has written a lot of Hollywood action actor series in succession. Seeing that everyone is willing to read them, I will continue writing them. When
mentioned Scott Adkins and Michael Jai White, he specifically mentioned that they are the most capable action actors "at the moment".
This is because actors also have to be divided into generations. There will always be people from the previous generation who will grow old, and then there will be a new generation to make up for them. Just like Bruce Lee and are the first generation in the Chinese-speaking circle, Jackie Chan and Jet Li are the second generation, Donnie Yen, Wu Jing and are the third generation. As for the fourth generation that has not yet emerged, it will most likely be discontinued.
Hollywood too. The first generation of stars were Chuck Norris and David Carradine, the second generation were Stallone and Schwarzenegger, and the third generation were Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham.
The third generation is now, and the most popular first-line action actors in Hollywood are Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Vin Diesel, and Keanu Reeves. But none of these actors have a formal background as action actors. The ones who really have good skills and first-class kung fu are Scott Adkins and Michael Jai White. They are the most capable action actors at the moment, but their acting skills are not good and their vision of film selection is not good, so they can only hang out in B-level market, becoming the supreme king among B-level action movies.
A friend left a message under the previous article and said: "(They) are all younger brothers in front of Steven Seagal."
Some friends also hope to write about Seagal: "Talking about Steven Seagal, what kind of fame does he need? I guess. Everyone in the United States knows him. He is so good at kung fu and he seems to have opened a martial arts gym. "
Some friends hope to recommend more classic B-level action movies: "Can you give me a list of European and American B-level action movies or action movie stars? Well, I really like watching action movies from the 1980s and 1990s. Thank you. "
I have received the above information, so I will give a concentrated response here, and let's write about Steven Seagal. Although it was written many years ago, it’s been a long time, so I’d like to review it and talk about it.
Let me first talk about the recommendations for classic action movies from the 1980s and 1990s. When it comes to film lists, the easiest way is to just look for them by actor.
The three groups of action actors mentioned above, their predecessors, the first generation Chuck Norris and David Carradine, are the same generation as Bruce Lee. Just watch Bruce Lee's classics. Chuck Norris's Chinese name is Luo Lishi. He is both an action actor and a karate world champion. He became famous for fighting Bruce Lee in the ancient Roman arena during the filming of the 1972 movie "The Way of the Dragon" and was known as An immortal classic shot of Kung Fu movies in world cinema. As for David Carradine, he became famous for starring in the TV series "Kung Fu" in the 1970s. In his old age, he became famous again because of "Kill Bill". In addition, there is Kurt Russell, who starred in "Escape from New York", "Monster in Chinatown" and "Tombstone", all of which are good action movies.
As for the previous generation of action actors, including Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, etc., they made a large number of films in the 1980s and 1990s, and everyone is familiar with them. At that time, the market had already been segmented. Schwarzenegger and others were all A-list big names, and most of the projects they took on were A-level big productions. At the same time, those active in the B-level market include Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren and others. What's interesting is that among the big-name A-list actors, there aren't any action actors with serious academic backgrounds. On the contrary, there are only a few from the B-level movie market. They all have martial arts skills and are very good at fighting.
To find the action movie list, you actually need to go to Douban to search the actors' entries according to these names, and look through their masterpieces, and you will be able to find a large number of classic action movies. Schwarzenegger's "Predator" series and "Terminator" series, Stallone's "First Blood" series and "Rocky" series, Bruce Willis's "Die Hard" series, Mel... Gibson's "Lethal Weapon" series, Steven Seagal's " Hidden Dragon " series, Jean-Claude Van Damme's " Reinventing the Warriors " series, etc., are all rare classics.In addition, there are various rescues of "Rescue Brother" Liam Neeson, and various falls of "Fall Brother" Gerard Butler.
There were a lot of shoddy action movies in the 1980s and 1990s. Nowadays, if you watch many of them, they will close the series after five minutes. But in that era, people had fewer choices, especially in mainland China, where the country was just opening up. There were not many film sources available. There aren't many. Occasionally I see one or two, and they are so rare that I can't put them down. Let’s not talk about aesthetics, it would be nice if there is something to see. Everyone is generally too hungry. Now when I look back at the films from that time, I often have the feeling that I was so stupid back then to regard this kind of bad film as a treasure. In fact, this is due to the times and not to the individual.
I do this for writing, and in order not to write blindly, I flash the video at 1.5x speed. For ordinary people, unless you are really free, it is not recommended to watch it at full speed. For the same reason, most of them don't look good. Just like when we read martial arts, the real classics are only the works of Jin Yong and Gu Long, and Gu Long is only good in the middle and late stages. But there were too many martial arts novels and martial arts writers of that era. With the development of the times, most of them have been eliminated, so don’t look at them.
has a trick. Find the actors mentioned above and check their works on Douban. As long as the score is no less than 6.5, you can basically watch them. A score above 7 is considered a high-quality work, and a score above 7.5 is considered a classic action movie. If you can't even reach 6.5 points, then you'd better not watch it. History has already helped you make the right choice.
Next, let’s talk about Steven Seagal.
Speaking of Sickert, let’s take a look at a photo first.
In this photo, it is obvious that Jackie Chan is beaming with joy, his hands are casually put in his pockets, and he looks very energetic. The person with half of his face exposed from the back is Stallone, another big boss. Although he is looking forward to the wind and looking slantingly, at least he has a rich expression, his eyes are electric, and he is also very energetic. Only Steven Seagal, who was officially photographed with Jackie Chan, had a dead face, an extremely dull expression, and his body looked very stiff. It was obviously a very relaxed posture, and it was a very relaxed group photo, but he looked stiff. Yes, he can't relax no matter what. The look on him can make people suffer from embarrassment.
Let’s take photos as an example, and then look at Steven Seagal’s appearance at various ages.
Below is the young version of Sickert:
Below is the middle-aged version of Sickert, which looks like this:
Below is the old version of Sickert, which looks like this again:
Looking at several photos, except that the face shape has changed from a shoehorn to a Guo Zi, his body shape has changed from thin to strong. As for his expression, it seems that it has never changed. It has always been the same, serious, unsmiling, and expressionless. Standing next to Putin is very suitable for being a bodyguard, but not suitable for being an actor.
However, as an action film actor, he just started an era with Stallone and others, and jointly supported the golden age of Hollywood action films in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Steven Seagal began to be exposed to martial arts as early as the age of 7. He was tutored by a karate master and the president of the Western Aikido Federation of the United States. He learned aikido, karate, judo and kendo as a teenager. As a member of a karate demonstration team, he met his first wife, Miyako Fujitani, while studying and performing in a Japanese village in Southern California.
After graduating from college, Sickert and his Japanese wife Miyako Fujitani moved to Japan, began to study Zen Buddhism, and obtained black belts in Aikido, Karate, etc. Later, Siegel also opened a Kung Fu school in Japan, where he taught English, refined martial arts, and earned black belts in Aikido, Karate, Judo, and Kendo.
A friend in the comments said that Sigurd opened a martial arts gym, but it was actually an Aikido dojo. It is not wrong to interpret it as a martial arts gym. Siegel was also the first foreigner to open and operate an Aikido dojo in Japan (although it was legal, Siegel had the actual operating rights), and this dojo was the Tenshin Dojo in Osaka.
Later, in the early 1980s, Steven Seagal returned to New Mexico, the United States, and opened a dojo with his senior student and acrobat Quag Dom. In 1983, he co-founded a dojo with senior student Haruo Matsuoka in Burbank, California, but soon moved to West Hollywood. Due to the long-term separation between the two places, he also divorced his Japanese wife after 15 years of marriage.
is a guy with good skills and good looks. Being in Hollywood, how could you not think of joining the ranks of actors? It's famous and profitable, so why not do it.
almost followed the trend. First he was asked to be a martial arts instructor, and then he began to try to be an actor. Steven Seagal gradually completed his transformation.
As an actor, Steven Seagal has very obvious advantages and disadvantages, especially the disadvantage that he is too tall, reaching 193cm, and many actors cannot play with him. People like Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Al Pacino, Stallone and others we are familiar with are actually not considered tall by American standards. Tall, he looked like a primary school boy standing in front of Sigurd. Just like Jackie Chan standing in front of Sigurd above, it's like a giant and a dwarf together. The gap is obvious, and it is very difficult for them to act together.
Then there is Sickert's facial expression management, which is really a disaster. In almost all of his films, as shown in the photo above, he always has a dead face and is unsmiling, as if he is wearing a mask. In other words, if you don’t have acting skills, how can you act while wearing a mask?
But fortunately, he has good kung fu skills. Although he looks huge, he is very flexible. It makes sense that he is praised as "American Sammo Hung" by Chinese audiences.
The characteristic of Sammo Hung is that he looks like an inconspicuous fat man who is harmless to humans and animals, but turns out to be an extremely flexible fat man and a kung fu master. The contrast is so great that it is shocking. Just like O'Neal in the NBA, he is obviously a fat man weighing more than 200 kilograms. It is said that it is difficult to even move, but he is extremely flexible on the court and has such soft skills that most defensive players cannot guard against him.
Steven Seagal takes advantage of this contrast. He looks bulky, but is actually very flexible. He can kill in any situation and has a heroic temperament. He is not like Dwayne Johnson, who looks like a master and a tough guy. Although Sigurd is tall and powerful, he looks bulky at first glance, and seems to be someone who can be bullied. It is only when he takes action that he realizes that he is also a tough opponent, but by that time it is already too late. Such Steven Seagal was almost invincible in his era, just like O'Neal in the NBA. Who dares to mess with him? Therefore, the netizen said at the beginning, "They are all younger brothers in front of Steven Seagal." There is no problem with this statement and it is completely correct. He dares to say that he is second. No one dares to say that he is first, not even Stallone and not even Jean-Claude Van Damme.
In 1983, Steven Seagal participated in the "007 Gaiden: Missile" starring Sean Connery in the name of action stunts/martial arts director, and began to officially enter the film and television industry.
In 1988, Steven Seagal was recommended to star in the screen debut "Above the Law". After that, he took over the action movie "Marked for Death".
In 1989, he starred in the action movie " Seven Years Storm". He pretended to be a policeman who woke up from a coma and took revenge on the evildoers who had seriously injured him. In 1991, he wrote, acted and produced the action thriller "For Justice".
In 1992, "The Hidden Dragon" (also translated as "The Devil Warrior") starring Steven Seagal was officially released. Director Andrew Davis is officially the director of Seagal's debut film "Above the Law", and the friendship established at the beginning has been sublimated and bears fruit. As a director, among the works directed by Andrew Davis, Chinese audiences are more familiar with "The Fugitive" starring Harrison Ford, "A Perfect Murder" starring Oscar winner Michael Douglas, and Arnold ·"Collateral Damage" starring Schwarzenegger and "On Stranger Tides" starring Kevin Costner.
"The Hidden Dragon" was so sensational that it cost 30 million yuan and eventually grossed 156 million yuan at the box office. It also won the box office championship for the next week when it was released and was nominated for two Oscars. Also in 1992, high-quality American action films that year also included "The Bodyguard" starring Kevin Costner, "Lethal Weapon 3" starring Mel Gibson, and "Legendary" starring Tom Cruise. , "Unforgiven" directed and starring Clint Eastwood, "Batman 2: Batman Returns" starring Michael Keaton, etc., most of which have become classics in film history. "Hidden Dragon" is in it without showing any timidity, which perfectly supports Steven Seagal's position in film history.
With the foundation of "Hidden Dragon", Steven Seagal was promoted to director in 1994, directing and starring in the action thriller "Jedi Warriors" (also translated as "Army").
In 1995, he launched the sequel to "Qianlong Hongtian" " Qianlong Hongtian 2" (also translated as "Rampage Qianlong").
Hollywood in the 1990s was an out-and-out golden age, with stars gathering and a large number of masterpieces appearing every year. The time left for Steven Seagal to become famous was very short. The Douban score of "Jedi Men" directed by him is only 6.2 points, and the score of "Qianlong 2" is only 6.9 points. Neither film was considered a success. Although "Qianlong 2" is still worth watching, it is still far from the public's expectations.
What the public wants to see is an upgraded sequel that is better than "Qianlong", rather than a sequel with a money-making nature. Unfortunately, the sequel to Qianlong 2 is far inferior to the first one.
These two consecutive films were squibs, which directly led to the rising momentum of Steven Seagal, like a kite with a broken string, it fell down and never got up again. It could only be a short-lived flash in the pan, and it fell into the B-movie market and never rose again.
Among the movies starring Steven Seagal, the one with the highest score was " " (also translated as "Jedi Warriors") on Douban with a score of 7.6. Moreover, most of the people came here from the fans of "Qianlong" for the name of Steven Seagal, but it turned out that he was just a guest star, and the scene only lasted for 5 minutes, and then he died, and the rest The real starring role is Kurt Russell. Although the film was good, it did not give Seagal any points and instead made fans who had high hopes for him cry out that they were deceived.
But that's all.
Among all the films starring Steven Seagal, "Highest Danger" scored the highest, followed by "Qianlong", and then "Qianlong 2". After that, there is "Machete" (6.6 points) in which he is the main villain, but the focus of "Machete" is Danny Trejo, Robert De Niro, and the fleshy Jessica Al in her peak period. Ba, Sigurd's presence is seriously lacking, no matter how good he plays, it's useless.
For action movies that really like Steven Seagal, among the works he starred in, in addition to the films mentioned above, it is worth mentioning that there are "Deep Sea", "Polar Warrior" and "Ozark". "Fight Fire with Fire", "Seven Years Storm", "Flying Tiger", "Muzzle Down", etc., once he has completely gained weight, after entering the 2000s, basically there will be few movies that can be watched in starring roles. They are terrible. Get a batch.
So far, his best works are in the "Qian Long Hong Tian" series.
So, what is so good about this work?
First of all, the crew is well matched. The director is Andrew Davis, and the other star besides Steven Seagal is Tommy Lee Jones. This is a real Hollywood powerhouse. He has been nominated for four Oscars, once for Best Actor ("The Battle of Elah"), and three times for Best Supporting Actor ("Lincoln", "The Fugitive" and "JFK"). "The Fugitive" also won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, with a statuette in hand. In addition, his performance in "No Country for Old Men" and "The Man Who Sending Home" are also extremely amazing and worthy of attention.
With the cooperation of "Above the Law", director Andrew Davis almost tailor-made a role for Steven Seagal, asking him to play the cook in "Qianlong".
This is a story of "little people doing big things", a well-planned and well-planned hijacking plan, but it was overturned by a cook who accidentally missed it. Just because the cook was originally good at martial arts, but due to an accident, he was demoted to the kitchen to work as a cook.
So, two people accidentally met together and formed two wings of a butterfly, which then triggered the butterfly effect in the terrorist hijacking. The little man incredibly completed a super reversal, and a single horse killed the entire armed force to the teeth. The terrorist team took the individual heroism respected in that era to the extreme.
The script of "Die Hard" was actually originally planned to be handed over to Bruce Willis to be filmed as "Die Hard 3". You can also see that this story is similar to the routine of "Die Hard" It's almost the same. It's all about a little guy accidentally achieving a big victory, but for some reason they didn't come to an agreement. The name was changed to star Steven Seagal, and he was successful. With the failure of this script, the originally planned "Die Hard 3" had to be postponed. It was not until 1995 that there was a gap of 5 years between "Die Hard 2" in 1990 and the change of direction. Released. This 1992 schedule was taken up by "Qian Long Bang Tian".
The entire story of "Qianlong Hongtian" takes place on a moving warship. It is a story in a larger confined space. The storyline of the whole film is very compact and not sloppy at all, which is different from most movies at that time. Slow paced video. The tense plot, coupled with the wonderful performance of the villain played by Tommy Lee Jones, makes Steven Seagal not have to worry about his acting skills, he only needs to deliver exciting fights in a timely manner.
A good story, good rhythm, and good supporting roles can make up for and cover up the shortcomings of the protagonist's acting skills. "Qian Long Hong Tian" is a clear proof.
To this day, "Hidden Dragon" is still a film worth watching again and again, and it never becomes outdated.
As for the later "Qianlong 2", the story line was placed on a moving train, and the other routines were almost the same as "Qianlong 2", which greatly disappointed fans who were full of expectations.
However, with the "Qianlong" series, Steven Seagal is enough to have a historical position in the golden age of Hollywood. Just like Wu Jing has a "Wolf Warrior" series, it is enough to make him the best Chinese action film actor of this era, enough to be as famous as Donnie Yen.
As time goes by, Steven Seagal is still insisting on making films in the B-level film market, and even "Above the Law 2" has been put on the agenda.
But now, he is so fat that he can no longer move. Just like Sammo Hung, he needs to use a wheelchair to walk every day, so how can we expect him to play particularly exciting roles in movies.
