to target a nuclear reactor located under the Pentagon. Dane destroys a Chinese chemical plant in order to demonstrate Grazer One's capabilities to his investors and, after one investor offers an additional 100 million dollars, Dane destroys an airliner carrying the investor's ex-wife.
The U.S. government can't locate Dane's headquarters and can't target Grazer One because Dane creates fifty "ghost satellites" to hide the location of the real Grazer One. When officials destroy what they think is Grazer One, it turns out that they destroyed the NSA's best intelligence satellite. As long as the train keeps moving, his location can't be fixed. Ryback, who has discovered the plot, takes matters into his own hands. Ryback enlists an eager porter named Bobby Zachs (Morris Chestnut
Morris Chestnut
Morris L. Chestnut is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles as teenage father Ricky Baker in the 1991 film Boyz n the Hood, groom-to-be Lance Sullivan in the 1999 film The Best Man, as Tracy Reynolds, NBA star in the 2002 film Like Mike, and as the Visitor Ryan in the...
) to help him. He also sends a message to the owner of the Mile High Cafe, with whom he is friendly. Ryback successfully manages to kill the mercenaries one by one. Bobby discovers that they are on the wrong tracks and are on a collision course with a Southern Pacific freight train carrying several gasoline tank cars.
After Penn takes Sarah as bait for Ryback, Ryback confronts Penn, who is aware of Ryback's military past. Ryback ultimately disarms and kills Penn by breaking his neck. 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 injuring Dane, who fall out of a window of the train. Control of the satellite is restored at the Pentagon and it is destroyed by remote control one second before it would have fired on the Pentagon, just before the two trains collide head on.
The crash happens on a trestle which results in a massive explosion that destroys the bridge. Ryback escapes from the train by grabbing a rope ladder hanging from the chopper above. The bloodied Dane, who is revealed to have survived the gunshot and the crash, has also caught the ladder and attempts to climb onto the helicopter while screaming for his life. Ryback slides the door shut, severing Dane's fingers and causing him to fall to his death into the explosion below. Ryback informs the Pentagon that the passengers are safe, as he previously detached the last 2 cars from the rest of the train. Ryback and Sarah pay their final respects at her father's gravestone.
Cast
- Steven SeagalSteven SeagalSteven Frederic Seagal is an American action film star, producer, writer, martial artist, guitarist and reserve deputy sheriff. A 7th-dan black belt in Aikido, Seagal began his adult life as an Aikido instructor in Japan...
as Lt. Casey RybackCasey RybackCasey Ryback is a fictional character and action hero from the Under Siege films of the 1990s. Played by Hollywood action star Steven Seagal, Ryback is a Chief Petty Officer and former Navy SEAL operator turned chef with top training in martial arts, explosives, special-weapons and tactics... - Eric BogosianEric BogosianEric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...
as Travis Dane - Everett McGillEverett McGillEverett McGill is an American actor, best known for mostly playing villains in films like Licence to Kill, Silver Bullet, Dune, Yanks and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory.-Life and career:...
as Marcus Penn - Katherine HeiglKatherine HeiglKatherine Marie Heigl is an American actress and producer. She is possibly best known for her role as Dr. Izzie Stevens on ABC's Grey's Anatomy from 2005 to 2010, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series in 2007...
as Sarah Ryback - Morris ChestnutMorris ChestnutMorris L. Chestnut is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles as teenage father Ricky Baker in the 1991 film Boyz n the Hood, groom-to-be Lance Sullivan in the 1999 film The Best Man, as Tracy Reynolds, NBA star in the 2002 film Like Mike, and as the Visitor Ryan in the...
as Bobby Zachs - Nick MancusoNick MancusoNicodemo Antonio Massimo "Nick" Mancuso is a Canadian cinema and stage actor.-Career:Mancuso was born in Mammola, Calabria, Italy and immigrated to Canada in 1956...
as Tom Breaker - Brenda BakkeBrenda BakkeBrenda Jean Bakke is an American actress better known for her roles as Lana Turner in L.A. Confidential, Michelle Rodham Huddleston in Hot Shots! Part Deux, where she plays a spoof on Sharon Stone's character from Basic Instinct, Cordelia the prostitute in Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight and...
as Captain Linda Gilder - Dale Payne as Train Conductor
- Peter GreenePeter GreenePeter Greene is an American character actor.A native of Montclair, New Jersey, Greene did not pursue a career in acting until his mid 20s...
as Mercenary #1 - Patrick KilpatrickPatrick KilpatrickRobert Donald Kilpatrick, Jr. is an American character actor with over 85 film and TV appearances to his credit. He made his film debut relatively late in 1985 with The Toxic Avenger.-Life and career:...
as Mercenary #2 - Scott SowersScott SowersScott Sowers is an American actor.He appeared in the 1995 film Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, and has played detectives and police officers in various television series, including Cracker, where he played Detective Parker from 1997 to 1999. He appeared in A Season for Miracles and Law & Order:...
as Mercenary #3 - Afifi Alaouie as Female Mercenary
- Andy RomanoAndy RomanoAndy Romano is an American actor, known for playing "J.D." in the 1960s Beach Party movies ....
as Admiral Bates - Dale DyeDale DyeDale Adam Dye is an American actor, presenter, businessman, and retired U.S. Marine captain who served in combat during the Vietnam War.-Early life & Marine service:...
as Captain Garza - Kurtwood SmithKurtwood SmithKurtwood Larson Smith is an American television and film actor. He is best known for playing Clarence Boddicker in RoboCop and stern parental characters , and for his appearances in the genre of science fiction...
as General Stanley Cooper - David Gianopoulos as Captain David Trilling
- Sandra TaylorSandra TaylorSandra Taylor , also known as Sandi Korn, is an American model and actress.Under the name Sandi Korn, she was the March 1991 Penthouse Pet of the Month...
as Kelly (Barmaid) - Jonathan BanksJonathan BanksJonathan Ray Banks is an American actor in film and television.Banks was born in Washington, D.C. in 1947. His mother worked for the CIA. Banks attended Indiana University Bloomington where he was a classmate of Kevin Kline...
as Scotty (Mercenary) - Royce D. ApplegateRoyce D. ApplegateRoyce D. Applegate was an American actor and screenwriter. Born in Oklahoma, his most visible role was that of Chief Petty Officer Manilow Crocker on the first season of the Steven Spielberg-produced television series seaQuest DSV.In 1985, Applegate played tragic family man-turned-kidnapper Donald...
as Ryback's Cook
Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
gave the film a three-star rating in his review, while Peter Rainer of the The Los Angeles Times wrote that "the action upstaged the actors." Despite these positive reviews, the film has 34% positive professional critical ratings at Rotten Tomatoes and hence is certified Rotten.
Box office
Under Siege 2 opened at #2 at the box office under Apollo 13Apollo 13 (film)
Apollo 13 is a 1995 American drama film directed by Ron Howard. The film stars Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Kathleen Quinlan and Ed Harris. The screenplay by William Broyles, Jr...
in 2,150 theaters and made $12,624,402 with a hefty $5,871 average for the weekend.
External links
- Under Siege 2: Dark Territory at Rotten Tomatoes
- Under Siege 2: Dark Territory trailer