Above The Law

1 9 8 8 (USA)

A slam-bang action film with martial arts hero Steven Seagal (in his film debut) as Nico Toscani - a karate-chopping cop out to mop up some Chicago drug dealers. Seagal developed, co-wrote, co-produced, choreographed, and debuted in this cop film with more attitude, and more plot, than its star had duties on the set. 

Toscani is an Italian immigrant, American patriot, ex-CIA agent, aikido specialist, and unorthodox Chicago policeman. He is as committed to his job as he is to his personalised brand of justice: expert and thorough bone-crushing. When the FBI orders his squad to ignore the mysterious shipment of military explosives they seized from a notorious narcotics dealer, Nico defiantly pursues his own investigation. 

With the help of his partner "Jax" (Pam Grier), he sifts through a tangled web of Catholic priests, illegal immigrants, and trained assassins to uncover a drug cartel run directly out of the CIA by an official named Zagon Henry Silva. 

Nico remembers the man from his CIA days in Vietnam, when Zagon used the agency (and the war) as a front for smuggling opium. At the time, Nico was too outranked to thwart him, but he will no longer let Zagon abuse his position to remain immune from prosecution - especially now that the official has plans to murder a Senator. Zagon may be above the law of most men, but he is certainly not above Nico's.