Steven Seagal still kicks ass... but

[felino]

Hello everyone, i´m from germany so please excuse my fantastic english grammar.
I´ve been a Steven Seagal fan for quite some time now and have seen all of his movies (well not all, but i come to that later on) have been lurking around the official message board from time to time. Now, after realising that the board wouldnt be back up anytime soon i set out to find another one and thus i found this one. I´d like to comment on some things on this board and about Steven Seagal in general.

Seagal is a great action star and i consider 90% of his movies to be great, highly entertaining and everything that i wish of a good action-movie. For example, Out for Justice, thats my favorite one... it simply kiss so much ass and is a kind of a movie that doesnt get made this days anymore. The scene where seagal enters the bars is classic, he looks dangerous, he has that "i can kick the **** out of you all" look. The intense scenes where you know that no matter how many and how dangerous the "enemies" will be, steven will kick their asses. Its fast paced action, good one-liners, great action acting be seagal and overall it lets you want to see more.
So i watched them all .... i love marked for death, nico, above the law, undersiege 1&2 ...i like fire down below and glimmerman and i even like on deadly ground and the patriot but what i have seen lately really isnt steven seagal anymore and i dont know why nobody tells him to stop doing that stuff he´s doing.

I´m a movie fan in general so i keep an eye on directors, producers, writers as well , so lets look at :

Ticker - now, this is crap movie for many reasons. When you reach the point where to have to work with someone like Albert Pyun you know you reached a very low point. All of his movies do suck and look so amateurish that they never ever would have the slightest chance of being shown in a cinema, he always works on low budget and has some of the stupidest camera angles ever (like the fight at the end with seagal, what was that? Like a drunken clown moving the camera very fast in all directions). I couldnt believe seagal would do something like that, but perhaps he did have some money issues or something.

So i thought, the next one is gonna be better ... and what did i got .. "exit wounds"... i went to the cinema the first day it was released and was about to leave 10min later ...what is wrong these days? Why do steven Seagal have to do some MTV-Childrens-Rap-Piece of ****-movie and even not fighting for real but using some lame wires? ... Tom Arnold isnt funny, DMX can´t act and dont tell me because he puts on a sad face someone can act and Andrzej Bartkowiak should be banned from making movies (Romeo must die)... This wasnt a Steven Seagal movie anymore, it tried to be a "Fast Food"-MTV-Video-Clip Crap Movie. I thought he really reached a new all-time low but no no ... then i see the trailer for half past dead and i´m on the edge of puking...nobody can tell me that this crap is good, ... man .. what the **** is that .. Ja Rule & Steven Seagal ? ... in prison ? .. This looks like a cheap follow-up to exit wounds to cash in fast while some wannabe-gangstas in the "Hood" or some "MTV-Kids" still have exit wounds as a "entertaining" movie in mind. Same ****. I will boykott that, this movie is not why i´m a steven seagal fan. Besides, on a general note speaking, when the soundtrack of movie is made off rap-tunes, and rap-tunes only, you can be sure that it´s crap. In "normal" movies, the soundtrack should be composed.
I really dont believe that seagal chose these movies on his own, he propably did exit wounds because the promotion and budget would get his name on the a-list again, half past dead looks like he signed a contract back then that he has to fulfill .. .. i´m sure someday, when he´s writing his autobiography or some stuff, he will say that he had to do these movies instead of he wanted to do them.

Foreigner, i will watch that one... it looks cheap as well, but hey, at least it looks kind of "Normal" .. i know it wont be any good as his old ones, but perhaps it will be ok... but i´m looking forward to out to kill ... now that sounds good-old-days steven seagal style ... i just hope they dont **** that one up ...

I still hope he does an Undersiege 3 ... he should do it right away... or at least do some real kick ass movies before he´s too old and doesnt realize it like arnold or sly who are making an ass out of themselves these days.

Concerning his trial and everything... i couldnt find anything about this "german mafia" stuff .. somehow somewhere someone must have mixed up something ... i dont know what you can call "german mafia" over here...whatever mafia it was, it certainly wasnt any "german" mafia, it was probably some russian or whatever only being here in germany otherwise he could just go the authorities and you can be sure that a "german mafia" wouldnt stand a chance in the longterm and when a "german mafia" would do any harm to a known person, this mafia could kiss their asses goodbye ... perhaps there are problems with east-europe mafia organisations but certainly not "german".

Well .. anyway... i´d like to say that steven seagal has fans around the world and i´m one of them, i´m going to support him like i did in the past (watching his movies, buying stuff etc.) execpt for half past dead.

Btw. I have his Aikido Video and its really cool ... made me interested in that stuff ... perhaps he should take some more time doing something like that ... teaching and showing people Aikido.

 

[Lotussan]

Welcome, Felino...I agree, from what I have seen, I think his aikido is amazing...

 

[suziwong]

Yes I agree with you Felino !! His aikido is like a dream and dance !! I am not only saying this all experts saying like this !!

By the way, Welcome to Steven Seagal Resorce Forum I hope you will like here
in oneless
suzi

 

[Rodrigo]

I used to think that Exit Wounds was a crap, but as time goes on, I realised that, Exit Wounds, if you take in consideration Seagal's age, it was a pretty decent movie !! Better than Ticker and The Patriot !!!
Thank God he made it !!!!!!!!

 

[Amos Stevens]

Welcome Felino!

 

[Jaxx]

i dont think he deserved such a slating. BUT i agree that some of his newer stuff lacks the charisma of what he used to be, i'm all for a new under siege, just so i can see those navy whites one more time......................

Jaxx

 

[savadee]

Welcome Felino

To a certain point I agree with you but when it comes to "Exit Wounds" no... It is a decent movie much better than Ticker and some similar action movies.

If he was able to carry the charisma of Under Siege movies, he should have been nominated to oscars. He is a good action star and we like to watch him. Let us not expect too much from him.

 

[Catlady]

Welcome to the board Felino

 

[felino]

Originally posted by savadee
Welcome Felino

To a certain point I agree with you but when it comes to "Exit Wounds" no... It is a decent movie much better than Ticker and some similar action movies.

If he was able to carry the charisma of Under Siege movies, he should have been nominated to oscars. He is a good action star and we like to watch him. Let us not expect too much from him.

It depends on how you look at a Steven Seagal movie. To me, Exit Wounds was an Anti-Steven Seagal film. (and i fear that Half Past Dead is even worse). In this movie you could have put in just anybody instead of Seagal, this movie was not promoted as a typical Steven Seagal movie, it was more like a movie for the average 16-year old, rap and mtv listening kid who went in because the trailer said "From the producer of Matrix" , then some "wire" fight scenes along with some bad cover of "ain´t no sunshine" as a soul/rap version playing in the background. As if a marketing research group decided how this movie has to look and its looks exactly like that, a fast-food, "funky"-style aimed at kids movie who didnt went to see Seagal. I truly believe that Seagal didnt have much of a choice when he tried to do a bigger movie that gets a cinema run in the usa. He was actually the "co-star" in this movie as the hype around the movie was strategical directed to DMX (who couldnt act to safe his life) and his oh-so great oscar-performance and music contribution. Just look at the Poster and you know that Seagal was second lead, not more. Now, i dont mind people when people praise this movie, but for me, personally, that movie ruined some reputation of Seagal when i went in the first day to watch it. I remember going to cinema with a friend who´s a Seagal fan as well, and we truly thought about leaving.... we werent the only ones in the cinema who laughed an unintentionelle funny things in the movie, because, if you are used to watching Seagal stuff, this movie is a joke ...its like watching lethal weapon 4 and seeing how a 45year old mel gibson and a 62year old danny glover are beating the **** out of someone like jet li ... its ridiculous. Now this comparision is just a metapher, nothing about fighting skills ... it just doesnt seem right in the movie.

He should stay away from producers like Joel Silver, he does this kind of crap way to often. And especially Bartkowiak ... this guy should be banned from hollywood.

Ticker is a bad bad movie, but at least, Seagal is Seagal ... he doesnt try to appeal to some mtv kids and he seems much more natural. I dont expect Seagal to deliver Undersiege everytime but i think he himself would prefer ticker over Exit Wounds or Half Past Dead. In Exit Wounds he looks like a slave, following orders on how to look, speak, act, walk, fight etc. )

I pretend there´s no "Half Past Dead" and wait for "The Foreigner", who should be here in a couple of days. I dont think that it will be a super movie, but from what i have seen in the trailer, its looks kind of normal.

 

[savadee]

I have a dvd of "Exit Wounds" and I will once again watch it while keeping in mind the things you've mentioned. In a couple of days Foreigner will also arrive as dvd.

But I still say Exit Wounds was a fair action movie. As for Ticker I wish Seagal did not take that role.

 

[justice808]

Just for the record,I thought Exit Wounds was good-a grand step up from the crappy The Patriot,Ticker etc;Ticker was not as bad the 2nd time around and Half Past Dead,while not breaking any new action ground,was quite enjoyable also.Sure,they were not all up to my expectations but what(action)film is?

Anywayl ooking foward to seeing The Foreigner,Out For A Kill,Belly Of The Beast and,later,The Yakuza,The Rescue ,Genghis Khan...and who knows what else is on the horizon.Hard to believe there is all those new flicks to come

Peace,

Leon

 

[Mama San]

Leon,
Yep! A lot of films on the horizon, which I am estatic to see, but do you suppose that someone in "the troup" would give a thought or two to StevenSeagal.com?
I'm afraid that it is becoming a lost cause for a lot of us!
God bless,
Mama san

 

[justice808]

Mama San,

Hope you are well.I am afraid I don't hold all that much hope for a all-new stevenseagal.com make-over.

Peace,

Leon

 

[TommyDeVito]

Originally posted by felino
Hello everyone, i´m from germany so please excuse my fantastic english grammar.
I´ve been a Steven Seagal fan for quite some time now and have seen all of his movies (well not all, but i come to that later on) have been lurking around the official message board from time to time. Now, after realising that the board wouldnt be back up anytime soon i set out to find another one and thus i found this one. I´d like to comment on some things on this board and about Steven Seagal in general.

Seagal is a great action star and i consider 90% of his movies to be great, highly entertaining and everything that i wish of a good action-movie. For example, Out for Justice, thats my favorite one... it simply kiss so much ass and is a kind of a movie that doesnt get made this days anymore. The scene where seagal enters the bars is classic, he looks dangerous, he has that "i can kick the **** out of you all" look. The intense scenes where you know that no matter how many and how dangerous the "enemies" will be, steven will kick their asses. Its fast paced action, good one-liners, great action acting be seagal and overall it lets you want to see more.
So i watched them all .... i love marked for death, nico, above the law, undersiege 1&2 ...i like fire down below and glimmerman and i even like on deadly ground and the patriot but what i have seen lately really isnt steven seagal anymore and i dont know why nobody tells him to stop doing that stuff he´s doing.

I´m a movie fan in general so i keep an eye on directors, producers, writers as well , so lets look at :

Ticker - now, this is crap movie for many reasons. When you reach the point where to have to work with someone like Albert Pyun you know you reached a very low point. All of his movies do suck and look so amateurish that they never ever would have the slightest chance of being shown in a cinema, he always works on low budget and has some of the stupidest camera angles ever (like the fight at the end with seagal, what was that? Like a drunken clown moving the camera very fast in all directions). I couldnt believe seagal would do something like that, but perhaps he did have some money issues or something.

So i thought, the next one is gonna be better ... and what did i got .. "exit wounds"... i went to the cinema the first day it was released and was about to leave 10min later ...what is wrong these days? Why do steven Seagal have to do some MTV-Childrens-Rap-Piece of ****-movie and even not fighting for real but using some lame wires? ... Tom Arnold isnt funny, DMX can´t act and dont tell me because he puts on a sad face someone can act and Andrzej Bartkowiak should be banned from making movies (Romeo must die)... This wasnt a Steven Seagal movie anymore, it tried to be a "Fast Food"-MTV-Video-Clip Crap Movie. I thought he really reached a new all-time low but no no ... then i see the trailer for half past dead and i´m on the edge of puking...nobody can tell me that this crap is good, ... man .. what the **** is that .. Ja Rule & Steven Seagal ? ... in prison ? .. This looks like a cheap follow-up to exit wounds to cash in fast while some wannabe-gangstas in the "Hood" or some "MTV-Kids" still have exit wounds as a "entertaining" movie in mind. Same ****. I will boykott that, this movie is not why i´m a steven seagal fan. Besides, on a general note speaking, when the soundtrack of movie is made off rap-tunes, and rap-tunes only, you can be sure that it´s crap. In "normal" movies, the soundtrack should be composed.
I really dont believe that seagal chose these movies on his own, he propably did exit wounds because the promotion and budget would get his name on the a-list again, half past dead looks like he signed a contract back then that he has to fulfill .. .. i´m sure someday, when he´s writing his autobiography or some stuff, he will say that he had to do these movies instead of he wanted to do them.

Foreigner, i will watch that one... it looks cheap as well, but hey, at least it looks kind of "Normal" .. i know it wont be any good as his old ones, but perhaps it will be ok... but i´m looking forward to out to kill ... now that sounds good-old-days steven seagal style ... i just hope they dont **** that one up ...

I still hope he does an Undersiege 3 ... he should do it right away... or at least do some real kick ass movies before he´s too old and doesnt realize it like arnold or sly who are making an ass out of themselves these days.

Concerning his trial and everything... i couldnt find anything about this "german mafia" stuff .. somehow somewhere someone must have mixed up something ... i dont know what you can call "german mafia" over here...whatever mafia it was, it certainly wasnt any "german" mafia, it was probably some russian or whatever only being here in germany otherwise he could just go the authorities and you can be sure that a "german mafia" wouldnt stand a chance in the longterm and when a "german mafia" would do any harm to a known person, this mafia could kiss their asses goodbye ... perhaps there are problems with east-europe mafia organisations but certainly not "german".

Well .. anyway... i´d like to say that steven seagal has fans around the world and i´m one of them, i´m going to support him like i did in the past (watching his movies, buying stuff etc.) execpt for half past dead.

Btw. I have his Aikido Video and its really cool ... made me interested in that stuff ... perhaps he should take some more time doing something like that ... teaching and showing people Aikido.

DMX acts on the same level as Seagal, so it's pointless to criticize X for not being a great actor. Very few actors in Hollywood are good actors. DMX was in Exit because of his screen presence, not because he's the next Deniro. DMX helped sell the movie, and many people and critics even labeled it X's movie. Granted, I agree the movie was instantly forgettable. Seagal took it because he hadn't made a movie that reached theatres in four years. He probably needed some quick money, so he jumped at the chance.

As for HPD, it sucked ass, but it wasn't Ja Rule's fault. Did you notice that people didn't trash Ja for his role, yet Seagal got typically roasted? You have to understand how Hollywood "thinks" now. Rappers sell millions of records.... Put the latest "in" rapper in a movie (usually action), keep the budget modest ($20-30 million) and you're guaranted a solid first week opening, and most likely a $40-50 mill. gross. Like several others, Seagal is an aging action star, with no range beyond these simple roles. It's not like he can go make a big budget drama, then come back to do another HPD flick. One critic said it best. In 1992, Seagal made Under Siege. Ten years later, he's starring in HPD. You'd think in ten years Seagal would have been able to at least make something different, instead of rehashing the same formula with much less success.

The "Out for Justice" days are gone my friend. Go see Jet Li and DMX in "Cradle 2 the Grave" on Feb. 28th. Li can still do his own fight scenes, and the trailer makes it look tite.

 

[mandypuss]

Good Lord Tommy I actually agree with you. Shwartzenegger and Stallone have the same problem. Theyre both a few years older than Steven and yet cling to their action hero days. Arnie in the appalling Collateral Damage and isnt Sly looking to do yet another Rambo or is it Rocky. I think Steven can do a bit of acting if he likes the role hes doing and I feel he hasnt enjoyed the last few hes made. The Glimmerman , I feel he liked doing because he shows a wry sense of humour in it and isnt it the favourite movie of all those who voted here? I think we sensed it too. I hope Steven will be given the chance to do a change of pace movie. It doesnt have to be oscar winning material. It would give him a challenge and I think thats what hes missing these days.
God bless
Mandy

 

[felino]

Re: Re: Steven Seagal still kicks ass... but

Originally posted by TommyDeVito
DMX acts on the same level as Seagal, so it's pointless to criticize X for not being a great actor. Very few actors in Hollywood are good actors. DMX was in Exit because of his screen presence, not because he's the next Deniro.

>Hu, wait a moment, DMX is nowhere near the range to be called >an actor at all while Steven Seagal´s screen present is at least >what you can call an action-actor. DMX in Exit Wounds was as believable and good as Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Hercules in New York".

DMX helped sell the movie, and many people and critics even labeled it X's movie. Granted, I agree the movie was instantly forgettable. Seagal took it because he hadn't made a movie that reached theatres in four years. He probably needed some quick money, so he jumped at the chance.

As for HPD, it sucked ass, but it wasn't Ja Rule's fault. Did you notice that people didn't trash Ja for his role, yet Seagal got typically roasted?

>Yes, but did you notice what kind of people HPD was targeting >? Of course they didnt trash Ja Rule , because its the same game, people who go in watching HPD dont go watching Steven Seagal, there could be anyone instead of Seagal.

You have to understand how Hollywood "thinks" now.

>hehehe, i know what hollywood is about but i´ll to explain my point again in a different way:

Rappers sell millions of records.... Put the latest "in" rapper in a movie (usually action), keep the budget modest ($20-30 million) and you're guaranted a solid first week opening, and most likely a $40-50 mill. gross. Like several others, Seagal is an aging action star, with no range beyond these simple roles. It's not like he can go make a big budget drama, then come back to do another HPD flick.

>No No, we talk about 2 different worlds here. First, i dont watch >90% of the top ten blockbuster crap and i could care less which >next movie features what rapstar in what movie because i simply boykott this ****, its a waste of time.
First, Steven Seagal doesnt need a BIG BUDGET movie, since most of his movies besides Undersiege 2 wasnt that big of a budget either. E.g. Undersiege did cost something about 10mio. (of course that was years ago, but all his movies were low-budget compared to the majority of hollywood blockbusters)
He never did movies where you would need a big budget. The Problem is that he choses **** directors, producers and screenplays, like foreigner, its not a good movie overall but when seeing exit wounds its still ok but could be so much better......instead they waste 20mio on some funky casio keyboard sample music and really lame slowmotion and "hip" camera angles. If this same movie would be done by a good director, a better screenplay it would turn out really good. The absolutly worst part of Foreigner were the fight scenes... i could punch the director and cinematographer in the face for that. Seagal is still doing fine at his age, he´s doesnt look like a 60year zombie arnold or a washed-up 80s´star like sly and when i really would believe that he wouldnt be able to deliver a high-class action movie like he did in the past, then i would already stoped watching his movies.

One critic said it best. In 1992, Seagal made Under Siege. Ten years later, he's starring in HPD. You'd think in ten years Seagal would have been able to at least make something different, instead of rehashing the same formula with much less success.

>Yes, but people dont understand that Undersiege is what the majority of his fans want to see and that is why he became a star in the first place, because of ACTION-MOVIES. Thats why i pay for his movies. If he stars doing some drama or whatever then its "bye bye steven" - it never works when action-stars suddenly try to become "serious actors" because either its boring, bad or simply uninteresting.

The "Out for Justice" days are gone my friend.

>I dont expect Out for Justice, but with the right crew next time he´ll most certainly able to deliver old-style movies like he did. With a low-budget he doesnt need to have a PG-13 rating or some crap like that, he could just kick ass in his movies, make a hard-r-rated one. It would make much more money in the long-run not like forgetable rubbish HPD.

Go see Jet Li and DMX in "Cradle 2 the Grave" on Feb. 28th. Li can still do his own fight scenes, and the trailer makes it look tite.

>See, thats why i tried to say in all my posts ... i dont watch that kind of ****, and Jet Li is another prime examples of how hollywood can **** up a good action star into something i wouldnt even watch for free. I can only repeat myself, BARTKOWIAK should be banned from making movies, all his movies did suck so bad that they dont even try to make it good, they just aim it at some mtv-punks who watch & forget it like they do with fast food. To me, that Trailer is like a punch in the face, if you , as you say, "understand hollywood", then you should understand that this is the same crap wrapped in a different packeging. It´ll get promoted fast with all kinds of colorful videos, fast-cuts and all that stuff that 15years olds love.

If you like Cradle to the crave and this kind of "movies", then its no wonder that you "kind of" like exit wounds, to me, that are not movies. We talk about 2 different things.

Seagal can still do it, and if he gets a better director he´ll prove it.

 

[mandypuss]

The point is I think, that Steven has a reputation for being difficult to work with and lazy to boot. Thats why I keep saying that he really needs to take roles that hes interested in, not roles that just make him a quick buck. He also needs to pick directors carefully, ones that can motivate him without pissing him off. I know that all this is very analytical and we really dont know for what reasons he chooses one film over another and that being a Seagal fan we watch all of them at least once because it is our only chance to see him. However it would be nice to think that one day he will pick a role because it is mentally and physically challenging for him.
Now go and watch your favourite Seagal film and remember why we are fans of his work and why we love him so much.
Cheers Mandy