Why am I a Seagal Fan?

Dexter22

Member
I check here as much as possible, I guess its become a habit. I believe it was around 2006 when I decided to give Seagal movies a chance. I started with the bad ones and worked my way to the good ones, basically what ever movie I saw, I grabbed it. I am sad to say that I watched Shadow man and Flight of Fury without even noticing doubles or dubbing, later as I watched more and read more online, I realized I was duped. I thought it was odd that he dubbed and used doubles and felt a bit cheated. I don't know why but this intrigued me more.

Over the next few months/years, I became a huge fan and could tell you anything about Seagal and I took crap from so many for being a fan. I don't know why I felt I had to defend him. Long story short, I have every one of his films and continue to buy them. I will spend my money on his movies even if I know the quality is poor. Why? That is what I am really starting to ask myself. Honestly, I will probably always watch his stuff, I can't help it, I think he is incredibly interesting and odd. I am to the point now though where I feel that people like me, the ones here, or people who still think he is a huge star, are the reason why he can continue to make things he puts zero effort into.

I am sorry, however, unlike many people here I can stop to point out that not everything the guy does is perfect, and I won't defend him like I used to. I know you can't deny it, he is ripping us off. It sucks because I had such respect for this guy, I slowly stopped defending because people may make up a story but tons of people in the industry don't just for the hell of it. Steven, regardless of who he is in real life, is not a good guy. Let me state that I'm not attacking his character, his life, anything he has done outside the movies...that's a different discussion. I am talking about what he is presenting to his fans.

Since around 2002, Steven has released maybe 3 actual quality pieces of work. We as fans have set the bar lower and when I find A dangerous man to be such a good step up and quality action film, there is an issue. We call some of these films good when in essence if any other star made them they would be called trash. Steven works 3 hours a day on a film, he rarely loops or does ADR, he tampers with scripts, he doesn't take his appearance seriously, etc.. He does all of these things and continues to get paid decent money to not really do much but use his face and name. We are the reason for this. The quality went down and we still paid because we are fans. The sad thing to me is that he could care less, because if he cared then we wouldn't have to have the same discussion on here each year about his new film and what was wrong with it this time. I don't know what I am trying to present here other than the fact that its sick and sad that we give money, support, defense, attention, work, fame, etc..to someone who doesn't care. Think about the time you give to being and fan and what you get back. Think about it..
 

ORANGATUANG

Wildfire
Thanks for putting your point across sure Steven iant perfect no one is he has his faults just like any other actor but i guess iam that will stick by him through thick and thin not because iam an female and love the guy BUT because when you weigh all the good and bad he has done the good will always come up trumps.. why he only spends such little time on the set whom are we to question that he is an busy man iam sure with other things like his family etc... no he doesnt have to worry Orangatuang will be for him always ..just looking forward to this movie his doing or done know ...
 

Seagalzilla

Active Member
@ Dexter22,

first I would like to say, that you did a good job in criticsm. I will now speak only for myself, why I am a Seagal fan and will be "forever".

My first encounter with Seagal was his first movie ABOVE THE LAW. The technique of Aikido instead of the various types of Karate or Kung Fu was absolute refreshing in my eyes. Secondary Seagal and the character do mirrow itself on many occassions, like the interest in Asian cultures. I am also interested in Asian cultures, but this interest began long BEFORE i had the chance to watch ABOVE THE LAW.

After this amazing experience I became a fan.

The international
Moreover he was and is still kinda the "Anti-American-American" if you want. I like the works of Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Norris, but Seagal is for me, the absolute alternative. His moves, his expessions, an alternative. Not the extreme patriotic.

Offscreen
What me also still impresses the most is his offscreen work for protecting enviroment, animals, law-enforcement and his work for children. I have no pets or children, but I know that we have so far only this planet and everyone must do his part for saving this juwel of the galaxy. I also began to interest myself to blues. I am always listening to Heavy Metal, J-Pop, movie and TV-related music, but thanks to Seagal I began to broaden my taste of music.

Quality
Of course the quality of his films are completely different, but I enjoyed them all, one more, one more less. Seagal puts his stamp on the production and not everyone is doing this. Another plus point for me. My taste of movies is dominated by so called "B-movies". With a lower budget producers and actors must be creative. Look only at the over 100 Millionen $ movies. They have more mistakes than an average "B-movie."

Justice
Seagal plays characters who can be very extreme in their actions. In the real-world, I am against violence and death-penalty. I am for justice. But reality, law and justice are always different things. In the fictional world of movies, Seagal strikes the crap out of the evil guys. This only pleasure-ridden entertainment. This particular kind of entertainment is my type. I probably will never have the chance to wield a Katana or learn Aikido, but if I see Seagal doing this, I can forget reality for a short time.

Locations
Seagal's movies take place in nearly every corner of the world, while others still concentrate them on the USA area. This is ok, but if Seagal chases bad guys in Germany, this is amazing. You should know that I am German. German entertainment for example is its absolute majority the absolute worst.

His appearance
Yes his appearance changed over the years, but who didn't? Over the years his phyiscal appearance became like Tomisaburo Wakayama, one of the most best Japanese actors of all time. You know him from the original six KOZURE OKAMI movies as Ogami Itto during the 1970s. His appearance in the movies is grim, intimidating and powerful, but he still the good guy. This is also a good point for me.

Buddhism
I know that I am repeating myself, but Seagal is also an ambassador for peace in real-life. Buddhism for example, is a fascniating philisophy. I am christ, but I am also so far "no official" buddhist, but I will try to become one. Seagal shows me that a westerner can use this philosophy with success.

I hope you can understand me. Although I would like to continue my time is at the moment extremely limited and so I must conclude it.
Maybe Seagal will grow on you again.

Greetz from Germany.
 

marky96

Active Member
I check here as much as possible, I guess its become a habit. I believe it was around 2006 when I decided to give Seagal movies a chance. I started with the bad ones and worked my way to the good ones, basically what ever movie I saw, I grabbed it. I am sad to say that I watched Shadow man and Flight of Fury without even noticing doubles or dubbing, later as I watched more and read more online, I realized I was duped. I thought it was odd that he dubbed and used doubles and felt a bit cheated. I don't know why but this intrigued me more.

Over the next few months/years, I became a huge fan and could tell you anything about Seagal and I took crap from so many for being a fan. I don't know why I felt I had to defend him. Long story short, I have every one of his films and continue to buy them. I will spend my money on his movies even if I know the quality is poor. Why? That is what I am really starting to ask myself. Honestly, I will probably always watch his stuff, I can't help it, I think he is incredibly interesting and odd. I am to the point now though where I feel that people like me, the ones here, or people who still think he is a huge star, are the reason why he can continue to make things he puts zero effort into.

I am sorry, however, unlike many people here I can stop to point out that not everything the guy does is perfect, and I won't defend him like I used to. I know you can't deny it, he is ripping us off. It sucks because I had such respect for this guy, I slowly stopped defending because people may make up a story but tons of people in the industry don't just for the hell of it. Steven, regardless of who he is in real life, is not a good guy. Let me state that I'm not attacking his character, his life, anything he has done outside the movies...that's a different discussion. I am talking about what he is presenting to his fans.

Since around 2002, Steven has released maybe 3 actual quality pieces of work. We as fans have set the bar lower and when I find A dangerous man to be such a good step up and quality action film, there is an issue. We call some of these films good when in essence if any other star made them they would be called trash. Steven works 3 hours a day on a film, he rarely loops or does ADR, he tampers with scripts, he doesn't take his appearance seriously, etc.. He does all of these things and continues to get paid decent money to not really do much but use his face and name. We are the reason for this. The quality went down and we still paid because we are fans. The sad thing to me is that he could care less, because if he cared then we wouldn't have to have the same discussion on here each year about his new film and what was wrong with it this time. I don't know what I am trying to present here other than the fact that its sick and sad that we give money, support, defense, attention, work, fame, etc..to someone who doesn't care. Think about the time you give to being and fan and what you get back. Think about it..

Completely agree with you, very good points well put across and I do think about it, I just wish a lot more people would.

I too find myself asking the same question. I've been a Seagal fan for many years but I've never been someone who has just blindly followed him no matter what he does. However lately I've been asking myself why I still continue to be a fan of his when he clearly has little regard for his fans, which is easily seen in the less than superior quality of the films he has been appearing in. This really started when I was forced, due to unforeseen financial problems, to sell nearly my entire collection of around 2000 DVDs. This meant I had to make some tough decisions about what I wanted to keep. I had every Seagal DVD, including films like Clementine and the Ticker directors cut but I had to take a long hard look at them. I found that as a fan I had slowly been accepting more and more inferior movies just because Seagal was appearing in them. These were films which I would have dismissed had they starred any other actor. Fair enough the quality would be disminished from his cinematic releases to his DTV ones but even those DTV films have become worse and worse over the past decade. After all we used to say how poor a film like Belly of the Beast was but now comparing that to something like Kill Switch it seems like a masterpiece. Most of the films Seagal had made in the last 10 years do not stand up to multiple viewings and therefore I had to sell them. In making this decision I also reviewed my support of Seagal. It's for that reason that I post a lot less on Seagal related topics and post more in the off topic section about other action stars and their films. I decided that if Seagal was going to put in so little effort then I was going to put in a lot less effort as a fan. As a true fan I can't keep blindly supporting him as some do when he repeatedly appears in films that are quite frankly drivel. Fine I accept its not always his fault when a film turns out badly but across 23 DTV films Seagal has got to be responsible somewhere along the line, which has in several cases been well documented. If we as fans don't voice our displeasure at the quality of what Seagal is presenting to us then be will never know and will never understand that it's just not acceptable and we as fans are not going to accept it any longer. We have all kept Seagal working when really he should have either retired gracefully or been retired by the industry. Instead Seagal has remained a box office draw in the DTV market up until very recently when other actors have been brought in to prop up his participation like Steve Austin in Maximum Conviction and Ving Rhames and Danny Trejo in the upcoming Forces of Execution. It is finally starting to look like even Seagal's face and name are no longer enough.
 

Administrator

Administrator
Staff member
I feel the same, when i got rid of my DVDs i had a massive pile of Steven Seagal movies, out of all his movies i only kept the movies up to Exit Wounds and Into The Sun which is a rare Japanese edition. The rest i got rid of. I realized i wouldn't watch them again.

Now when Steven Seagal is releasing a movie i generally read reviews first, because i am not going to waste my money buying a sub-standard movie and therefore supporting the endless chain. The True Justice DVD debacle for me is a joke too. Releasing a television show as numerous individual DVDs is just asking for people to waste their money. The series could have been released as a box-set like they have done in Australia.

I still look out for what he is doing now and hope of a release that is great quality, but i fear we are 20 years too late. It has been 12 years since his last true cinema success - Exit Wounds and we have had about 30 DTV releases in that time.
 

Kotegashi

Master Of Disaster
Staff member
I still have all my dvd's but i'm not wasting anymore money on his films.

Sometimes on my birthday or with christmas i get one as a present. But to be honest i fall a sleep during his last 15 or so movies. I did see mc in total, it just took me a whole week.

Seagal is still a great martial artist but as an actor he failed miserably after Exit Wounds (a few exceptions in the 30 dtv's). Lawman was somewhat entertaining but it showed mainly a totally out of shape bunch of cops. He somehow has grown an attitude where he thinks he is a briliant actor and everything he does is absolutely fantastic.

Unfortunately he is believing hismown fantasy and lost touch with the real world and what the real world wants to see.

I still have hopes for 1 or 2 good ones with Seagal, like Machete or a part in something like the expendables. Perhaps not as a leading character, but a support act like Schwarzenegger and norris.

Peace
 

Administrator

Administrator
Staff member
I still have hopes for 1 or 2 good ones with Seagal, like Machete or a part in something like the expendables. Perhaps not as a leading character, but a support act like Schwarzenegger and norris.

Peace

I too hope he will get a decent supporting role too. Machete was great for him.

We know he can still perform martial arts to a great ability and if he put a lot of time and effort into a movie i still believe he could have success. That to me is the most frustrating thing. When you look at the likes of Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Willis and even Neeson having some success at their late stage.
 

Terrorvator

New Member
Nice essay. I appreciate you putting your two cents forward. I don't agree with you, respectfully, and want to point out that there is no definitive answer as to what a good movie is, especially when it comes to Steven Seagal's output. Out of the approximately 23 direct-to-video movies he's made, I like about ten of them, and these I enjoy for their varied casts and their unique & crazy storylines. If I want something a bit more streamlined, I go back to his earlier work.

One thing I particularly disagree with is the opinion that Seagal is "ripping us off" based on the quality of his movies. Again, I believe it's relative how good a film is, but to assume that Seagal alone is to blame for the quality of a picture is unrealistic. The star is only one component of the product, and despite what a lot of folks seem to assume, Steven Seagal isn't in complete creative and technical control of his features. I agree that there are probably a few movies that the man didn't have his heart in, but the chopped-up storylines, the insane editing, and the over-reliance on stand-ins and doubles are more likely the fault of producers who can't come to a decision about what kind of movie they want and filmmakers who rely on second unit crews to film major scenes at the last minute. You see the same problems in lower-budget flicks from Lundgren and Snipes; are they "ripping us off" too?
 

Terrorvator

New Member
@ Dexter22,

first I would like to say, that you did a good job in criticsm. I will now speak only for myself, why I am a Seagal fan and will be "forever".

My first encounter with Seagal was his first movie ABOVE THE LAW. The technique of Aikido instead of the various types of Karate or Kung Fu was absolute refreshing in my eyes. Secondary Seagal and the character do mirrow itself on many occassions, like the interest in Asian cultures. I am also interested in Asian cultures, but this interest began long BEFORE i had the chance to watch ABOVE THE LAW.

After this amazing experience I became a fan.

The international
Moreover he was and is still kinda the "Anti-American-American" if you want. I like the works of Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Norris, but Seagal is for me, the absolute alternative. His moves, his expessions, an alternative. Not the extreme patriotic.

Offscreen
What me also still impresses the most is his offscreen work for protecting enviroment, animals, law-enforcement and his work for children. I have no pets or children, but I know that we have so far only this planet and everyone must do his part for saving this juwel of the galaxy. I also began to interest myself to blues. I am always listening to Heavy Metal, J-Pop, movie and TV-related music, but thanks to Seagal I began to broaden my taste of music.

Quality
Of course the quality of his films are completely different, but I enjoyed them all, one more, one more less. Seagal puts his stamp on the production and not everyone is doing this. Another plus point for me. My taste of movies is dominated by so called "B-movies". With a lower budget producers and actors must be creative. Look only at the over 100 Millionen $ movies. They have more mistakes than an average "B-movie."

Justice
Seagal plays characters who can be very extreme in their actions. In the real-world, I am against violence and death-penalty. I am for justice. But reality, law and justice are always different things. In the fictional world of movies, Seagal strikes the crap out of the evil guys. This only pleasure-ridden entertainment. This particular kind of entertainment is my type. I probably will never have the chance to wield a Katana or learn Aikido, but if I see Seagal doing this, I can forget reality for a short time.

Locations
Seagal's movies take place in nearly every corner of the world, while others still concentrate them on the USA area. This is ok, but if Seagal chases bad guys in Germany, this is amazing. You should know that I am German. German entertainment for example is its absolute majority the absolute worst.

His appearance
Yes his appearance changed over the years, but who didn't? Over the years his phyiscal appearance became like Tomisaburo Wakayama, one of the most best Japanese actors of all time. You know him from the original six KOZURE OKAMI movies as Ogami Itto during the 1970s. His appearance in the movies is grim, intimidating and powerful, but he still the good guy. This is also a good point for me.

Buddhism
I know that I am repeating myself, but Seagal is also an ambassador for peace in real-life. Buddhism for example, is a fascniating philisophy. I am christ, but I am also so far "no official" buddhist, but I will try to become one. Seagal shows me that a westerner can use this philosophy with success.

I hope you can understand me. Although I would like to continue my time is at the moment extremely limited and so I must conclude it.
Maybe Seagal will grow on you again.

Greetz from Germany.
Nicely put!
 

Dexter22

Member
I stand by what I said. Atleast Snipes and Lundgren dont use doubles or dubbing. The producers rarely did that, its Seagal. In his contract it states that he will only be on set 3 hours a day. This is an issue, this is why there are doubles. Stories can blow but the ripping off I am talking about it Seagal's effort. No one can tell me he puts forward much of that.
 

Terrorvator

New Member
Respectfully, I need to contradict you: I'm not as well-versed in Snipes' filmography, but Lundgren is definitely guilty of being both dubbed and doubled. Bridge of Dragons, The Last Warrior, Universal Soldier: Regeneration, and The Package are a few examples.

I've heard about Seagal's 3-hour preference, but I've never heard of it actually being in his contract. If this is the case, has it always been that way for his DTV films? Seagal changed studios in 2009 and 2010; did his previous contract with Sony had the same 3-hour/day specification? If so, why have his movies with 20th Century Fox and Paramount featured comparatively less dubbing and doubling than those? Admittedly, you still find instances of both (just like in other low-budget action movies), but I wouldn't agree that we've had another Attack Force or Submerged since he's left Sony.
 

Dexter22

Member
I should have never have posted this. I should have known that everyone will do anything to save face with him. I wasnt talking about any other movies except Seagal's. If Lundgren is ripping people off then thats a different story (he actually cares for his fans, however). There shouldnt be any doubling or dubbing, I don't care about the "amount". Thats a ridiculous argument.
 

marky96

Active Member
I feel the same, when i got rid of my DVDs i had a massive pile of Steven Seagal movies, out of all his movies i only kept the movies up to Exit Wounds and Into The Sun which is a rare Japanese edition. The rest i got rid of. I realized i wouldn't watch them again.

Now when Steven Seagal is releasing a movie i generally read reviews first, because i am not going to waste my money buying a sub-standard movie and therefore supporting the endless chain. The True Justice DVD debacle for me is a joke too. Releasing a television show as numerous individual DVDs is just asking for people to waste their money. The series could have been released as a box-set like they have done in Australia.

I still look out for what he is doing now and hope of a release that is great quality, but i fear we are 20 years too late. It has been 12 years since his last true cinema success - Exit Wounds and we have had about 30 DTV releases in that time.
I still have all my dvd's but i'm not wasting anymore money on his films.

Sometimes on my birthday or with christmas i get one as a present. But to be honest i fall a sleep during his last 15 or so movies. I did see mc in total, it just took me a whole week.

Seagal is still a great martial artist but as an actor he failed miserably after Exit Wounds (a few exceptions in the 30 dtv's). Lawman was somewhat entertaining but it showed mainly a totally out of shape bunch of cops. He somehow has grown an attitude where he thinks he is a briliant actor and everything he does is absolutely fantastic.

Unfortunately he is believing hismown fantasy and lost touch with the real world and what the real world wants to see.

I still have hopes for 1 or 2 good ones with Seagal, like Machete or a part in something like the expendables. Perhaps not as a leading character, but a support act like Schwarzenegger and norris.

Peace
 

marky96

Active Member
Most of my Seagal DVDs had to go because his recent films just don't stand up to repeat viewings. They aren't the sort of films you can sit down with you're girlfriend of some mates and enjoy. I too look at the reviews and other information before I watch a new Seagal film but I'm really not gonna be that interested unless its something in the cinema. For me all his DTV films and the True Justice TV movies have just worn my patience so thin with their never living up to potential and generally poor quality. I too fear it's just too late for Seagal to do anything decent now, his cinema films are so far behind him in terms of years and the number of DTV films he's made. I'm afraid it looks as if straight to video is where he's going to finish his career.

The thing that's so frustrating as a fan is that Seagal was and still is a great martial artist. His cinematic releases show that so well yet since Exit Wounds it's just been a downward spiral of missed opportunities. Even his Lawman reality show only served to make him look strange, out of touch and out of shape, with his fellow officers clearly picked because they were of the same physical fitness as Seagal, or lack thereof. I too would love to see Seagal in a supporting role like Chuck Norris (who's more than 10 years older than him) in Expendables 2. But we've had Seagal in Machete. Good role for him back in 2010 but what's happened since then? Instead of getting in even better shape, and going out trying to persue other theatrical roles, Seagal simply went back to DTV releases and a shoddy TV Series. Meanwhile other older action stars are back in the Expendables films and other films of their own. And I accept not all of their films have done well but at least it looked like they were making an effort and cared about the film. Even new older action stars are making a go of it most famously Liam Neeson who's career has gone from strength to strength since making the first taken film when he was 56. In fact films featuring older action heros are becoming a genre of their own with Sean Penn (53) will star in Prone Gunman forTaken director Pierre Morel and Aaron Eckhart (44) has already been The Expatriate. But where is Seagal? That's what's so frustrating. Lets face it, his last chance for a decent end to his career, something other than TV movies, and he's miles away from where he needs to be.

I too feel ripped off by Seagal and his recent films. I know that Seagal isn't solely responsible for the quality of his films, however after so many poor DTV films over the last decade he must hold his hands up to a big part of the blame. And if he did that he would be helping himself out. If he came out and said to us fans that he admits some of the films he's done have been below acceptable quality and he's going to make sure it doesn't happen again I think we would all appreciate that. I would rather Seagal didn't make a film at all now and spent time in the gym rather than put out another poor DTV release. On a basic level Seagal is failing his fans. Even when he's not compared to other action stars most of his DTV work is just completely unacceptable.
 

marky96

Active Member
I should have never have posted this. I should have known that everyone will do anything to save face with him. I wasnt talking about any other movies except Seagal's. If Lundgren is ripping people off then thats a different story (he actually cares for his fans, however). There shouldnt be any doubling or dubbing, I don't care about the "amount". Thats a ridiculous argument.

I'm really glad you started this thread. It's a chance for true fans of Seagal to express their open and honest opinions about the way Seagal's career has gone downhill. Like you say though some people, in some sort of truly misguided loyalty,are so desperate to defend Seagal at any cost that they resort to trying to deflect attention onto other action stars. Action stars who in fact obviously care about their fans and put more effort into even their DTV films which has had very obviously positive results for them. Like you say no amount of dubbing or doubling is right, and the fact it has appeared so often really says it all.
 

Seagalzilla

Active Member
"true fans of Seagal", " truly misguided loyalty" - please excuse me, but what are these things? Explain them more thorough, please.

These two things are a matter of opinion. Is your purpose to insult people? I hope not.

It looks like you want to convince them from your view.

You are dissappointed, but dissappointments belong to a life. I know that more than you can imagine. Concentrate on the positiveness. I know that is hard.

Its a matter of subject in my opinion. I won't convince nobody of my view, but this a little bit too harsh from you.
Loyalty and truth are two very heart-bound things. Your impression is different from mine.

"Action stars who in fact obviously care about their fans", so according to you - he doesn't care?
Seagal cares, but if a contract does not allow him to do as he pleases, what now?
If your work contract does only allow a 40h week with firm salary, do you working more, with no more chance of more benefit for you? Probably not.

Have ever seen a contract for actors?

I didn't, but a contract is a contract. Seagal is NOT ABOVE THE LAW in real life. Seagal tries to entertain us. If you put less effort in his next movie, this is absolute understandable.

One example. MAXIMUM CONVICTION was for me, not perfect, and the only thing I didn't liked so much was the limited screentime of Seagal. But when he was there, he was great. I was a little bit dissappoint, yes this is the truth.

What are your impression you about this? http://www.steven-seagal.net/xen/index.php?threads/force-of-execution.11176/page-9
Boyd recieved a message from Voltage Pictures that FORCE OF EXECUTION will be released Summer 2014.

Is this the fault of Seagal? Probably not, he isn't involved in promotion as far as I know. I am not happy about this, but the only one's I can blame is Voltage. If Seagal is in charge of promotion FORCE OF EXECUTION, he never told us. Please confirm or deny it, if you can. If Seagal is responsible for this publicity stunt, than I would start thinking. Is there a reason?

If you guys know think that I am blind and a not a true fan of Seagal - your opinion. I will continue living my life with my personal views and opinions.
 

Terrorvator

New Member
It's interesting that you should mention Voltage Pictures, Seagalzilla, since they've supplied a good example of how producers affect Seagal's movies.

Voltage Pictures is the company that's produced Seagal's movies since A Dangerous Man. It's run by Nicolas Chartier, who was profiled by Variety in September 2009 and pretty much laid out what limited emphasis is afforded their DTV action movies: "So Voltage serves up genre telepics starring the likes of Steven Seagal, Wesley Snipes and Val Kilmer [ . . . ] and invests the proceeds in more challenging feature projects." Chartier also referred to DTV action flicks as "the meat 'n potatoes business."

One can't say with any certainty whether the production companies Seagal worked with in the past have had similar attitudes, but here's the boss of Voltage admitting upfront that not only are their movies starring lower-budget action heroes (not just Seagal) being *planned* to go DTV, but they're also not going to invest too heavily in them during production because most of the studio's attention is turned towards stuff like The Hurt Locker and The Whistle Blower.

Chartier's stance hasn't kept me from enjoying Seagal's movies, but it won't do the films any favors that the guy in charge of making them considers them celluloid hash from the outset and is more or less planning that this is all they're going to be.
 

marky96

Active Member
"true fans of Seagal", " truly misguided loyalty" - please excuse me, but what are these things? Explain them more thorough, please.

These two things are a matter of opinion. Is your purpose to insult people? I hope not.

It looks like you want to convince them from your view.

You are dissappointed, but dissappointments belong to a life. I know that more than you can imagine. Concentrate on the positiveness. I know that is hard.

Its a matter of subject in my opinion. I won't convince nobody of my view, but this a little bit too harsh from you.
Loyalty and truth are two very heart-bound things. Your impression is different from mine.

"Action stars who in fact obviously care about their fans", so according to you - he doesn't care?
Seagal cares, but if a contract does not allow him to do as he pleases, what now?
If your work contract does only allow a 40h week with firm salary, do you working more, with no more chance of more benefit for you? Probably not.

Have ever seen a contract for actors?

I didn't, but a contract is a contract. Seagal is NOT ABOVE THE LAW in real life. Seagal tries to entertain us. If you put less effort in his next movie, this is absolute understandable.

One example. MAXIMUM CONVICTION was for me, not perfect, and the only thing I didn't liked so much was the limited screentime of Seagal. But when he was there, he was great. I was a little bit dissappoint, yes this is the truth.

What are your impression you about this? http://www.steven-seagal.net/xen/index.php?threads/force-of-execution.11176/page-9
Boyd recieved a message from Voltage Pictures that FORCE OF EXECUTION will be released Summer 2014.

Is this the fault of Seagal? Probably not, he isn't involved in promotion as far as I know. I am not happy about this, but the only one's I can blame is Voltage. If Seagal is in charge of promotion FORCE OF EXECUTION, he never told us. Please confirm or deny it, if you can. If Seagal is responsible for this publicity stunt, than I would start thinking. Is there a reason?

If you guys know think that I am blind and a not a true fan of Seagal - your opinion. I will continue living my life with my personal views and opinions.

I will happily explain what I mean by those phrases to help you understand. I mean that there are some people who think that by supporting Seagal regardless of the quality of the films he makes they are being the best fan that they can be. However I would argue that a true fan should see both the positive and the negative in Seagal's career so that they can let him know when something he does is below the standard of what he is capable of.

My contract is 43 hours a week. That's what I'm paid for, nothing more, nothing less. However I average a 61 hour working week because I want to do the best I can, for my area to be the best it can be. We have many problems like staff shortages but I care about my job so I don't let those issues stop me from succeeding. I don't get paid any extra but I do have the pride of knowing I've done the best I'm capable of.

As for the release date of 'Force of Execution' I can't see how that's at all relevant to this discussion, you're just clutching at straws. I wouldn't care if the film was released in 3 months time or 3 years time if I knew it was actually going to be a decent film.

It's interesting that you should mention Voltage Pictures, Seagalzilla, since they've supplied a good example of how producers affect Seagal's movies.

Voltage Pictures is the company that's produced Seagal's movies since A Dangerous Man. It's run by Nicolas Chartier, who was profiled by Variety in September 2009 and pretty much laid out what limited emphasis is afforded their DTV action movies: "So Voltage serves up genre telepics starring the likes of Steven Seagal, Wesley Snipes and Val Kilmer [ . . . ] and invests the proceeds in more challenging feature projects." Chartier also referred to DTV action flicks as "the meat 'n potatoes business."

One can't say with any certainty whether the production companies Seagal worked with in the past have had similar attitudes, but here's the boss of Voltage admitting upfront that not only are their movies starring lower-budget action heroes (not just Seagal) being *planned* to go DTV, but they're also not going to invest too heavily in them during production because most of the studio's attention is turned towards stuff like The Hurt Locker and The Whistle Blower.

Chartier's stance hasn't kept me from enjoying Seagal's movies, but it won't do the films any favors that the guy in charge of making them considers them celluloid hash from the outset and is more or less planning that this is all they're going to be.

I have no problem with Seagal's films being DTV, although I would prefer them to go to theatres first. I have seen loads of decent DTV films made on similar budgets to Seagal's films. It's just about Seagal choosing the right people to work with to make the best films that he can. After all he's been around long enough in the movie business to know that. And if a film isn't going to turn out good then he needs to pass on it and wait for something better.
 

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I have no problem with Seagal's films being DTV, although I would prefer them to go to theatres first. I have seen loads of decent DTV films made on similar budgets to Seagal's films. It's just about Seagal choosing the right people to work with to make the best films that he can. After all he's been around long enough in the movie business to know that. And if a film isn't going to turn out good then he needs to pass on it and wait for something better.

Agreed there are many great movies made for similar budgets to his recent work.
 
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