Steven Seagal Aikido

Hard To Kill (1990) - Seagal plays Mason Storm. A guy shot and left for dead and later wakes from a comma to find his life and family have been destroyed. The plot is a bit cheesy and been done a billion times. There are some really great scenes of him training and rehabilitating using some Japanese techniques (Mokusa) which I have tried and burns like crazy. The best part is when he thwarts some robbers and offers to play fair by getting on his knees in Seiza and wipes them out. DVD VHS

Marked For Death (1990) - Seagal is John Hatcher. A burned out DEA agent who returns to his old neighborhood to find it taken over by a Jamaican drug gang. Without a doubt, this is the most brutal of Seagal's movies. I've even heard a few people comment that it's not real or "true" Aikido. Well, they are real Aikido techniques and they are applied without mercy. Don't try them at home. There is also a really good sword fight at the end too. DVD VHS

Out For Justice (1991) - By this movie you start to get the feeling... not another cliche? Yes, but the Aikido butt kicking action is worth it. Steven Seagal plays a tough Brooklyn cop named Gino Felino, who is trying to catch an out of control crack head played by William Forsythe. Lots of great fight scenes with Seagal taking on multiple opponents at one time in ran dori type fighting. DVD VHS

Under Siege (1992) - Seagal is a former Navy SEAL, who is now a cook on the battleship Missouri's final voyage. Terrorists (Gary Busey and Tommy Lee Jones) take over the ship and Seagal moves in to action. Lot's of action, good story, and plenty of great actors with some funny lines. Don't miss it. DVD VHS

Under Siege 2 (1995) - At this point, they're all starting to look like sequels, but they're not. Casey Ryback (the cook) is back. This time on a train doing what he does best... kicking the bad guys butts. True to form, Seagal continues to put together a cast of pretty famous actors that you just can't wait to see get destroyed. You won't be disappointed. His patented kote gaishi in the center aisle had to hurt. I'm glad I wasn't the stunt man. DVD VHS

On Deadly Ground (1994) - Seagal Sensei puts on a new hat and steps behind the camera to direct as well as his usual role of bad guy destroyer extraordinaire action star. Another new point to notice is his political message to protect the environment. Granted I'm all for that, but when Sensei is finished with the bad guys in this one, Alaska is a toxic waste land after blowing up such a huge refinery of a slimy and crooked multi-national oil company. DVD VHS

Executive Decision (1996) - I wasn't sure if I should have been disappointed or really truly respect Steven Seagal after this one. I don't want to ruin the story for you, because it really is a good movie with some big name actors. Let's just say Seagal Sensei's part is very small and had nothing to do with Aikido. It's still worth watching though. DVD VHS

Glimmer Man (1996) - Steven Seagal returns to his normal Aikido movie action star role in this one. There is no hidden political agenda either, but the story and or plot is not very original. Let's be honest. That's not what we're watching it for anyway. One new aspect is the injection of humor with Keenen Ivory Wayans as his partner. All in all, this is a good one with a lot of Aikido being used in the fight scenes. DVD VHS

Fire Down Below (1997)- Steven Seagal and Aikido movie fans might be a little disappointed with Fire Down Below. Not a lot of action here and he's back with the political message of protecting the environment as he plays an EPA agent trying to bring down a corrupt business man played by Kris Kristofferson, who is dumping toxic chemicals and making a profit. We even get to see Seagal play the guitar and have a romance scene with that cute strawberry blonde Marg Helgenberger from CSI. DVD VHS

The Patriot (1998) - Seagal tries something new. He's not a cop or soldier or even an ex-government agent. He's just a small town doctor living in the wrong town. But the fate of the United States and the world for that matter would be doomed if it weren't for him, as a militia group unleashes a deadly virus and Seagal rushes to find a cure. Not a lot of that violent Aikido action that we crave, but not a bad movie either. DVD VHS

Exit Wounds (2001) - I really liked this one. The story at first is sort of the usual fare with Seagal playing a cop, but the plot quickly thickens and twists and turns several times and keeps you interested. The actions scenes are great with quite a bit of humor as Seagal seems to be making a parody of the great action films including his own. The DVD is really cool, because there are interviews and extra scenes at the end. Definitely check this one out. DVD VHS

Ticker (2001) - Seagal makes his first real bomb as he plays the bomb squad in this movie. Tom Sizemore and Dennis Hopper co-star, but they bombed as well. Too bad so much talent went to waste. I can't even give it good marks for the fight scenes or the use of Aikido. I counted two fights scenes with Aikido that lasted for 10 seconds a piece and it was too dark to see anything. I was very disappointed to say the least. DVD VHS

Half Past Dead (2002) - This one wasn't half bad. In fact, it was pretty good. Steven Seagal is an undercover FBI agent in a prison and rescues some VIPs, finds the gold and does the right thing. What else would you expect. Well, we came for action and this one delivers. Nia Peeples from MTV is the bad girl and kicks a lot of butt herself. There were two good fight scenes with Seagal using Aikido. There could have been more, but much better than the last one. DVD VHS

The Foreigner (2003) - Steven Seagal uses a few good Aikido techniques in this one. I noticed the standard kote gaishi, with a nice yon ka jo, and an irimi move, but that's it. The story is quite confusing with all the different scene changes from Berlin to Warsaw and Paris. Also, all the bad guys and double crosses just made it worse. All in all, if you like action movies with a complicated plot, then you'll really like this one, because it has this. I liked it only for the Aikido techniques. DVD VHS

Out For A Kill (2003) - Steven Seagal goes beyond his normal ex-government agent role and plays an archeologist with a mysterious past of course. Anyway, the story really isn't that important for us although it wasn't bad. Again we have to deal with the dark screen thing and the changing of locations, but not as bad as before, making it a little easier to follow. There is a lot of Chinese being spoken without translations, so it does leave you wondering about the story. Quite a few fight scenes and sword play some done like Chinese martial arts movies makes it interesting and worth a watch. DVD VHS

Belly Of The Beast

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Out Of Reach (2004) - The story of trying to stop human traffickers was really believable, I just wanted to see him put a serious hurting on them. One of these days, he's going to tie it all together and make a really kick ass movie with a great story, realistic characters, excellent cast, superb cinematography, and hardcore Aikido action. The potential was there, but this wasn't it. Ironically, the title for this one in Japanese was Ichigeki, "One Punch" and that's about all there was. OK, there were two fight scenes (very short), some gun play, and a sword fight. He should have gut stomped these people. He did leave room for a sequel. We'll have to wait and see. DVD VHS

Into The Sun

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