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Under Siege 2 - Dark Territory
When I was an early teen, my idol and
role model was Steven Seagal. The fascination I had for this
action/martial arts star came about when I went to see one of his movies
at the age of 14. The movie was “Under Siege 2”. My dad took me to our
local cinemas to see it and it was the first real action film I saw at the cinemas. I walked out of that film absolutely blown away by it, especially the final scene.
Towards the end of the film, our hero
learns that the train he is riding is on a collision course with another
train carrying millions of gallons of gasoline. He knows this because
the terrorists that have taken over his train (which he once again
manages to avoid capture by) have set their locomotive on this path to
destroy the train they hijacked, so they can cover their tracks and
escape. Casey Ryback, the character played by Seagal, manages to
disengage the carriages holding all the passengers, who were being held
as hostages. He also gets his niece safely out of the train through the
access hatch in the roof. She hangs onto the bottom of a ladder
suspended from a helicopter, safely hovering above the scene and watches
in horror as the two trains collide.
As the two locomotives smash head-on
into each other, Ryback is thrown like a rag doll and tumbles down to
the end of the carriage. He manages to get up and has one second to
catch a glance of the diesel train of death tearing its way through the
passenger train with no sign of stopping. He runs. Calm and cool as he
always was in the face of danger, Ryback skillfully and tactfully runs
towards the end of this train. Each carriage behind him is smashed to
smithereens and plummets to the base of the canyon below. He knows he
can’t go back. The helicopter is waiting for him with its trusty ladder
at the end of the very last carriage. Ryback runs forward with steadfast
focus and determination. He is not going to let this be the end of him.
He has come too far and fought too long to lose here and now. He killed
the bad guys, stopped Washington from being blown up and rescued the
hostages. All that was left for him to do now was to make it to that
helicopter and spend the rest of his days with his niece, living in
peace. Without about a second left to spare, Ryback makes it to the last
carriage just as it was about to tip down into the dark hole beneath
the bridge it was heading across. He leaps with a grunt to exert himself
forward and grabs the bottom of the ladder with both his hands. He
climbs up it with ease and makes it to the helicopter to see the
remainder of both trains meet their demise in a gigantic ball of flames.
And after all that, he still remains as cool and as calm as he had been
since the entire ordeal began.
This final scene in the film is the one I remember the most after seeing it the first time about 15 years ago. Afterward, my dad and I walked through the shopping centre and I reeled in excitement as I recapped the whole movie to him as if he hadn’t even seen it. We passed by a game arcade and I asked my dad if I could go in and play a “Shoot ‘Em Up” game. He granted my wish and I got my play time. That night at home, I lay in bed wide awake, full of buzz and excitement as I discovered my first true idol. My love for action films of the blockbuster sort had begun. I would go on to see many more after that, but to this day none have had as much as an impact and influence on me as “Under Siege 2”
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