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Nico (Above The Law to the Americans) is the most autobiographical of Steven Seagal’s films, if only for the opening scene, which depicts his early adult life in Japan as an Aikido instructor. From thereon, it goes down the political route, showcasing Vietnam-related war/protest footage and Richard Nixon when he made his famous speech about no one being "above the law".

Some critics have described the film as "anti-authoritarian" in that sense, and to an extent I agree. This is basically a story of good-guy ex-soldier/cop "Nico" Toscani (Seagal) attempting to overcome corruption within the local police, CIA, FBI and many other agencies, all of which are involved in a complex drug trafficking business. Kurt Zagon (Henry Silva) is at the peak of the corruption, and though Nico is soon stripped of his badge for getting too close to the truth, his desire to outdo the bad guys keeps him defending the civil liberties of the good people around him.

And so, bodies take bullets, bones get broken and limbs are sliced off, but not to the extent that you'd expect from a Steven Seagal movie. Actually, Nico tries so hard to be a "proper" movie that it goes overboard with the storyline, and ends up dragging out much longer than it should. Seagal is wasted for a lot of the time comforting his on-screen wife (Sharon Stone), who annoyingly spends all her life sulking, crying and fearing for her family's safety.

It's a shame because when the action scenes do come around, they are actually very well shot and very nicely choreographed (my pick of the bunch comes when Seagal is confronted by a group of bad guys with machetes, baseball bats, guns and knives, and he proceeds to decimate them all). Pam Grier is charming, also, as Nico's partner, and the atmosphere created by Andrew Davis is pretty realistic, so the film does have some credibility.

I still don't think this is quite Seagal's best film, though, in terms of satisfying the viewer's hearty appetite for seeing the Aikido star take revenge (Out For Justice gets my vote on that one). Throughout the seemingly long gaps between action scenes, Seagal just doesn’t have the screen presence or charisma like heavyweights such as Schwarzenegger or Stallone have when it comes to heightening the anticipation, and Nico never really threatens to be anymore than a mediocre action film as a result. It's not horrible, but it is a pretty dull, and you'll find it easy to forget about.

(C) Andy Carrington, 2011.