The Rise And Fall Of Steven Seagal

Publish date: 2024-04-26

Steven Seagal punched his way into our video collections with 1988's "Above The Law" (via IMDB) and joined the ranks of schlocky B-movie glory with 1992's "Under Siege" (per IMDB). After these, though, he hasn't done many notable movies. Sure, there was 2010's "Machete," where he played Rogelio Torrez, former partner of the titular character (Danny Trejo) turned criminal, according to IMDB. It was just self-aware enough to sell the schlock, and walked away from the explosion with 71% on Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer.

But in the years leading up to "Machete," Seagal avoided the big screen and instead spent years prowling the dank basements of direct-to-video purgatory. According to his IMDB page, during the first decade of the 21st century, 16 out of 24 films he starred in went straight to on-demand or DVD, without even a limited theatrical release in major markets. 

Furthermore, almost all of his direct-to-video films suffered from the exact slate of issues one might imagine: low budgets, lazy writing, plots centered around clichéd locations such as abandoned warehouses, and with a handful of recyclable prop guns. One notable example is "Black Dawn," which doesn't even star Seagal in any fight scenes, owing to him leaving the production halfway through filming, per IMDB,

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