3. Steven Seagal
Style: Mellifluous, Unwitting Badass Pushed One Step Too Far Please do not get me wrong, I think Steven Seagal is an absolute legend, despite the fact that cinematically hes fallen hard from both grace and the limelight. At a point (the late 80s to early 90s) Seagal was
the action star, rivalling even Jean-Claude and Arnie. Introduced to the mainstream with his first major box-office success Above the Law, for a little while there, Seagal could practically do no wrong. Its a shame that hes fallen from mainstream prominence (although he is making something of a comeback recently). I dont think its because hes
bad at what he does; in fact quite the opposite. Hes obviously a martial artist first and an actorwell, maybe third or fourth? So I forgive him for always playing himself. The reason for his fall, in my honest opinion, is that his choice of martial art style isnt exactly most cinematic (Aikido, basically, uses the opponents inertia against them which births extremely flowing, gentle-looking but no less deadly execution). Theres something about the 80s/90s action star; they were largely forgiven for playing every role as a more badass, more invincible and wittier (thanks to scripting) version of themselves. Its because usually they offer something to the audience outside of their ability to act. Steven Seagal, for example, is a 7th Dan Black Belt in Aikido (he was also the first foreigner to own and operate an Aikido Dojo in Japan). Those are levels of training and expertise that the average action star cannot hope to deliver. So it went like this: Steven Seagal gets a movie role and he approaches said role for all intents and purposes as Steven Seagal because thats what were paying for. Lather, rinse, repeat for the next movie.