Poor poor Steven. How sad it is that you still consider yourself a serious action star. I just watched this turkey and now feel I have truly seen the demise of Mr Segal for my own eyes. In one word this STINKS!
Don't get me wrong about Steven Seagal. I was a fan of his early stuff - 'Above the law', 'Hard to Kill', 'Out for Justice' and even 'Under Siege' were worthy action flicks in a time when all we had was an aging Stallone, a mono-syllable speaking Schwarzenegger and an almost getting there Van Damme, to appease our need for loud, rocking, violent movies.
Seagal came out as a slick & stylish type of action man, a martial arts Bond, who had a smooth voice and even smoother moves to impress the current crop of action fans. We had never seen Aikido used in film the way he was using it. A subtle & gentle fighting style that when put to professional use could be totally devastating & ultra cool. Hell, we even began to forgive & accept that silly, little ponytail he persisted with!
But then came the rain of hurriedly made b graders that were a pathetic attempt to ride the gravy train and flood the market with quantity, not quality. 'Belly of the Beast', 'Shadow Man', 'Urban Justice' and the infamous 'Against the Dark' were an assault on the senses, unparalleled since the 'Police Academy' sequels.
Now 'A Dangerous Man' is here to add fuel to the quickly fading, Seagal fire.. In terms of budget, this movie is not lacking. It's where it's used that is the problem. No amount of cinema photography, baggy wardrobe or body doubles are going to hide the fact that this hero is a very overweight man. Especially for an EX-special forces commando who has razor sharp fighting & weapons skills that didn't diminish whilst serving six years for a crime he didn't commit. I mean really, how did he stay so well trained in there, yet gain 60 pounds? Do they have Pizza Hut delivery to state penitentiaries these days?
To the fight scenes, which are numerous and quite bloody, yet Seagal never seems to get any blood on his heavily pounded hands. Are they made of Teflon perhaps? The hand to hand combat is fast. But the producer (Seagal himself) still sees the need to speed up the frame rate constantly during every conflict, so much so that you are left with a dizzying, vertigo type feeling as you try to make sense of who is hitting who. This is quickly cleared up as you realize the hero himself is NEVER touched by any of the bad guys. Even the hardcore looking Kung fu dudes. I couldn't remember any one of them so much as laying a hand on him.
Besides Seagal, the acting isn't that bad. Just some of the situations the writer/director puts these characters in should have been properly thought out. A cop pulls over a perfectly looking car for no reason at all, asks the occupants to get out, and starts to body search them. All for no apparent reason other than to get attacked by these guys and therefore involve Seagal who is sitting in the darkness nearby, trying to drink away his sorrows. Remember, this man was a career warrior and successful & devoted husband. I wonder if this upstanding and well disciplined citizen acquired his taste for alcohol while in the joint? Whats more baffling is his willingness to help a cop, after he was put away by these guys for nothing at all..??
And even more disturbing are the sexy flashback scenes of a 57 years old Seagal fondling his naked wife who looks to be about 40 years his junior... CRINGE!!!
At the end of the day this is just another sub standard action movie. But why then does poor old Steve take it (and very clearly himself) SOO seriously?
Truly, if you want to see an overweight old man, who is covered in too much fake tan & badly choreographed fighting moves, then you'll be better off watching some old wrestling tapes of "Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant" and enjoying it for the humor it is meant to portray, rather than wasting your time on this over produced, vanity affected, past his used by date actor who looks as if Botox will be his next co-star. No thanks Steven. Again, CRINGE... *** out of TEN
Don't get me wrong about Steven Seagal. I was a fan of his early stuff - 'Above the law', 'Hard to Kill', 'Out for Justice' and even 'Under Siege' were worthy action flicks in a time when all we had was an aging Stallone, a mono-syllable speaking Schwarzenegger and an almost getting there Van Damme, to appease our need for loud, rocking, violent movies.
Seagal came out as a slick & stylish type of action man, a martial arts Bond, who had a smooth voice and even smoother moves to impress the current crop of action fans. We had never seen Aikido used in film the way he was using it. A subtle & gentle fighting style that when put to professional use could be totally devastating & ultra cool. Hell, we even began to forgive & accept that silly, little ponytail he persisted with!
But then came the rain of hurriedly made b graders that were a pathetic attempt to ride the gravy train and flood the market with quantity, not quality. 'Belly of the Beast', 'Shadow Man', 'Urban Justice' and the infamous 'Against the Dark' were an assault on the senses, unparalleled since the 'Police Academy' sequels.
Now 'A Dangerous Man' is here to add fuel to the quickly fading, Seagal fire.. In terms of budget, this movie is not lacking. It's where it's used that is the problem. No amount of cinema photography, baggy wardrobe or body doubles are going to hide the fact that this hero is a very overweight man. Especially for an EX-special forces commando who has razor sharp fighting & weapons skills that didn't diminish whilst serving six years for a crime he didn't commit. I mean really, how did he stay so well trained in there, yet gain 60 pounds? Do they have Pizza Hut delivery to state penitentiaries these days?
To the fight scenes, which are numerous and quite bloody, yet Seagal never seems to get any blood on his heavily pounded hands. Are they made of Teflon perhaps? The hand to hand combat is fast. But the producer (Seagal himself) still sees the need to speed up the frame rate constantly during every conflict, so much so that you are left with a dizzying, vertigo type feeling as you try to make sense of who is hitting who. This is quickly cleared up as you realize the hero himself is NEVER touched by any of the bad guys. Even the hardcore looking Kung fu dudes. I couldn't remember any one of them so much as laying a hand on him.
Besides Seagal, the acting isn't that bad. Just some of the situations the writer/director puts these characters in should have been properly thought out. A cop pulls over a perfectly looking car for no reason at all, asks the occupants to get out, and starts to body search them. All for no apparent reason other than to get attacked by these guys and therefore involve Seagal who is sitting in the darkness nearby, trying to drink away his sorrows. Remember, this man was a career warrior and successful & devoted husband. I wonder if this upstanding and well disciplined citizen acquired his taste for alcohol while in the joint? Whats more baffling is his willingness to help a cop, after he was put away by these guys for nothing at all..??
And even more disturbing are the sexy flashback scenes of a 57 years old Seagal fondling his naked wife who looks to be about 40 years his junior... CRINGE!!!
At the end of the day this is just another sub standard action movie. But why then does poor old Steve take it (and very clearly himself) SOO seriously?
Truly, if you want to see an overweight old man, who is covered in too much fake tan & badly choreographed fighting moves, then you'll be better off watching some old wrestling tapes of "Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant" and enjoying it for the humor it is meant to portray, rather than wasting your time on this over produced, vanity affected, past his used by date actor who looks as if Botox will be his next co-star. No thanks Steven. Again, CRINGE... *** out of TEN