“One thought he was invincible, the other thought he could fly.
(Pause … head whip)
They were both wrong.”
Watching Steven Seagal’s “Marked for Death” today is akin to soaking in a tub full of nostalgia.
The 2010 Seagal is a reality show star first, and second an aging lion who keeps cranking out direct-to-DVD features far beneath his best work.
But watching him in “Death” today is nearly a revelation. It’s a reminder of his liquid moves – he snaps limbs on screen like you or I tie our shoes.
“Death,” a film which solidified Seagal’s standing as the era’s go-to action hero, mixes voodoo in with its standard mix of bullets and mayhem.
It’s far from genre junk, although Seagal’s acting can’t be counted on during emotional moments, and the film’s attempt at a love story is so short-changed it’s only good for a few snickers.
Seagal plays Hatcher, a DEA officer who retires after the death of his partner. He decides to go back to his roots, where he meets an old war buddy (Keith David) and a neighborhood overrun by Jamaican gangsters led by Screwface (Basil Wallace).
When Screwface’s posse targets Hatcher’s family the former DEA agent un-retires in a hurry.
The film, which looks spanking new in the Blu-ray format, lets us rediscover Seagal’s singular impact on the action genre. He doesn’t bother with fancy moves or wall-scaling tricks. He rushes at the bad guys and uses their own momentum to bring them down.
It’s downright graceful at times – until Seagal twists a body part in a direction it’s not supposed to go.
“Marked for Death” gives us the obligatory “lock and load” scene in which our heroes salivate over an array of weapons they’ll need to stop the bad guys cold. And the addition of Joanna Pacula as a voodoo expert would be hilarious if one didn’t feel badly for the actress’ attempt to flirt with Hatcher.
Seagal has no time for niceties like vulnerability or emotions not involving an arched eyebrow.
“Death” delivers a terrific car chase mid-film followed by a fight in a jewelery store that’s as good a one-two action punch as the era could offer.
And Hatcher isn’t Superman. He doesn’t take on dozens of bad guys at once, and he can be hurt. But that determined look on Seagal’s face tells you no one truly has a chance of bringing him down.
“Marked for Death” has aged better than expected, and it’s a chance to remember Seagal’s glory days as an action hero who didn’t need to flex his pecs to save the day.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I always thought Steven Seagal was too odious to be a convincing hero in movies. He would have made a much better villain, in my opinion. The only movie of his I liked was “Under Siege” and that was because Gary Busey and Tommy Lee Jones were clearly having a lot more fun than Seagal.
“Under Siege” is his best film, no doubt. But I found him pretty fascinating to watch at his peak. He had a vibe unlike any other action hero, although I would have preferred it if he lopped off that pony tail!
In regards to action movies heroes I considered Steven to like a tier 3 member.
Tier 1 – Arnold, Sylvester, Bruce (Willis), Bruce (Lee), Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson (In his prime)
Tier 2 – Jackie Chan, Charles Bronson, Jason Statham, All the James Bond actors, Nicolas Cage (I’ll never understand the hatred for this guy), Christian Bale, Tom Cruise (he’s probably a tier 1 actually), Kurt Russell, Kiefer Sutherland (I know 24 is TV but it should count)
Tier 3 – Steven Seagal, Jean Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, Keanu Reeves, Dwayne Johnson (who now wants to ruin his career it seems), Dolph Lundgren. More fit the Tier 3 category than anywhere else actually. I’ll stop with this grouping though.
Tier 4 – Vin Diesel by himself. A little harsh right?
This list is certainly debatable. I’ve certainly left a lot of names off. I’m an action movie junkie as you can probably tell. I’m easily entertained when it comes to my movie watching. A lame plot with flat dialogue doesn’t bother me as long as there is a good explosion.
Eli – I would have agreed with you about Seagal’s status, but he really opened my eyes during “Marked for Death” (which I watched yesterday for the first time in 20 years. I used to write him off as a stiff, but the film told me otherwise.
Being in Tier 3 isn’t so bad. Being the runt of the litter of action movies can still be rocking in my opinion. Maybe I misjudged him after all. He certainly has his fans out there. I know action isn’t your genre of choice, but who would you consider your top five? Seagal has always been a mystery which is why he’s a 3 instead of a 2. Granted, my list can change especially since I just made it up on the spot. I think it’s fairly accurate though if you asked other action junkies.
“Under Siege” is one of my five favorite action movies — except — for the fact that Steven Sesgal is the hero. But he makes so little impression on me that I can just ignore him and bask in the direction, the script (I pretty much have Tommy Lee Jones’ “I missed the Sixties” speech memorized), the photography, the editing, the otherwise-perfect cast. Man, that is one fine movie.
I’ve heard the term “anti-charisma” before to describe a performer, putting off this stoic vibe, and the audience in some kind of strange and vicarious fashion begins to take the ride. This is too harsh a way to label Seagal, but his emotional detachment made him the perfect actor for anyone to vicariously experience an hour-and-a-half of brutality through. Don’t we all wish we could do some detached butt-kicking every now and then?
It helped immensely that Seagal didn’t have a monster physique – the exact opposite in fact – yet he was so convincing in his aikido skill, especially the requisite group beatdowns. My judo instructor praised Seagal and recommended his aikido scenes as great examples of using body vs. strength.
Seagal, for years past his prime, ranked in the favorite American actor polls, puzzling Hollywood types and people who dismissed him completely. It was considered a joke through the ironical 90s, when cheesey action flips were at their nadir.
Non-traditional physique
Three-word maximum film titles
Laconic delivery of lines
Seagal’s “action figure” films were the Zen masters of the genre – and like Chuck Norris before him, there were basic core-value elements in the stories that resonate still with his fan base.
D.