Before he became a laughing stock with a constant flow of direct to DVD movies and extensive use of stunt doubles for every fight scene because he’s now too overweight to perform them himself. Terrible music, completely unchanged hair which must be a wig by now and on the verge of becoming a Bullshido master with some of the things he comes out with, Steven Seagal was a badass. Bursting onto the scene when martial arts stars were at their peak. Van Damme had just hit the big time with Blood Sport and Kickboxer. Chuck Norris had been at it for a while with movies like Missing in Action, Code of Silence, Lone Wolf McQuade, and Delta Force already under his belt.
Then along comes along Steven Seagal. He didn’t need to take his shirt off, he didn’t need flashy kicks, he didn’t need to scream at the camera with raw emotion. He had a cool calm charisma, a very cool look, imposing statue and just the general look of someone that knew how to handle themselves. Usually playing tough no-nonsense dirty harry type cops with no problem killing multiple bad guys but always with a heart of gold.
Moving to Japan in the early ’70s and marrying the daughter of a renowned Aikido master as you can expect Seagal extensively trained in Aikido and was at least a 5th-degree black belt by the time he started making movies. Aikido is his bread and butter, Seagal also has black belts in Kendo, Judo, and Karate. Like Van Damme, Swatzenengger, Norris, etc I grew up watching Steven Seagal movies so will always have kind of a soft spot for him. I haven’t nearly seen all his movies as he seems to churn out like 7 a year. I gave up watching his stuff years back but his early stuff was great. So, for anyone that’s wondering if he ever made a good movie here are the top ten best Steven Seagal movies. Also, only movies where Steven Seagal is the main star will count so movies like Executive Decision and Machete don’t count.
10: The Glimmer Man
A slight change of role for Seagal. Instead of taking down criminals and gangs this team he is out to catch a serial killer simply called The Family Man. The title of the movie refers to Seagals character Jack Cole a former government intelligence operative known as The Glimmer Man because he could move through jungles and enemy territory so quickly his enemies would only see a glimmer before they died. He is partnered with Jim Campbell (Keenen Ivory Wayans) who actually provides a lot of comical moments, mainly because he’s really not too fond of Cole. Also staring Brain Cox, it’s your usual catch a killer thriller with Seagal kicking arse. Definitely worth a watch.
9: Fire Down Below
Also starring Kris Kristofferson. Seagal plays an Environmental Protection Agency agent (Jack Taggart) investigating the illegal dumping of toxic waste in abandoned mines below a town causing environmental havoc. Typically, the people/companies responsible for it led by Kristofferson act like the mafia with no problems with violence and killing to get what they want. So, it’s up to Taggart to stop them kicking as much arse along the way as possible. It all gets a bit Green Peace at the end but still a good watch.
8: On Deadly Ground
Very similar to Fire Down Below but this time an oil rig and directed by Steven Seagal himself. An oil company lead by Michael Jennings (Michael Cain) which operate several oil rigs decides to cut corners on safety to meet deadline line with millions of dollars at stake. Naturally, this causes a fire on one of the rigs which take Forrest Taft (Steven Seagal) a specialist in dealing with oil drilling-related fires to tackle it. This causes Taft to conduct an investigation. Upon hearing about his little instigation and fearing they will be exposed Jennings without a 2nd thought orders Taft eliminated of course. A trap is set for Taft at a pump station which he is set up to investigate, it explodes and Taft is badly wounded and rescued by his friends native American tribe. This leads him on a vision quest where he sees the truth and goes all bad-arse eco-warrior out for revenge against Jennings and his rig.
7: Under Siege 2: Dark Territory
Quite similar to the first Under Siege but this time on a train instead of a boat. Probably his 2nd most successful movie, breaking the 100 million would wide gross mark. Seagal returns as Casey Ryback, the ex-navy seal/cook from the first movie. Ryback now runs a restaurant and is traveling by train to attend his brother’s funeral. The only trouble is the train gets hijacked by terrorists. Why! Because Travis Dane played by Eric Bogosian was fired from the military. He worked on a Grazer One, a top-secret military satellite particle weapon designed to destroy underground targets. Two of his co-workers are on the train. Dane and mercenary leader Marcus Penn (Everett McGill ) want the codes for Grazer One and are hoping Danes co-workers will give them to them. But obviously, they didn’t count on Ryback being onboard to well and truly put a spanner in their works. Not as good as the first Under Siege but still good.
6: Hard to Kill
Only his 2nd ever movie Hard to Kill was one of Seagal movies that put him on the map. Playing a police detective Mason Storm gets on the wrong side of corruption by filming the mob striking a deal with a united states senator. Thinking he got away without being spotted he is unaware he is under surveillance by corrupt cops. Going home to his wife and hiding the tape in his house. A hit squad composed of corrupt cops storm his house murdering his wife and seemingly shooting storm dead or so the cops think. His son hides until the danger has passed. 7 years later Storms finally wakes from his coma after regaining his senses and getting his strength back there’s only one thing on his mind. Revenge. A great watch and a Seagal classic in any case.
5: Exit Wounds
For me, Exit wound was Seagal last good movie and his last successful big screen release. Based on a book by the same name it also stars DMX, Isaiah Washington, Anthony Anderson, and Michael Jai White. A hero cop Orin Boyd (Seagal) who once saved the president life has a problem with authority by repeatably disobeying orders. Proving difficult to fire due to his rep he’s repeatably demoted eventually being busted down to street cop. Eventually, he stumbles upon a drug deal with an undercover cop and drug dealer and mistakenly arresting the undercover cop ruining the sting. This courses some anger with other officers leading to a standoff. Which in turn, also leads Boyd to stumble upon the theft of $5,000,000 worth of heroin from evidence storage leading Boyd to persue an investigation into police corruption which involves decorated a well-respected officers. As I said Steven Seagal last good movie and a good watch.
4: Out for Justice
This was probably the first Steven Seagal movie I ever saw and I still love it as much today. When his detective best friend is killed, Gino Felino (Seagal) wages an all-out war against the mafia enforcer and his gang responsible. The mafia enforcer Richie Madano played awesomely by William Forsythe. He’s a real scum bag and you literally can’t wait for Gino to catch up with him and finally give him the arse kicking he deserves. The fact he’s a mafia enforcer doesn’t faze Gino in the slightest and you route for him the whole movie to kick some more arse. Great movie.
3: Under Siege
By far Seagal’s most successful movie and biggest cinema release. Surpassing the 100 million mark worldwide. And why not? It’s great. An ex-navy seal turned cook Casey Ryback is unwillingly thrust back into action when the nuclear-armed warship he is working on is overtaken by William Strannix (Tommy Lee Jones ) and his gang of armed men. The whole crew is taken hostage and the white house is threatened with a nuclear strike unless his demands are met. Only there one thing they didn’t count on, Ryback. Lots of gunfights, lots of arse kicking as Ryback starts out alone but then manages to recruit more navy crewmen to help him. This was when Seagal was at the height of his career and made him one of the biggest A-listers at the time. How the mighty have fallen.
2: Marked for Death
When you are marked for death by a Jamaican voodoo drug posse that is notorious for leaving bodies in their wake, most people would run for the hills and go into hiding. Not John Hatcher (Seagal) After his partner is killed by drug dealers and years of dead-end work Hatchet retires from the force and visits his old school friend and former U.S. Army buddy Max Keller (Keith David ) After witnessing a shootout with local drug dealers and a Jamaican gang. Hatchett manages to arrest one of the Jamaicans inevitably putting him on the Jamaica posses radar lead by their psychotic leader Screwface (Basil Wallace). This results in them doing a drive-by on his house with his family. Unfortunately for the Jamaican Posses this now puts them on Hatchers radar. You would think being marked for death by a crazy Jamaica gang and having numerous attempts on your life would leave you a little worried but this seems to piss Hatcher off even more and make him take the fight to them even harder. Helped out but his army buddy and a Jamaican detective who’s been after screw face for a long time Charles (Tom Wright) they wage an all-out war on the posse. Easily one of Seagals best movies. Full of guns fights, painful looking fight scenes and even a sword fight, you love watching the evil Jamaicans get what’s coming to them.
1: Nico: Above the Law
I believe this was once just called Nico but later changed to Above the Law and also Nico: Above the Law. Steven Seagal’s first movie and still his best. Most actors start in bit parts and extra’s. Not Seagal, straight in their making a name for himself. Nico Toscani (Seagal) once again a tough cop who studied martial arts in Japan and recruited by the CIA for covert operations in Vietnam. Disgusted by his chief Kurt Zagon (Henry Silva ) torturing of prisoners he left the CIA and joined the police. After arresting 2 drug dealers only for them to be released and Nico informed to stand down by federal officials, he later discovers they are linked to Zargon who is still CIA and engaging in his sadistic ways. Zargon is truly one of the bad guys who literally gets away with murder because he’s CIA. Him being CIA doesn’t bother Nico who is now on the warpath to bring Zargon down and expose the CIA’s covert operations. This movie put Seagal on the map and made every wonder who this cool, calm bad-arse was. At the time of writing this, I have just discovered they have announced Above the Law 2. If they made a sequel back when he was still awesome maybe but now, no thank you. It will just be the same as all the rest of his straight to DVD jobs.
