Line #30 Film/UnderSiege2DarkTerritory


1	[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f04e2ace5449d2b7d898449e28c032ec.jpg]]
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3	''Under Siege 2: Dark Territory'' is the 1995 sequel to 1992's ''Film/UnderSiege'', starring Creator/StevenSeagal.
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5	When Casey Ryback is travelling with his niece by [[ThrillerOnTheExpress train]], a group of mercenaries led by a former government operative hijack it. The terrorists plot to commandeer a new orbital satellite-based superweapon, and use it to destroy the United States eastern seaboard [[WarForFunAndProfit for fun and profit]]. What ensues is not fun and profit.
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7	----
8	!!This film provides examples of:
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10	* AcquiredPoisonImmunity: Mr. Penn has been pepper-sprayed so many times that now, all it does is clear out his sinuses.
11	* AlmightyJanitor: Bobby Zachs, a simple porter on the train, aids Ryback in fighting the terrorists and even manages to kill some of them singlehandedly.
12	* AskAStupidQuestion:
13	** When Travis Dane and his mercenaries interrupt the two lovebird officials they need to interrogate to activate the KillSat, Dane mocks them for their office romance, leading to this exchange:
14	--->'''David Trilling:''' Is that what this is about?\
15	'''Travis Dane:''' Ugh, yeah, right! I uh... FAKED my own death and ''hijacked a passenger train'' because I care about who YOU'RE FUCKING! No, I was just wondering what other rules you might be willing to break.
16	** When an incredulous Admiral Bates asks why the Department of Defense would hire a MadScientist like Dane, Breaker impatiently replies, ''"because, Admiral, sane people do not build weapons like this!"'' The Admiral, [[DeadpanSnarker deadpan]], asks Breaker if maybe there's a lesson there.
17	* AwardBaitSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agczqfuj7pw After The Train Has Gone]] by [[Music/TheAllmanBrothersBand Gregg Allman]], Todd Smallwood, Abraham [=McDonald=], Jean [=McClain=] and Steven Seagal himself.
18	* BadBoss: Mr. Penn rips out the throat of one of his subordinates after the latter suggests [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere just splitting]] before the hero, Casey Ryback, comes for them. Earlier on, he casually shoots another of his men after he's been set on fire to ensure that the burning man doesn't damage any of their high-tech equipment.
19	* BondOneLiner:
20	** Ryback hasn't lost the touch; after a hostage [[DistractedByTheSexy distracts a mook]] ("I broke my bra!") for Ryback to off him, he quips: "Tits to die for."
21	** "Nobody beats me in the kitchen" after a duel with Penn in the train's kitchen.
22	* BrickJoke: Happens quite early. In the first scene, everyone jokes about how the KillSat is, as far as the world knows, a boring, ordinary weather satellite and will never figure out the truth. The first thing that Bates says on entering the room is that no one had better try fobbing him off with a claim that the room exists to control a mere weather satellite.
23	* TheCameo: Invoked. The film reuses an audio clip from Creator/TommyLeeJones as Strannix from the first film. When one of the mercenaries is told over the radio to "continue to clean up," it's Jones' voice and his reused line.
24	* CatchPhrase: Dane's is "Chance favors the prepared mind", quoted in turn from Louis Pasteur.
25	* ChekhovsSkill: Ryback's niece performs an Aikido move on Bobby Zachs. Later, Bobby does the same move on a female Mook, tossing her out of the helicopter.
26	* ClosedCircle: The battleground of this film is a train deep within the Rocky Mountains with communications cut off by the bad guys, and even if Ryback gets around that part long enough to send a fax it eventually is enforced by the TitleDrop: an area that has mostly been [[GhostTown completely abandoned]] and surrounded by hefty rock formations that screw with all but satellite link-ups (and Dane is the only one who has that).
27	* ConvectionSchmonvection: Double subverted. The gigantic pyre of the crash of the Grand Continental with the fuel train not not bothers the helicopter (and Casey Ryback as he climbs up to it via ladder), but [[spoiler:when Dane suffers his DisneyVillainDeath, he catches fire in mid-air as he falls down to that hell.]]
28	* CoversAlwaysLie: At no time are any of the carriages burning, as shown above (not until the climactic collision on the bridge, anyway).
29	* CrazyPrepared: Dane's CatchPhrase is "Chance favors the prepared mind", and prides himself on always being ahead of everybody else. This gets subverted in two notable ways: first, when Sachs steals the CD with the targeting codes, rendering the satellite control useless (even the laziest computer hacker knows to make at least one backup copy), and then in the climax when Ryback deactivates the ghost program in Dane's laptop by [[ShootTheTelevision just shooting the damn thing]] - and Dane, who's holding it against his chest.
30	-->'''Dane''': Never thought... of that.
31	* CruelAndUnusualDeath:
32	** Ryback kills one mook by throwing him in front of the locomotive so he gets squished by about a dozen train carriages.
33	** Dane [[spoiler:falls [[DisneyVillainDeath hundreds of meters down]] to the firey pire of the two crashed trains [[{{Fingore}} after getting his fingers cut off]], and the pire is so hot that Dane catches fire as he falls.]]
34	* CuttingTheKnot: Dane informs Casey that he's too late to stop the KillSat, and that, even if he weren't, he'll ''never'' be able to crack the encryption on his laptop to do it. Casey's solution? ''Shoot the laptop.''
35	* DarkActionGirl: Fatima, Penn's sole female mercenary. Acts include shooting Ryback off the train with a sniper rifle and performing the EyeScream interrogation.
36	* DataDriveMacGuffin: In the film's second act, Casey Ryback tries to disrupt the BigBad's plans by stealing the CD that contains his KillSat's firing codes. The subsequent action sequence kills a number of the villain's goons and probably bought some time before the villain executes his plan to destroy Washington, D.C., but the bad guys manage to get back the CD, making Casey's efforts [[YouCantThwartStageOne mostly useless]].
37	* DeadpanSnarker: Dane. Pretty much every line he has is a snarky or insulting remark.
38	** Tom Breaker can be as well, when he's not being stared down by the admiral. His best example comes after Dane has made a video call with an obviously fake background of the Eiffel Tower behind him. When someone starts asking where they should look for Dane, Breaker mutters, "Maybe we should look over Paris?"
39	* DefiantCaptive: Sarah Ryback. She doesn't get the chance to attempt an escape, but she remains defiant throughout her whole time as a hostage and even risk her life to get a few shots in against Marcus Penn.
40	* DieHardOnAnX: Whereas the first movie was Die Hard on a Battleship, this is Die Hard on a Train.
41	* DisneyVillainDeath: Several, since the train is forced to stop along some cliffs.
42	* DistractedByTheSexy: A quick-thinking hostage claims she broke her bra and flashes her cleavage at a mook. It's the last thing he sees before Ryback smashes his face in.
43	* DoItYourselfThemeTune: The blues song at the end was sung by none other than Seagal himself.
44	* TheDragon: Marcus Penn is a texbook example, and like many dragons before and after him, it's clear he is the most formidable of the villains.
45	* EarthquakeMachine: Casey Ryback has to deal with the bad guys who have got their hands on the controls for just such a KillSat. If that wasn't silly enough in itself, the villain uses its ability to produce "earthquakes" to shoot down a jetliner and several fighter planes in mid-air.
46	* EiffelTowerEffect: Travis Dane makes a threat video on the train with a picture of the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop. Tom Breaker feebly suggests searching Paris for Dane.
47	* EverythingExplodesEnding: The Grand Continental collides head-on with a petrol train in a fiery crash, the freight and passenger cars all derail and explode, the trestle they were on collapses, and the wreck cumulates in the trestle and trains' remains at the bottom of the gorge all blowing up in a large, spectacular explosion.
48	* EvilGenius: Dane is described as brilliant and capable of achieving anything he sets his mind to but also sociopathic and unstable.
49	* EvilGloating: After demonstrating his control of the particle beam satellite, and announcing his plan to devastate Washington, D.C., Dane adds, as a postscript:
50	-->'''Dane''': Oh, and by the way: I was smarter than all of you before I worked there, I was smarter than all of you while I worked there, and I'm still smarter than all of you. ''Au revoir''.
51	* EvilIsHammy: Creator/EricBogosian (Travis Dane) does what he can, chewing a Colorado forest's worth of scenery.
52	* EvilIsPetty: One of the investors gives Dane an extra $100 million to target the plane carrying his ex-wife.
53	* ExactWords: Penn gives Dane a look when he tells the passengers that they will be allowed off the train at the next stop. What he actually means is that they will all be murdered when the train is blown to pieces, but he insists that he's still technically right.
54	* EyeScream: Used with a combination of ToThePain as a rather effective interrogation technique.
55	* FanserviceExtra: When ATAC tests Grazer's spy capabilities, a technician takes time to zoom in on a nude (and uncredited) female sunbather.
56	* FauxActionGirl: Sarah Ryback. Early in the movie, it's established that Casey has trained her in martial arts. However, she never gets an opportunity to put those skills into practice and remains a hostage for the entire duration of the hijacking.
57	* FauxAffablyEvil: Travis Dane always speaks in an overly polite tone that reeks of condescension and cruelty. He even tells people not to try anything in the style of a safety instruction video.
58	* {{Fingore}}: [[spoiler:Happens to Travis Dane when Ryback closes a helicopter hatch as Dane is hanging on the edge, leading to his DisneyVillainDeath while his severed fingers remain in the chopper]].
59	* FromCamouflageToCriminal: Many of the terrorists have served in the armed forces before becoming mercenaries. One mentions that Ryback was his former instructor.
60	* GlassEye: One of the mooks that Ryback kills early in the movie has a glass eye.
61	* HeroicBystander: One of the passengers, a man in USAF uniform, tackles a merc when he has Ryback pinned by machine gun fire. He gets shot for his trouble, but he manages to distract the bastard long enough for the main hero to come out of hiding and gun him down.
62	* HollywoodLaw: Even when this movie was made, safety regulations would not allow communication between trains and their controllers to be so restricted. Some sort of relay system (lineside transmitters, for instance) would be in place.
63	* HopeSpot: The military destroys a satellite which they think is Dane's Kill Sat. They cheer before they noticed the timer still counting down right before Dane's actual Sat destroy the aforementioned plane above. Shortly after, Dane mocks the military and tells them they actually destroyed an NSA satellite before telling them he's planning to target the Pentagon next.
64	* {{Hypocrite}}: Dane gets worried that Ryback will accidentally kill all the hostages. Penn doesn't even need words to remind him that this is exactly what he's planning to do anyway, albeit not this early.
65	* IHaveYourWife: When the terrorists discover that Casey Ryback is taking them out one by one, they figure out that his niece is traveling with him from the passenger manifest so they can use her as bait.
66	* InvincibleHero: Ryback gets a pretty hefty upgrade in between movies. For comparison: on the first movie he gets mauled pretty badly when he sabotages the villains' getaway submarine and needs a ConvenientlyTimedAttackFromBehind by the GirlOfTheWeek to save his ass and some time patching up the wound. On this film, Ryback gets ''shot in the shoulder'' and the only real result is him leaving a few tiny streaks of blood on a locomotive and the sidekick noticing the wound and getting a BadassBoast in return. Aside from this, it never even so much as makes him wince or even confirmation whether or not it truly is JustAFleshWound.
67	--->'''Ryback (pointing at wound)''': You think this is being shot? This isn't being shot.
68	* IronicEcho: Dane throws Penn's own words back at him: "Did you see the body? Assumption is the mother of all fuck ups."
69	* JustEatGilligan: Ryback gets his hands on the encoded CD the villain needs to complete his plan fairly early in the film, and spends most of the rest of them movie trying to keep the villain from getting it back. He should have just broken the darn thing, and permanently derailed the villain's plot.
70	* JustPlaneWrong: As per norm for Hollywood, the F-117 stealth bombers dispatched to destroy the train come far, ''far'' closer to their target than they would need to destroy it -- which, of course, gives Dane enough time to destroy them using his KillSat. Made even more egregious when one of the F-117 gets blasted while being in ''a mere few dozen meters'' distance from the train. What was that guy planning to do, [[RammingAlwaysWorks ram the thing]]?
71	* KillSat: The movie features a DiabolicalMastermind who designed one such satellite for the military, [[NotQuiteDead faking his death]], and seizing control of it to threaten Washington, DC. It shoots ''earthquakes'' -- which, [[ArtisticLicensePhysics somehow]], can also destroy high-flying bomber jets.
72	* LargeHam: Creator/EricBogosian is clearly having an absolute blast as Dane.
73	* {{MacGyvering}}: Ryback makes a firebomb out of resources from the train's minibar.
74	* MadScientist: The main villain Travis Dane designed the KillSat. The Trope is [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by the following exchange:
75	-->'''General Cooper''': He's a brilliant guy, he can do virtually anything he sets his mind to, but he's a crazy son of a bitch...\
76	'''[[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Admiral Bates]]''': Why in the hell would you people hire a goddamn maniac...?!\
77	'''Tom Breaker''': [[AskAStupidQuestion Because, Admiral, sane people do not build weapons like this!]]\
78	'''Admiral Bates''': [[DeadpanSnarker You know, Mr. Breaker... you'd think we'd learn something from that.]]
79	* ManOnFire: Ryback builds a home-made bomb to destroy the terrorists' high-tech satellite equipment, setting several of them on fire in the process. He uses a flare gun as an ImprovisedWeapon in the same manner.
80	* NeckSnap: A typical Seagal trademark, Rybacks snaps several necks belonging to random terrorists throughout the film, including Penn TheDragon.
81	* NeverFoundTheBody:
82	** {{Lampshaded}} by Penn and later Travis Dane, in regards to [[Creator/StevenSeagal Ryback]].
83	--> "[[IronicEcho Assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups]]."
84	** Dane himself was this after he apparently drove his car into a lake. It's easily missed, but in the opening sequence someone actually asks if Dane's body has been found as part of the exposition about who he is.
85	* NonActionBigBad: Travis Dane, the mastermind who hired the mercenaries and devised the plot to hijack the KillSat, isn't much of a physical threat. This is exacerbated by Ryback's InvincibleHero status, as TheDragon lasts only a few minutes in a fight against Ryback, Dane only seconds.
86	* OhCrap:
87	** A few of the mooks have this reaction to finding out the person killing off their men is [[TheDreaded Ryback]].
88	** After the first scene, Tom Breaker's appearances in the second film are an OhCrap reaction that never goes away until right at the end of the film. He seems to have developed a mortal fear of needing to speak to Admiral Bates for anything after Bates' understandably negative reaction to his having accidentally caused the events of the first film.
89	-->'''Breaker:''' [[LampshadeHanging Here we go again...]]
90	* OnlyAFleshWound: Ryback survives being shot with a sniper rifle with a mere "You think this is being shot? This ain't being shot."
91	* PlausibleDeniability:
92	** Discussed at length. Dane's first demonstration target is a "Fertilizer Plant" in China which is actually Chemical Weapons factory; something that ''[[OpenSecret everyone]]'' knows but pretends to be oblivious about. As a result, the Chinese aren't going to want to advertise the disaster or investigate the mysterious "Earthquake".
93	** One of the government officials also invokes this, pointing out no-one knows that the "Earthquake" was actually caused by a American KillSat, that the Americans have built a KillSat, nor that it had been stolen by terrorists.
94	* PrecisionFStrike: A literal f-bomb. After Ryback throws his homemade firebomb at a mercenary, the mercenary sees the message "You're fucked!" on the firebomb's detonator pager before being burned to death.
95	* ProductPlacement: Apple Newton [=MessagePad=]. Pity that the whole range was [[ValuesDissonance defunct]] within 4 years.
96	* ProperlyParanoid: When Penn learns that [[OneManArmy Ryback]] is the mysterious stowaway, he recognizes that as long as they're not 100% sure he's dead, it's imperative to assume that he's not, and immediately orders his men to search the train, over and over again, top to bottom, UNTIL they can confirm it.
97	* RailEnthusiast: The mercenary portrayed by Creator/JonathanBanks (Scotty), who takes over as the locomotive's engineer. He puts on the (dead) engineer's hat for no real reason and the last time he's seen, it's when the Grand Continental and the petrol train are about to crash head-on, with him still on the engine and packing a ''big'' smile.
98	* RankUp: While Ryback has left the Navy at this stage, he seemingly got his lost rank back before doing so, since he's shown wearing Lieutenant's bars in the ending. Presumably, this was a result of his actions in the previous film.
99	* RecycledInSpace: ''Under Siege 2'' is ''Under Siege'' '''ON A TRAIN!''' Small wonder that a common joke after the release of ''Film/SnakesOnAPlane'' would reference this by suggesting that the sequel would be ''Snakes On A Train''. There ''is'' a movie called ''Snakes On A Train'' (however it's a {{Mockbuster}}, not a sequel).
100	* RetiredBadass: Casey Ryback is retired from the navy and working as the head chef for a restaurant at the start of the film.
101	* SayMyName: Of course the bad guys get to curse Ryback's name repeatedly throughout the film, but the last time bears special mention [[spoiler:because it's Dane screaming Ryback's name as he falls down to the gigantic pyre of the crashed trains.]]
102	* SaveTheVillain: Averted when Ryback [[spoiler:shuts a helicopter door on the helplessly dangling Travis Dane, ''cutting his fingers off'' and letting him fall to a fiery death]].
103	* TheScrappy: Invoked, for humour. That one annoying balding guy in the glasses working for the Pentagon. When he makes a lame quip about space being called space because there's so much of it, and the admiral tells him never to speak again.
104	* SerialEscalation: The MacGuffin weapon of mass destruction of the first film was (somewhat realistic) nuclear-tipped Tomahawk missiles. The weapon of mass destruction of this film is an earthquake machine KillSat. Strannix's goal with the missiles was to sell them to enemy countries (and then try to blow up a Hawaiian island when he undergoes VillainousBreakdown). Dane's plan is to turn a significant chunk of the Eastern Seaboard (starting from Washington, D.C.) into a nuclear wasteland and he turns a significant chunk of China into a ''chemical'' wasteland just as a demonstration.
105	* StockFootage: The scene of the destroyed industrial facility in China recycles unused footage from another Seagal film, ''Film/OnDeadlyGround''. In that film, it's the burning Aegis Oil facility.
106	* StuffBlowingUp: The destruction of the stealth bombers and satellites, and of course, the train wreck.
107	* TemptingFate: Dane insists to Ryback at the end that there is nothing whatsoever he can do to stop the KillSat. He admits he didn't think of it when Ryback [[spoiler:shoots the laptop controlling it, and Dane himself through it.]]
108	* TerrorHero: Dane's mooks crap their pants metaphorically when they learn Casey Ryback is the fly-in-the-ointment on the train. They know how much of an unstoppable badass he is through reputation or even being under his instruction while they served in active duty.
109	-->'''Dane:''' ''reading from Ryback's computer'' Chapter 1: Ryback's Tactics.\
110	'''Penn:''' ''Ryback?''\
111	'''Dane:''' That's what it says, "Ryback".\
112	'''Mercenary #1:''' Casey fucking Ryback.\
113	'''Dane:''' Who's Casey fucking Ryback?\
114	'''Penn:''' Casey Ryback's a former [=SEAL=] team captain. Counter-terrorist expert.\
115	'''Mercenary #2:''' He was my instructor at Fort Bragg.\
116	'''Mercenary #1:''' He's the best there is.\
117	'''Dane:''' ''[annoyed]'' I thought ''you're'' the best there is, Penn.
118	* ThrillerOnTheExpress: In pure DieHardOnAnX fashion. Dane even factors in the detail that the train being mobile makes it harder for the Pentagon to pinpoint his broadcasts and he does a very excessive KickTheDog by setting the Grand Continental (and all hostages) to crash with another train carrying enough petrol to wipe out ''everything''.
119	* TookALevelInBadass: Zachs starts out aiding Ryback indirectly, but eventually helps him fight the terrorists and kills two of them on his own.
120	* TragicKeepsake: Sarah wears her late father's Navy Cross as a necklace.
121	* VillainousBreakdown: Dane has a bit of a breakdown when the KillSat CD is stolen, but goes back to normal when he gets it back. Of course, he has another one once Ryback starts messing his plans up big time.
122	* WeCanRuleTogether: When Dane is clinging to Ryback as he climbs the winch ladder to the helicopter, Dane screams that he and Ryback would make a great team. Ryback ignores him, assuming he can hear him over the explosions below.
123	* YouCantThwartStageOne: Midway through the movie, Ryback and Zachs have a golden opportunity to bring Dane's plan to an end when they acquire the targeting CD for the satellite. At this point, they could have simply destroyed the CD, which would have completely taken away Dane's ability to control the KillSat, but they don't do this, and Dane ends up getting it back.
124	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: "Oh they're still here! I don't need them anymore, they can go away now" - Travis Dane say this to the two captains, who are immediately thrown from the train and off a cliff, after they have given him the codes to the KillSat.

Context Film / UnderSiege2DarkTerritory