Andrew Davis

In 1977, Davis co-wrote, produced, and directed his first feature film, Stony Island. Davis' first work on action films was as the director of the Chuck Norris vehicle Code of Silence (1985). He scored his first major success when he co-wrote and directed another action movie, Above the Law, starring newcomer Steven Seagal; in 1992, he teamed with Seagal for a second time on the action-packed box-office hit Under Siege. The following year, Davis once again thrilled audiences with the tense, spectacular movie adaptation of the '60s TV serial The Fugitive, starring Harrison Ford. A huge critical and commercial success, it was hailed as one of the best films of the year. In contrast, Davis' subsequent action film, Chain Reaction (1996), was a colossal flop. He then switched gears for A Perfect Murder, a 1998 re-make of Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder. Starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Michael Douglas, the film was a great disappointment, leading some observers to opine that perhaps Davis should entertain a return to the action genre, something he did with the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Collateral Damage which was the subject of some controversy because it dealt with terrorism and came out around the time of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001. Davis changed gears and had a modest hit with the family-friendly Holes in 2003. Three years later he returned to the action genre with the coast guard drama The Guardian starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide