Kcs said:
Such a movie is a 15 million dollar business and a product of 100+ experts, they all share their knowledge and experience. I'm sure that every decision the creators take is the best possible. However the actors are only a part of the process, so we shouldn't blame them for those decisions which they didn't influence, and which decisions' reason are not known by us.
Steven chooses his own projects. It's also his choice about how much effort he puts into his projects, and it's clear that he simply can't be bothered especially for the low-budget things he's been doing. His voice is dubbed by a stand-in because once the film is in post-production, they can't get him to come back and re-record the dialogue if there was a problem with the original. As for the lack of action, well, I suspect that he's in no fit physical condition to do his own fight scenes any more; and I also suspect he just doesn't want to (been there, done that, etc. etc.).
On some level, I can't actually blame him for that - he's basically making the same movie over and over and over again, and how many times can you do the same thing without getting tired of it? On the one hand, he's painted himself into a corner with making these types of action movies, but on the other hand, there is still a lot he could do with them. The only people convinced that wire-fu is what the public wants are the studio executives. I think more realistic fight scenes, without the flash of wirework, where you see real skill involved, would probably be a lot more fun to watch.
Low budget films with directors who can't direct and a supporting cast of no-names are not helped by the fact that the scripts are awful beyond imagining. I don't know where these scripts come from or what his criteria are for choosing them (other than he has to work) but his choices indicate he seems to have lost the knack of picking a good project. Either that, or he's getting bad advice from somewhere, and I'm fairly certain it isn't his agent that's leading him astray.
Lots of top ranked actors have had to do lousy movies just for the money, and have admitted to doing so, without shame. Can't fault them for that. But sooner or later a good project does come along and the actor in question starts coming back with better and better projects.
With Steven, it's all been downhill since Exit Wounds. I know everyone was raving about Belly of the Beast being his "comeback" film, but, people, it really wasn't that good. The dubbing, the stunt doubles, the fact that Steven spent the most of the picture sitting down or otherwise immobile didn't qualify BOTB as a "Steven Seagal action movie" to me. Granted, I haven't seen Into the Sun yet (I haven't got over the squickiness I feel whenever ... (TD self-censors the rest to avoid being censored by her comrades)), but it was quite significant that those who bought the rights to it once Franchise went toes up realised there was no way it was going to make money in a theatrical release.
There doesn't seem to be anyone in Steven's camp that knows what constitutes a good project; nor anyone, even if they did know, that has the influence on Steven to steer him in the right direction. At this point, with his overall poor physical condition, I wouldn't want him to do any of his own fight scenes, anyway - it would probably kill him. And if he doesn't enjoy doing his job - making movies - he should stop, and stop inflicting this low-budget rubbish on the fans who made him a star. If he doesn't owe us - and he probably thinks he doesn't - then he owes it to himself to stop making movies if all they are, are half-assed efforts that end up shaming him.
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Footnote: Before all of you start jumping on me about not being a "true fan", please note the following: I really believe that if he still enjoyed making movies, we wouldn't be seeing so much rubbish. I'm just venting my frustration over the releases of the past few years because I find it really difficult to understand why someone would spend so much time doing something they obviously don't enjoy enough to want to do well. So take what I say in that context, and don't rag me about not being a "true fan". I'm a realist. That's where I come from. I know it gets up some people's noses, but at least, with me, you know where you stand - you can always get an honest response.