Oh, I think it's more than just that, Mama san. He did most of his own stunts in OFAK (all wasted, as far as I'm concerned, because of the general awfulness of the film), while in BOTB, he did less than 20%, and even then, he did them mostly sitting down. I think in the case of BOTB it was because he was filming during the hottest season in Thailand, and if he had done his own fighting, more than likely he would have dropped dead from the exertion, because clearly he was not in very good condition, physically. (You'll notice he spent most of the movie sitting down and not moving at all - kind of an odd thing for an "action" hero to do, I thought.)
The problem is, most people when they watch a Steven Seagal film, they want to see him do what he does best - his fighting. When stunt men take over, who wants to see a stunt man doing what Steven is known for? That's what's so disappointing.
Me, I love watching him fight. To me, he's simply poetry in motion. The words "elegant" and "punching the guy's lights out" are incongruous together, and yet, his method of dispatching the bad guys has a fluidity of movement and yes, elegance, that is all his own style and is what makes him such a joy to watch, compared to other 'action' movie stars.
That's why I feel cheated when I see him in a movie where he does almost none of his own fighting. He's not giving us 100%. If the rest of the film made up for it, I wouldn't mind so much. But BOTB, while better than OFAK, was still not up to his usual standard, fight scenes notwithstanding. So it was twice a let-down.
