The Best Steven Seagal-Movies

This might look like an ordinary dumb action-movie, but it's really elevated to a whole new level of awesomeness by the performance of William "friggin'" Forsythe! That guy steals the movie, even though Seagal tried to trim down the number of his scenes. He's just a hoot to watch, as a crazy serial-killer on a rampage, and Seagal is equally good, as the former-childhood-friend-turned-cop on the chase! The characters are interesting, and the fight-scenes are really well put together, and this is arguably also the best acting ever from Seagal, before he turned into the lazy slob, we all know him as nowadays. A classic action-movie that belongs on the top-100 of all-time best. 10/10.

The movie that (deservedly) made Seagal a star! He gets caught up in a major mutiny on a hangar ship, and has to take out a bunch of baddies by himself. Also has an over-the-top crazy Gary Busey and an amazing rock'n'roll-psycho Tommy Lee Jones as bad guys! What's not to like? Many memorable scenes and quotes throughout the film, highly recommended, even for novice Seagal-fans. "I'm just the cook" 10/10.

Nico! His first, and probably his most earnest movie. Has quite a lot of good fights and decent acting as well. And back then, he didn't need a stunt double to do his running scenes! Henry Silva is also a perfect villain (as always)! But be sure to avoid the cut version, which removes much of the violence - especially the final showdown has been brutally trimmed down, which is a real shame! 9/10.

A S.W.A.T.-team boards a hijacked plane, and tries to save the day! A relatively minor part for Seagal in his first non-starring vehicle, as it's mostly Kurt Russell's movie, but it's a damned good one though! Kinda reminiscent of "Air Force One", so the mid-90's very really the peak for intense plane-hijacking films. 9/10.

The "white-boy bloodclaat" teams up with two black street-wise cops (Keith David and Tom Wright) and goes up against a scary guy called Screwface (Basil Wallace), and his gang of rastafari voodoo-gangsters in this bone-crunching classic! Lots of brutal fights and shoot-outs, coupled with memorable charactes and a (relatively) interesting story makes this a really entertaining actioner. 8/10.

One of his most ridiculous, but also most interesting films! A guy goes from comatose to martial arts master in a few days, so he can get revenge on Bobby Sixkiller/Branscombe Richmond and the other dudes who tried to kill him earlier, on the command of the sleazy and corrupt senator, played by William Sadler. Quite dumb, but funny stuff. 8/10.

A decent follow-up, and Seagal's first sequel-movie, but not really ground-breaking stuff. The villain is totally forgettable, but at least there's a young Katherine Heigl playing Seagal's daughter, and a ton of cool bad guys he needs to dispose of! 8/10.

Seagal's last big blockbuster, and probably also his funniest role ever, as an angry cop who tries to infiltrate a corrupt police department, and gets some help from DMX...and Tom Arnold. "You wanna see a happy face? THIS is a happy face!" :D - 8/10.

Minor part as a villain! One of his best roles over the last 15 years! A fantastic movie, full of cool scenes and great actors! 8/10.

An all-star cast is pretty much wasted in this silly eco-thriller, where our hero has to kill a bunch of corrupt corporate scumbags and all their henchmen. But they're played by a stellar all-star cast, led by Michael Caine and John C. McGinley! Also has a good part for Sven-Ole Thorsen, which I like. But this movie began Seagal's downfall however, as he tried to better his image and become a "nature"-man, which completely fails. 7/10.

1996 was a good year for Seagal-buddy movies, and this one (his true starring-vehicle) was the lesser of the two (Executive Decision was superior), even though this is still pretty good! Wayans helps a lot in that regard, with his knack for comic relief. 7/10.

The globetrotting Seagal this time goes to South Africa, as a soldier-for-hire who gets involved in a dangerous game of politics, where he has to choose sides more than once. The double-crossing and skull-crushing is abundant, and there's action-sequences galore, in this quite decent war-thriller, thanks to good production values and a capable director, who actually makes Seagal do some work himself for a change! Lots of interesting supporting actors and great camera-work makes this one of his best straight-to-video movies. 7/10.

Seagal teams up with asian martial arts-star Byron Mann, as two otherwise peaceful buddhists, who are trying to rescue two kidnapped girls (one of them of course Seagal's daughter) from a gang of ruthless mercenaries. Lots of great action-sequences with Seagal's stunt-doubles doing some amazing moves, and a crazy bodycount keeps this interesting. 7/10.

Seagal and Ja Rule goes to jail in this Die Hard-in-Alcatraz ghetto mix-up buddy-movie, which doesn't fail to deliver its fair share of one-liners and good stunt-double action. Many interesting stunts, and the confined space of the prison makes this a gritty little low-budget actioner. 7/10.

Seagal goes to his real-life second home, as an undercover FBI-agent going after the Yakuza AND Chinese Tong-members, after they kill a government official. He gets a little help from his Japanese friends, and very little help from the CIA/FBI, but basically takes on an entire Yakuza-gang by himself, rarely using other weapons than his sword and his fists! Not bad, actually, and his stunt-doubles are barely visible in this one too! It's nice to see him practice some Japanese language skills as well, so this is a nice surprise among his newer films. 6/10.

Probably the first movie where Seagal really started to show his poor acting skills, playing a really ridculously unrealistic character, trying to charm a small town, while using his fighting skills to rid them of baddie Kris Kristofferson and his horde of corporate scumbags. Also the first time where a stunt double is clearly needed, and the movie has a bunch of loose ends that seemed weirdly cut off (probably to make room for a sequel that never came), which was quite annoying. But generally has high production value, that helps on the overall feel of the film. 6/10.

This has a slightly more serious subject, which is that of child-prostitution, and Seagal plays a peace-loving forest-ranger-type (who is of course also a former agent/hitman), whose penpal foster-daughter of sorts is kidnapped by evil men (led by an entertaining Matt Schulze). Has good fights, lots of shoot-outs, and quite decent cinematography (for a late Seagal-flick anyway). 6/10.

aka "The Marker" - which actually is a much more fitting title, as it's about an obsessive gambler who has collected many debt-"markers" around town. Seagal plays this gambler/ex-cop (naturally), who gets hired by a sophisticated "old man" (Lance Henriksen), and is forced to execute random gangsters around town, to save himself (and his estranged family). Pretty decent acting for the most part, the music is also good, and the stunt-doubles are barely visible in the well-filmed action-sequences (except for random back-shots of Seagal walking or sitting down, the lazy bum). But overall, the talent is quite good, and it makes this one of the better "new-school Seagal"-movies. 6/10.

aka "Renegade Justice" for some reason (I fail to see the difference in marketing here, as both titles are awful). Seagal re-unites with capable DTV-director Don E. FauntLeRoy (what the hell kind of a name is that anyway?), as a father out for revenge in da hood. Some decent performances by the supporting cast (especially Jade Yorker stands out) and a cool cameo by Danny Trejo helps this otherwise quite lackluster feature, and jive-talkin' gangsta Eddie Griffin is good for a few laughs as well. But the thing that really drags the film down is Seagal's character's complete unlikeability, as he's a genuine egotistical bastard throughout. Still, worth a watch. 5/10.

Seagal gets framed during a heist, and ends up in jail, where he befriends thug Treach, who helps him escape and find the bad guys responsible for his situation. It's totally mediocre, and rips off the entire amored truck-sequence from "Top of the World" (like many other Z-grade movies have done before), but at least Seagal seems slightly interested in acting here (his stunt-doubles still do all the action-sequences though...like opening doors and walking down stairs, etc.). And there's a great cameo for Chloe Grace Moretz, in what appears to be her debut! Randy Couture also gets beaten up by Seagal, so that's something, at least. Not as bad as expected! 5/10.

Also known under the ridiculous moniker "San Fransisco Kill Squad", Tom Sizemore is in the lead, and Seagal plays a sidekick-part as a bomb-expert, and really utilizes his stunt-double(s) to the max in this ultra low-budget, stock-footage fest. But it does have many good actors in minor parts, which lifts the film above it's general "bomb"-status. Director Albert Pyun really got the best out of the ultra-low budget, but the movie could've used a little better script though. 5/10.

A bunch of redneck wannabe Neo-Nazis (of course) are trying to infect their local community with a deadly disease, but only native Dr. Seagal can save the day, with part-medicine and part-asskicking. Really silly and dumb, but has a few good scenes here and there. 5/10.

A weird mind-control thriller, that partially takes place in a submarine (for about 15 minutes or so), about people getting brainwashed beyond repair, and Seagal and his crew taking out the bad guys, before it's too late. Has many familiar action-movie actors, like Vinnie Jones, Gary Daniels and William Hope, who all have their fair share of good scenes. Everyone except Seagal is actually quite decent, and the action-sequences are also mostly good (albeit often too short). So overall, surprisingly watchable - most of the time anyway. 5/10.

Seagal plays an exceptionally unlikable character in this one, as a self-righteous martial artist, who doesn't mind beating up his students when they ask him to teach them his skills, and who's not interested in his daughter until she gets kidnapped. He's generally a very unpleasant fellow, who'd rather torture women than ask them nicely to help him.. And now he's got his stunt-doubles clearly visible even for his walking scenes! The baddies are the usual bunch: Crooked cops, local gangsters, an evil international agency, and more! I have no idea why Imelda Staunton would be in this *beep* but the action is so-so decent (for an Eastern European production anyway), and the (albeit stupid and generic) plot about a missing deadly virus is easy to follow, so not a complete waste of time. 5/10.

Short Australian beer-commercial as Seagal playing a 26-year-old sheep-whisperer, who saves a sheep from getting killed to impress a girl. It has a few laughs (okay, maybe less than two), and it's fun for what it is, but nothing more than that. 5/10.

One of his most clichéd, ridiculous films, as he's playing a Chinese Archeology expert, who also just happens to be a martial arts expert with a "secret past" we never hear about. His loved ones get hurt, and then he takes down an entire crime-ring of Triad hitmen by himself, without even getting a scratch. Some decent fights and shoot-outs, but mostly really boring and generic. 4/10.

Terribly unfunny movie, with maybe one or two genuine laughs, but tons of cringeworthingly poor jokes, especially Seagal's extended cameo, playing himself starring in the movie "Cockpuncher", where he (unsurprisingly) punches people in the crotch every time they fight. May have sounded funny on paper, but in reality it was only good for a 3-minute sketch, not a feature film. Seagal also has stunt-doubles do the hard work in this one, of course. 3/10.

In this brainless thriller, Seagal plays an arrogant, misogynistic, violent, jive-talkin' cajun-imitating cop, who likes to torture suspected criminals, and would rather beat them up and risk their escape, than simply make legit arrests. His character's handgun can hold approximately 100 rounds of ammo before needing to change the clip, and that combined with his apparent playboy womanizing skills, might categorize this movie as being "sci-fi". The editing in this film is some of the worst, choppy MTV-crap I've ever seen, and if you're prone to headaches, then you shouldn't see this film. RIP Isaac Hayes, who seemed really tired and bored in one of his last performances ever. A real shame that nobody switched off this movie and killed it before it was made. 3/10.

Seagal plays the typical stone-faced hitman with no sense of humour, and as usual has a bunch of poorly veiled stuntmen do all his handywork. A muddle, uninteresting story about a mysterious "box" being sought after by random hitmen. Terribly unengaging and utterly dull. Only the bad guy (Max Ryan) is somewhat good in this turkey, as well as an eccentric cameo by Deobia Oparei as another hitman. 3/10.

I didn't think it was possible, but Seagal made a movie worse than "The Foreigner", as he returns as the same character (effectively making this movie a sequel of sorts), only this time he's gone undercover as a plutonium-smuggler, trying to frame a bunch of rebel martyrs trying to set off a nuke in a major city. Absolutely terrible in every way: Bad acting, bad effects, bad writing, bad directing, bad editing... only redeemable feat this movie had was the abundance of unintentional comedy, that lifts it juuust above the stinky bottom-of-the-barrel-movies at the end of this list. 2/10.

Just another terribly dull, unengaging run-of-the-mill piece of garbage, where Seagal plays a retired cop (who recently was in a coma after being shot - sounds familiar?), who then gets hired by an old friend to bodyguard his daughter. It's actually made semi-decently, and not totally terrible acted (apart from Seagal himself of course), but the worst thing about the film is it's absolute triteness. It's not even "so-bad-it's-good", it's just flat-out boring as hell. And also there's no real redemption at the end, just an unsatisfying mess of a shoot-out with the cops showing up randomly at the most inconveniant moment (as usual). Definitely a one-time watch only, which is forgotten 2 minutes after the credits have rolled by. 2/10.

Dull, clichéd, and extremely illogical poorman's "Top Gun", with Seagal playing a super-pilot (highly unbelievable) who's sent to Afghanistan to retrieve a missing stealth-fighter, before the bad guys can use it for evil purposes. Who they are is not exactly clear, but definitely not Taleban, and although they have several hundreds of million dollars they can spend to get the plane, they can only afford about 10 vehicles and around 60 soldiers. So it's quite easy for Seagal to beat them - all his military backup gets wasted though. Probably the dullest Seagal-flick I've ever seen, very hard to sit through without yawning and getting distracted by even the slightest things. 2/10.