Steven Seagal

I’m watching a Steven Seagal movie on AMC , Out for Justice (1991 – 1 star). I’ve seen it before. I’ve seen most of Seagal’s movies. They’ve been released direct to video for years. In my estimation, Seagal is a master of self-parody. Over time, his movies transformed from martial arts action films into satires of martial arts action films. It appears that that was unintentional, though I’m not always convinced. 1991 is prime Seagal, one year before Under Siege, his greatest commercial hit. Nowadays, Seagal kind of makes cameo appearances in his own films. In fight scenes, his face will be shown, then the hands of someone else. He is bloated and often seems disinterested. In Out for Justice, Seagal is doing his own stunts and fight scenes. The Beastie Boys and Gregg Allman are on the soundtrack. A sample Seagal line from the movie: “Now you tell your brother I’m gonna cut off his head and piss down his throat!” I love it.

There is another side to Seagal, though. I mean, besides the one that blames the FBI for his career: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=3493849. Seagal has been playing guitar since he was 12 years old. He loves the blues. He has a band, named Thunderbox, and they have two albums out. You can read all about Seagal at http://www.stevenseagal.com/. Meanwhile, here’s a little Steven Seagal and Thunderbox: