Action Hall of Fame - Steven Seagal

I thought that I would try a new feature on my blog in which I induct actors, filmmakers, and significant figures in the action entertainment industry into a hall of fame of sorts chosen by me exclusively. I used to do a feature where I would try to highlight an actor's career and update the list, but it turned out to be far too time consuming, especially when you consider how many actors and filmmakers there are too highlight.

In order for a figure to make it into the official Better Clear On Out the Back - Action Hall of Fame, they must have made a significant impact on action cinema either throughout their career or at a distinct point in their career (i.e. Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger). They can also be inducted purely for appearing in countless action films or for devoting most of their career and screen image to the genre (i.e. Al Leong, Gary Daniels, etc). Filmmakers, editors, and composers can also be inducted, although actors tend to be the most highlighted faces of action cinema, as they are the star and marquee value and all. I plan on inducting a new figure every month and will explain my reasoning as to why that figure should be inducted into the hall of fame.

For my first inductee, I thought that I would go with someone typically overlooked, the one and only, Steven Seagal. It would be too easy if I started off an action hall of fame by inducting go to actors Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger (I'm looking at you IGN.com). Therefore, I decided to go with someone unique who requires explaining and reasoning for their place in the hall of fame.

"I'm just a cook."

Better Clear On Out the Back - Action Hall of Fame Inductee:

Steven Seagal (actor, director, writer, songwriter, producer, etc.)

You know you've made it when this is your 1st poster.

Steven Seagal is an action star whose films are mainly remembered for their incorporation of violent gun play and akido styled martial arts. When most people bring up Seagal nowadays, it tends to be met with a fat joke or a complete disregard for his entire filmography. While I agree that the man could lose a few pounds, as well as use a new attitude, I absolutely adore his early films and consider them to be the hottest streak of any breakout action star in cinema history. That Seagal was able to churn out hit after hit for several years in a row without missing a beat earns him a spot alone in the hall of fame.

Seagal broke out onto the action scene with not a supporting role, but a starring role in his very first film, 1988's Above the Law. It's not often that an unknown actor appears out of nowhere in a starring role, let alone an action film distributed by Warner Bros. Seagal is the rare action star who started as an action star, not a no name actor in the back ground or a small supporting role in a bigger action star's film. He came onto the scene as an action star and began his career on the highest of highs, something that no other action star to date has been able to rival or duplicate.

The best 'Die Hard' rip-off this side of the 90s.

Seagal's early films, specifically Above the Law and Hard to Kill, showcased an action star with both brutalistic fervor and gentle kindness. Watch the scenes with Seagal and his spouses in both of those films and tell me he is not the kindest husband you have seen that side of a gun and a badge. I also adore the scene in Hard to Kill in which Seagal prays with his son before he goes to sleep. For those who do not believe that Seagal can act, look no further than the first act of Hard to Kill in which he has everything and loses it all within minutes, all the while kicking ass at the same time.

The man would continue to thrill viewers with increasingly violent films like Marked for Death and Out for Justice, two films where Seagal's characters continue to show no mercy on his enemies. It is within these first films of his in which Seagal's trademark knack for breaking arms and destroying his enemies was established. However, Seagal experienced minor A-list success with his fifth film, 1992's Under Siege. The film was not only critically well received, but a massive financial success and a two time Academy Award nominee. You read that right, a Seagal film ruled the world at one point. To this day, most general audiences remember this as the film that defines Seagal as an action star and entertainer for its blockbuster sensibilities and success upon its release in the 90s. It's worth noting that both of the films that Seagal worked on with director Andrew Davis are two of his most critically well received pictures.

The end of an era.

Unfortunately, Seagal's hot streak ended in 1994 with On Deadly Ground, his first critical and commercial flop, as well as his directorial debut. While the film features some first rate action, Seagal's weaknesses as a director and story teller abound throughout the entire film. For example, Seagal resorts to lots of A.D.R. in nearly every scene. He also bashes the viewer over the head with his film's themes, thereby making it more of a lecture than anything else. Regardless of its flaws, it is truly a unique action film in which a muscle bound action star used their minor A-list stardom to highlight their concern for the environment.

Seagal followed up his first failure with two more minor hits that signaled the end of his minor A-list stardom. Under Siege 2, while a minor success and honestly an immensely underrated sequel, was not as well received as its blockbuster predecessor. And Executive Decision, Seagal's first film in which he played a supporting role, revealed Warner. Bros' dying patience for the star, in which they killed him off early in the film. For those who are curious, I personally believe that Executive Decision is the best film that Seagal ever appeared in, although I consider Hard to Kill to be the best Seagal starring vehicle.

After those films, Seagal's career took a nose dive into terrible theatrical efforts, such as The Glimmer Man and Fire Down Below. Before he knew it, the sensei was appearing in direct to video action film after direct to video action film, more than anyone could care to count. As someone who has seen some of Seagal's direct to video efforts, I can honestly vouch that they are some of the worst films ever made, with 2005's Attack Force earning the title as the worst film that I have ever seen. And although Seagal experienced minor theatrical comebacks in 2001 with Exit Wounds and 2010 with Machete, the action star's heydays seem to be long gone, as few people respect the actor anymore.

There is no denying it, Seagal is now a burnt out 'has-been' whose heyday happened long ago. However, based purely upon the strength of his heyday, I would argue that Seagal is probably the greatest 'has-been' to have ever come upon the action scene. Seagal's early films are still well remembered to this day because they blended both intimate drama with brutal action, something that had rarely been tackled before. And while those intimate films signaled a possible A-list star in the making, Seagal's blockbuster days were short lived. To this day, people still debate whether Seagal or Jean Claude Van Damme were the better B-list action star of the early 90s, as both men had one massive success that grossed over $100 million worldwide, Under Siege for Seagal and Timecop for Van Damme. Therefore, I personally believe that based upon the strength of his earliest films, Seagal most definitely earns a spot in the action hall of fame.

The Sensei proudly accepts his award.

Hard to Kill (1990) - Retrospective Review

Director: Bruce Malmuth

Cast: Steven Seagal, Kelly LeBrock, William Sadler, Frederick Coffin

Country: United States

Rating: R

Run Time: 96 minutes

Hard to Kill is one of Seagal's "three word title" films from his Golden Age (according to Vern's Seagology book). The great thing about the "three word title" Seagal films is that you can place "Steven Seagal is..." before any of them and form an awesome sentence. Steven Seagal is...Above the Law,  Steven Seagal is...Out for Justice, etc. They also feature Seagal at his leanest, freshest, and most brutal. If you are an action fan, Seagal's "three word title" films are a must see!

Hard to Kill is a small scale action film that kicks ass and takes names. It features arguably Seagal's finest performance as Mason Storm, a cop who comes back from a coma in order to enact vengeance on the corrupt cops and politicans who took his family from him. While I relatively enjoy every classic Seagal film, I found myself madly in love with this one. In contrast to Above the Law and Out for Justice, Hard to Kill takes its sweet time in getting to the violence. The film focuses on drama and character in order to deliver a satisfying final act of action and bloodshed. Unless Seagal films unseen by me like Marked for Death or On Deadly Ground come to blow my mind, Hard to Kill might just be Seagal's best film.

The M1911, a man's best friend.

Hard to Kill opens up with a prologue set in Los Angeles, California, 1982, on Oscar night. I mention this because the opening 20 minutes of the film are going to drive it into your brain! You will never hear more mentions of the Academy Awards in such a short time span in cinema history. Anyways, Mason Storm (Steven Seagal, as if I had to let you know) is a detective who investigates a mob meeting late at night. The meeting concerns Senator Trent (William Sadler) and his desire to higher the mob to wipe out his political competition. After recording some sweet dirt, Storm high tails it out of there. He makes a quick pit stop at a liquor store first though and beats the hell out of some muggers. But anyways, Storm notifies his superior of the crucial information he has uncovered. However, corrupt cops working for the mob listen in on this information and put a hit on Storm. When Storm arrives home, hit men gun down him and his wife. 

The reason I immediately place Hard to Kill at the top of the Seagal pack is because the film "kills" him in the first 20 minutes! They don't get better than that! However, we all know he's not really dead. Storm survives the attack but ends up in a coma. Thanks to the help of his friend O'Malley (Frederick Coffin), Storm is labeled as a John Doe in order to keep him safe. Storm eventually wakes up from his coma Kill Bill style in a hospital several years later in 1990, the present. With the help of a nurse named Andy (Kelly LeBrock, Seagal's wife at the time), Storm escapes the hospital and sets out to heal himself in preparation for his revenge against the men who took his family from him. Damn, talk about a satisfying set up for an action film. Hard to Kill is 90's action at its most simplistic, grounded, and satisfying. They just don't make them like they used too.

90's hottie Kelly LeBrock.

One of Hard to Kill's strongest elements is its steady pacing. Instead of rushing to Storm's revenge, the film takes its time leading up to all of the action and gun play. We get to watch Storm wake up from his coma, barely escape the hospital with his life, apply acupuncture and herbs to his wounds, meditate, and even re-train himself in martial arts and gun firing. This portion of the film where Storm trains himself and investigates into the whereabouts of his former son takes up a whopping 50 minutes of the film after the opening prologue. This means that the film doesn't get to its first major action scene until around an hour into the film. While there are some cool beat downs in the first 15 minutes, that is all you get for a helluva long time. However, the drama and build up is so good that you know that the action scenes are going to be well earned once you arrive to them. This is one of the reasons Hard to Kill excels as an action film and joins the list of great small scale action pictures of the 90's.

And you know what else makes a great action film? Training montages! We need more awesome training montages scored by electric guitars in our action films! It is eery how similar the basic set up and training montages of Hard to Kill is in comparison to Ringo Lam's 1993 heroic bloodshed film, Full Contact. Both films' protagonists survive a nearly unsurvivable incident and than go into hiding in order to train and heal themselves. This means that the protagonists train their hearts out by doing pull ups, running laps, and testing their gun skills to awesome 90's electric guitar riffs. And while I think that Chow Yun Fat got a more bad ass training montage in Full Contact, Seagal's training montages are one of the most memorable aspects of his film.

As I stated before, the action scenes in Hard to Kill are great. The film favors gun fights and shootouts over Seagal's typical limb breaking and face smashing. However, there are still a few great beats of physical contact to please any martial arts fan. Two scenes in particular stood out to me as premiere action set pieces. The first is when Storm and his wife are attacked while in their bedroom. As soon as the gun men break through their door, Storm rolls off the bed, grabs his hand gun, and fires away into one of the hit men. Unfortunately, the men fire into Storm and that is when he really gets pissed off. Storm rushes one of the gun men and than proceeds to beat the hell out of him and snap his hand backwards. However, the gun men finish off Storm's attacks by blasting him one more time and finishing off his wife as well. It's an incredibly short but tense and powerful action scene that features Seagal at his most vulnerable as he screams at the top of his lungs and gets shot into numerous times.

Breaking Bad's Dean Norris even pops up as a trigger happy henchie.

The other standout action set piece of the film is the home invasion that takes place after 50 minutes of no action. As Storm and Andy pack their bags to leave their mansion, gun men break into the house and proceed to shoot at them. Unfortunately for those men, their target is Seagal and that means that he is going to dodge every bullet and destroy every single one of them. It's a great action scene filled with gun shots, limb snapping, grenade tossing, and even an automobile escape. I can tell you that after 50 minutes of nothing but drama, I was flipping out during this explosion of small scaled action and hand to hand combat.

Let it be known that Steven Seagal can kick butt in an action scene and emote too! Storm is placed into an incredibly emotional and personal predicament that forces him to confront the loss of his wife and the possibility of losing his son. Seagal also nails several pure Seagal scenes where he works in personal aspects of his life into the film. The most obvious scene of this nature is when Andy asks Storm how he learned how to write Chinese. Storm proceeds to tell her a story about where he was raised and about a man who taught him martial arts. It is fairly similar but different from the clearly autobiographical introduction of Above the Law where the film uses real stories and pictures of Seagal in order to explain his character's background. 

Seagal also carries an immense kindness to his character in such scenes where he prays with his son before bed time and thanks Andy for her detective work. I wish every Seagal role was as good as this one because I love the guy in this film! I also can't go without mentioning the champion one-liners that come out of Seagal's mouth. My favorite zingers include, "Oh we'll get them buddy. Every last f****** one," "I'm going to take you to the bank Senator Trent...the blood bank," and "That's for killing my wife! F*** you and die!" As one of Storm's fellow officers tells him, "You won the Oscar, Storm!"

Co-star Kelly LeBrock is definitely 90's cute but nothing to write home about. She brings all of the cheese to the film with numerous corn ball lines. After the big home invasion, there is a painful ADR line of her saying, "Oops, I didn't lock the front door." There is also a corny as heck scene where Andy walks into Storm's room clearly desiring sex but holds up a flower and says, "I was walking by and thought you'd like a flower." Unlike Seagal, LeBrock does not win the Oscar on this one.

Seagal aims and fires.

Even though main villain Senator Trent is barely in the film, it is worth mentioning that he is played by William Sadler (Iron Man 3). 1990 was a pretty good year for Sadler as far as action villains came. He did both Hard to Kill and Die Hard 2: Die Harder in the same year. That's pretty good if you ask me. Another casting worth mentioning is that Dean Norris of Breaking Bad fame pops up as one of the film's corrupt cops that Seagal takes on. I bring this up because Seagal took on Jonathan Banks, another Breaking Bad cast member, in Under Siege 2: Dark Territory. If I discover that Seagal takes on another Breaking Bad cast member in one of his films, than I am definitely on to something.

Besides Breaking Bad, Kill Bill, and Full Contact, I noticed an even more bizarre movie connection with this film. During the finale, one of Trent's corrupt cops runs around a mansion looking for Storm. However, he continually runs into phrases written around the house by Storm. The one worth mentioning is "You're Next" written on a wall. Now I don't know if it is a coincidence or not, but I bet that Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett of You're Next and The Guest fame had to have seen this film in order to be somewhat inspired for the writings on the walls in their film You'e Next. If there is another horror film out there that specifically does this, let me know people. Otherwise, this has got to be the source.

Hard to Kill's final piece of the bad ass action movie puzzle is its perfect score by David Michael Frank. Frank balances emotional music, energetic guitar riffs, and moody synthesized beats a-la John Carpenter all in one score. It is one of the film's strongest elements and it literally carries the film from scene to scene. I cannot praise Frank's eighties and nineties-esque score enough. I love it with all of my heart.

Oh come on, Seagal wouldn't pull the trigger. Right?

Hard to Kill is the Seagal film that I have been needing to see all along. While I originally thought that Above the Law was the man's finest hour, this is clearly Seagal at the top of his game. Even though Above the Law has more action scenes, Hard to Kill has a better lead performance, drama, and rocking soundtrack. Seagal is lean, charming, awesome, and likable all under an hour and forty minutes. I had a blast watching this film and highly recommend it to all action fans. 

Rating: 9/10 - Seagal's second action film is bad ass, entertaining, and even a little dramatic. One of the finest small scaled action films of the 1990's.