Action Hero MoviesHaving already reviewed and rated most of Steven Seagal’s movies — and having already covered everything in his early career and everything in his prime, and many movies beyond that too — I think I’m now ready to present you with the top several movies from his career, in order from best to worst.
My View! Of course this is just my own view — it’s not influenced by other people’s favourites, nor what any professional movie critics may be saying elsewhere.
Why 9? Well, that’s just a good round number considering which movies I’d reviewed at the time of writing this, and how it’s hard to decide which to rank 10th but not so hard picking a 9th.
1. Under Siege (1992)
Under Siege is comfortably the joint best Steven Seagal movie ever — and stands alone as his single best movie in the eyes of most professional critics (not that I agree with them often).
It was the 5th movie in Seagal’s career and was his big breakout performance, after he’d already done 4 few movies with Warner Bros including 3 that I rate as Bang Average and one barely watchable stinker.
He’s now been given a shot at the big time, and it never got any bigger than this for him in terms of script finesse, cast professionalism, props and cinematography.
He was destined to be involved in even bigger and better movies after this one, but that all changed when he had a dispute with the much more established Hollywood action hero Kurt Russell behind the scenes of Executive Decision (1996).
2. The Glimmer Man (1996)
Also joint best in Seagal’s career, The Glimmer Man is his best example of what can happen when his own idea of a cool movie comes to life, while he’s still in his prime and still has a bit of serious backing by Hollywood although this movie was the result of a dispute behind the scenes of Executive Decision, which also coincided with a divorce from Seagal’s wife Kelly LeBrock in 1996. So this movie’s not got the grand props and top-level cinematics of Under Siege, but it zeroes in on a concept that’s close to Seagal’s heart and he really shines in this movie. This is many fans’ favourite Seagal movie of all time, and I rate it as his joint best alongside Under Siege, considering its unique pros & cons and overall entertainment value.
3. Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)
Due to the success of Under Siege 1, and considering Seagal’s still young in his career, there couldn’t not be a sequel – some people prefer the sequel but in my opinion it is a step down from the first movie in pretty much every way.
4. Fire Down Below (1997)
Fire Down Below is an unexpectedly cool movie, that does have its tedium, so doesn’t quite make it to joint first on the list, but is a cool movie nevertheless. It has a cool basic concept, fairly well executed, with plenty of nice confrontations and action scenes that Seagal is known & loved for. He’s in his late prime at this point, and is maturing as an actor and a director. He’s credited as a co-producer of this movie.
5. Exit Wounds (2001)
Exit Wounds is more of a fun, lighthearted movie, rather than having a smokey hotshot vibe like in The Glimmer Man.
Featuring comedians like Anthony Anderson and Tom Arnold, as well as other semi-stars like DMX, Michael Jai White and Eva Mendes.
It’s also got plenty of action to go with the comedy.
It’s got a similar vibe to some of Jet Li’s movies like Romeo Must Die and Cradle 2 The Grave which were made a year before this one and a year after respectively — they both share many of the same core cast members too.
6. On Deadly Ground (1994)
This was Seagal’s 6th movie. Co-starring Michael Caine. This movie was the only one to come out between Under Siege and Under Siege 2.
7. Hard To Kill (1990)
This was Seagal’s 2nd movie. It has a very simple plot but it’s a nice enjoyable concept nevertheless.
8. Out For Justice (1991)
This was Seagal’s 4th movie, and he shines in this movie but is working with a very poor script — this may have been what earnt him a shot at something grander for his 5th movie, Under Siege (1992) which remains his “most backed” movie of all time (by Hollywood et al) and is top of my list too.
9. Above The Law (1988)
This was Seagal’s first ever movie of his own.
Prior to this he’d done nothing more than assist with action choreography. His biggest gig was helping train Sean Connery for his independently produced revival as James Bond, in the middle of the Roger Moore era, with the movie Never Say Never Again (1983); but unfortunately, Seagal was his usual over-zealous self and ended up breaking Connery’s wrist. This was obviously a big mistake that set his movie career back several years before it even got started, but he eventually found his way back in and landed a shot as the star of Above The Law (1988) backed by Warner Bros — this was his own first movie and paved the way for a long career of direct-to-video movies after a spell of properly backed classics all featured on this page (plus the odd stinker that isn’t).
Outro
If you haven’t yet seen the movies listed here, I highly recommend you watch the top four, or at least the top two.
If you’ve already seen them all and generally agree with my rankings, be sure to bookmark this site and benefit from my ever-expanding database of action hero movies attentively ranked & reviewed by someone of similar taste to yourself!