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1995's "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory" was the mandatory sequel to "Under Siege" (1992), which is one of the greatest action movies of the 1990s.

"Under Siege" also happened to be the best and greatest film - both critically and commercially - of its star, then-sixth-degree Aikido black belt Steven Seagal. It was inevitable that the success of "Under Siege" in 1992 would spawn a sequel, which was the formulaic, much-less-interesting, Geoff Murphy-directed "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory."

In "Under Siege," Seagal played ex-U. S. Navy SEAL-turned-cook Casey Ryback, who must stop a crack team of nuclear-armed terrorists who had seized control of a recently decommissioned U. S. Navy battleship in the Pacific Ocean. It was fun, action-packed, electrifying, slyly humorous and it didn't take itself all that seriously, but it showed Seagal at his peak because he was under the direction of a skilled director (Andrew Davis, who also directed Seagal's sensational 1988 debut "Above the Law") and he was sharing the screen with two deliciously over-the-top villains (played by Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey).

"Under Siege 2: Dark Territory," unfortunately (and perhaps inevitably), repeats the scenario from the first film, and so many other so-called "Die Hard" knock-offs from the era. Seagal returns as Casey Ryback, and this time he is accompanying his recently orphaned teenage niece Sarah Ryback (pre-fame Katherine Heigl) onboard a Grand Continental locomotive on a cross-country train ride from Denver to Los Angeles. No sooner do the two reconcile their differences that the train is hijacked by a highly skilled team of mercenary terrorists led by crazed ex-government computer genius Travis Dane (Eric Bogosian, "Talk Radio," television's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent"), and his right-hand man and leader of the mercenaries Marcus Penn (Everett McGill).

Dane, who had successfully faked his own death after having been fired by his superiors at a government/military defense agency due to his mental instability and who now wants revenge, plans to seize control of Grazer One, an orbiting, top-secret military satellite, and then threaten Washington, D. C. with nuclear annihilation. Because the train obscures any wireless computer transmissions between Dane's laptop and Grazer One while it is in motion, it's pretty much impossible to detect their location. Meanwhile, Ryback, who had escaped the initial takeover by hiding in the kitchen car's walk-in freezer - quite coincidentally, just as he had done in the first film - must now fight the mercenaries along with reluctant train porter Bobby Zachs (Morris Chestnut, "Boyz N the Hood") and save Sarah and the rest of the hostages, who have all been herded into the train's last two passenger cars.

As stated before, "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory" (which derives its subtitle from the real-world term used by the American railroad industry to refer to areas of the U. S. where there are no train signals or radio communications), is basically a carbon-copy of the first film, with some pretty top-notch production values - even though there are some fairly obvious flaws IN that production. Seagal is again in top form, doing his usual shoot-outs, foot chases, bomb-making, and Aikido martial arts mastery against the bad guys - who, again, tend to out-class the film's star; although the villains are not as interesting as Tommy Lee Jones or Gary Busey from the first "Under Siege," Eric Bogosian brings a gleefully unhinged menace and uniquely sharp sense of comic timing to his role that makes him the most fun character in the whole movie.

"Under Siege 2: Dark Territory" is definitely an inferior sequel, one that shows that its aging star was certainly on a career decline following an amazing start with "Above the Law" and high point with 1992's "Under Siege." Seagal would finish out the decade with the following year's "The Glimmer Man" (1996) and 1997's "Fire Down Below," and would make a brief comeback with the second post-"Matrix" "rap-fu" entry "Exit Wounds" (2001).

5/10.