Steven vs Van Damme and Lundgren

[Oldsexyblackman]

Now I very much prefer Seagal over Van damme and Lundgren any day. I feel like Seagal has more screen presence and his fighter is much more enjoyable to watch ( When he actually preforms it of course) but there is one problem I have.

I decided to go and rent "Wake of Death" with Van Damme, and " The Russian specialist" with Dolph Lundgren. I wanted to see how their DTV movies matched up against Seagal's since they are the other former big action stars turned DTV action stars.

The sad thing I found is that while neither of these movies are more enertaining than say Belly of the Beast or Shadow man, they do seem to be better made films.

Van Damme and Lundgren dont use doubles for their voice or for when the fight. The plots arnt confusing and the editing seems to be decent. Van damme and Lundgren are still in great shape.

All I could think while was watching these movies was, " What if an in shape Seagal was in these films?" they would be awesome.

 

[mindisamirror]

I decided to go and rent "Wake of Death" with Van Damme, and " The Russian specialist" with Dolph Lundgren. I wanted to see how their DTV movies matched up against Seagal's since they are the other former big action stars turned DTV action stars.

Van Damme and Lundgren dont use doubles for their voice or for when the fight. The plots arnt confusing and the editing seems to be decent. Van damme and Lundgren are still in great shape.

While it's true that they've done some good work in recent years (In Hell and The Defender even more than the films you mentioned), I wouldn't be too quick to put Van Damme and Lundgren on a pedestal.

The plot of The Russian Specialist is sort of confusing and nonsensical, and the editing in Wake of Death does have a crazed-monkey-on-crack feel to it. Even more so, Van Damme's latest film (Second in Command) is exactly the sort of awkward mess that Seagal's been making for the last few years, only without the benefit of Seagal.

The only upcoming Van Damme project that looks like it might be a step back up is the self-directed Kumite. And we all know that Seagal has a promising self-directed project coming up, too, so I'd say they're pretty much on equal footing for the moment.

 

[Oldsexyblackman]

I did just watch Second in Command and it sucked I couldnt make it through the whole film.

 

[ORANGATUANG]

Then you are in the right place Oldsexyblackman...There is only one martial arts person i hold the upmost respect for and thats the late, great Bruce Lee....other then him Steven Seagal is the one..

 

[mindisamirror]

There is only one martial arts person i hold the upmost respect for and thats the late, great Bruce Lee....other then him Steven Seagal is the one..

Well, I wouldn't go as far as all that (there are several martial arts stars I admire), but I think there are some similarities in the styles of Bruce Lee and Steven Seagal. Of course, I don't mean that they use similar fighting styles. They don't. But, they both stand out from the pack in the same way.

Before Bruce Lee, the kung fu in Hong Kong action movies was very dancelike and stylized in the style of the Peking Opera. The fights tended to be long and evenly matched. In a Bruce Lee fight, though, anybody who gets hit by the hero stays down after the first punch. He would go up against ten guys and take them all out without any of them laying a finger on him.

In a Steven Seagal movie, it's the same thing. While the current fashion in action films requires that the hero get the stuffing knocked out of him before he can win the big fight, Seagal takes down his opponents without breaking a sweat. It lends a sense of importance to a movie's climax (i.e.: If the last big challenge has this guy worried, then it must be a big deal) and it matches both Lee's forceful style and Seagal's more fluid style.

There's still a place for the Jackie Chans and Jean Claude Van Dammes of the world, but it's nice to have Seagal around as an alternative.