Nico (film)

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Movie
German title Nico
Original title Above the law
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1988
length 99 minutes
Age rating FSK 18
Rod
Director Andrew Davis
script Andrew Davis,
Steven Pressfield ,
Ronald Shusett
production Andrew Davis,
Steven Seagal
music David Michael Frank
camera Robert Steadman
cut Michael Brown
occupation
synchronization

Nico (Original title: Above the Law ) is an American action thriller from 1988 directed by Andrew Davis . The film premiered in the USA on April 8, 1988, and in Germany on July 7, 1988. The German dubbing was carried out by Cine Adaption GmbH, Munich.

action

The film begins with Nico Toscani, a child born in Palermo who immigrated to the USA , telling the story of his life.

At the age of 17 he left his family and moved to Japan for several years , where he studied Aikido . Through his combat experience, he drew the CIA's attention and was recruited by special agent Nelson Fox. In 1973 he carried out operations in the Vietnam War. There he met Kurt Zagon, a kind of torturer for the American secret service. After Nico saw Kurt Zagon use violence against prisoners of war, he returned to Chicago, where he immigrated as a 7-year-old.

About 15 years later he leads a decent life with his wife and child. Nico works for the CPD (Chicago Police Department) drug department. With his partner Delores Jackson he is investigating a drug gang around the cocaine dealer Tony Salvano. The attempt to arrest the gang boss succeeds, but the next day Salvano and his followers are released again. The police and especially Nico are prohibited from investigating any further.

Later, the priest of Nico's parish is killed by an explosion during a mass. The present Nico recognizes the woman who planted the bomb: he saw her previously accompanied by Tony Salvano. Fox advises Nico to move his family to a safer place as he is in danger. Suspended because of his unauthorized investigation into Salvano, Nico researches on his own and finds out that Salvano is connected to Zagon and that the money raised through drug trafficking is invested in paramilitaries through corrupt top CIA officials. Zagon was accused of human rights abuse and planning the murder of Senator Ernest Harrison by a Central American priest, who in turn was protected by Nico's priest. While Zagon is torturing the priest, Nico and Jackson burst in and a shootout breaks out in which both are wounded. Nico has to flee.

Senator Harrison is investigating Zoon's group to uncover their covert operations and drug trafficking. When Nico finds out that Zagon killed the priest and continues to plan to kill Harrison, he pursues Zagon. Nico meets Fox, but they are surprised by Zagon's men. Fox is killed, Nico captured and tortured in the kitchen of a hotel during a Harrison campaign rally. Before Zagon can kill Harrison, Nico frees himself and kills Zagon and his remaining men. He then meets Senator Harrison. He thanks him for his actions and promises justice. Nico says he is now ready to testify about his experience with Zagon and covert CIA operations .

Finally, Nico points out the need to keep the CIA and its members in check to prevent them from thinking they are above the law.

Reviews

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times on April 8, 1988 that Steven Seagal did not seem like a "professional actor." Ebert described Seagal's performance as "efficient" anyway. He asked if Seagal could become the new "star" of the action films as many people would claim and noted that Seagal had the "potential" to do so ("he has the stuff").

"Smoothly staged brutal action thriller that uses common genre patterns effectively, but hardly gains a distinctive profile."

- Lexicon of international film

background

  • In addition to the shortened FSK-16 version with a length of 93 minutes, which was released on VHS and DVD in Germany and broadcast on television, the uncut FSK-18 version with a length of 95 minutes has also been available on DVD since 2006. In the USA this version has a running length of approx. 99 minutes. The four more minutes are due to the difference between the broadcast formats PAL and NTSC, i.e. the 99 minutes are NTSC minutes and correspond to 95 PAL minutes. See also PAL Speed-up .
  • The film was shot in California , Chicago and Hawaii .
  • Box office earnings were approximately $ 18.9 million and production costs were $ 7.5 million.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Nico . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2006 (PDF; test number: 60 093 DVD).
  2. ^ Nico (1988) German synchronous card index . Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  3. ^ Review by Roger Ebert
  4. ↑ Nico. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  5. ^ Filming Locations for Above the Law
  6. ^ Box office / business for Above the Law