Disciple
come get some
Been thinking about this for a while, and after watching the disappointing Belly of the Beast, I've formulated a list of things that Seagal should do that would help him return to past cinematic glory. He used to be the top action star in the WORLD for crying out loud! So my suggestions are as follows:
1. Get down to proper fighting weight. That means losing at least another 30-40 lbs from his Belly of the Beast weight. It can be done, I have seen people older than him do it. In his prime he was about 6ft4 and 210, which should be his ideal target size if he wants to be taken seriously as the onscreen master that we all know he is.
2. He should film his fight scenes the old way, which worked so well for him in the first ten or so years of his movie career. People are sick and tired of these Matrix inspired fancy camera angles, unnecessary slow motion, and blink-and-you'll-miss-it edits during fight scenes. Seagal should fight like he did in the early days: filmed in a few takes, from a medium distance, NO slow motion. He should STOP using stunt doubles so much.
3. He should return to his traditional Japanese combat styles (i.e. Aikido, Karate, Kendo, etc), NOT try to include all these other esoteric Chinese styles that he's doing now. He should also do the really roughhouse style fighting like he used to do, so that you can REALLY see the impact of his blows and throws, because that's what fans want to see, and sadly this is not happening with his films right now. He should break more bones and snap more arms like the old days!
4. He needs to do more scenes like the bar scenes in Above the Law, and Out for Justice, where he goes in and destroys several bad guys in one go.
5. He should do his best to get better lead villain actors, someone memorable like Basil Wallace, Henry Silva, Bill Sadler, Bill Forsythe, Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey, Everett McGill and Eric Bogosian. The bad guys he has faced in his last 4 or 5 movies have been pathetic and forgettable.
and 6. If Seagal wants to reinvigorate his career, he REALLY needs to hook up with a decent director or two, such as Quentin Tarantino. Seagal needs a juicy role to bring him back into the limelight. He also should be more open minded about taking on bad guy roles, or even stuff like light comedy, or dramatic stuff that is very different from what he is traditionally known for. Every actor who is successful knows that they have to continuously reinvent themselves if they want to remain fresh and interesting to the general public. If you don't reinvent yourself, you are yesterday's news. I have full faith that Seagal can freshen up his image if he puts his mind to it. Like I say, he should seriously consider doing a well written bad guy role, or comedy, drama, whatever. SOMETHING DIFFERENT.
1. Get down to proper fighting weight. That means losing at least another 30-40 lbs from his Belly of the Beast weight. It can be done, I have seen people older than him do it. In his prime he was about 6ft4 and 210, which should be his ideal target size if he wants to be taken seriously as the onscreen master that we all know he is.
2. He should film his fight scenes the old way, which worked so well for him in the first ten or so years of his movie career. People are sick and tired of these Matrix inspired fancy camera angles, unnecessary slow motion, and blink-and-you'll-miss-it edits during fight scenes. Seagal should fight like he did in the early days: filmed in a few takes, from a medium distance, NO slow motion. He should STOP using stunt doubles so much.
3. He should return to his traditional Japanese combat styles (i.e. Aikido, Karate, Kendo, etc), NOT try to include all these other esoteric Chinese styles that he's doing now. He should also do the really roughhouse style fighting like he used to do, so that you can REALLY see the impact of his blows and throws, because that's what fans want to see, and sadly this is not happening with his films right now. He should break more bones and snap more arms like the old days!
4. He needs to do more scenes like the bar scenes in Above the Law, and Out for Justice, where he goes in and destroys several bad guys in one go.
5. He should do his best to get better lead villain actors, someone memorable like Basil Wallace, Henry Silva, Bill Sadler, Bill Forsythe, Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey, Everett McGill and Eric Bogosian. The bad guys he has faced in his last 4 or 5 movies have been pathetic and forgettable.
and 6. If Seagal wants to reinvigorate his career, he REALLY needs to hook up with a decent director or two, such as Quentin Tarantino. Seagal needs a juicy role to bring him back into the limelight. He also should be more open minded about taking on bad guy roles, or even stuff like light comedy, or dramatic stuff that is very different from what he is traditionally known for. Every actor who is successful knows that they have to continuously reinvent themselves if they want to remain fresh and interesting to the general public. If you don't reinvent yourself, you are yesterday's news. I have full faith that Seagal can freshen up his image if he puts his mind to it. Like I say, he should seriously consider doing a well written bad guy role, or comedy, drama, whatever. SOMETHING DIFFERENT.