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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jun 21, 2017 14:43:53 GMT
"Is this kind of like Deliverance or something?"In the peaceful surroundings of a smalltown located in Kentucky, strange things have been going on for a while now, which have finally caught the attention of the EPA, who in return decides that this is the perfect case for their top enviromental agent, Jack Taggart (Steven Seagal), who must go undercover, in order to find out what is really going on and use all of his skills to bring down whoever dares to stands in his way. For me, the last "great" Seagal film, and one that comes along with a solid cast, where you have the beautiful Marg Helgenberger, Harry Dean Stanton, Stephen Lang, Levon Helm, Kris Kristoffersen and Richard Masur in some of the more prominent roles. Once again, Steven must take on a gang of enviromental bullies and their toxic waste barrels, and of course a couple of good ol' rounds with some serious buttkicking, will always be of good use. I never understood how bad the reviews of the film was, but after the similar On Deadly Ground (1994) was seen as a "failure", I guess the critics saw it as open season towards Seagal, and his time as a big action star, seemed to be over. Still, I enjoy this film, and while it was a long shot away from his more urban, brutal and tight action-classics he made between 1988 and 1991, I thought he come off as more likeable in Fire Down Below, than in most of his earlier stuff, and compared to The Patriot (1998), this was a really good effort, with lots of good music, fights, and one of those late Seagal 90s films, I can watch every now and then, and not go tired of. "Cracked my wood. That's no good" Trailer
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Jul 3, 2017 10:57:22 GMT
8/10 One of Seagals best.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 3, 2017 15:37:06 GMT
I am glad to hear that I am not alone on enjoying this film. For me it lies somwhere between a 7/10 and on a really good day, maybe even a 7,5/10. I wish Steven would do something similar to On Deadly Ground and this one. He kind of fitted well into the western/wilderness setting, and I guess everything is better than the tiredsome east-european trashy act, that I often have trouble staying awake to get through.
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Post by taylorfirst1 on Jul 3, 2017 15:54:17 GMT
Not one of Seagal's best IMO.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 3, 2017 16:02:35 GMT
Just for the fun of it, here is my top 10 Steven Seagal list:
01 - Out for Justice (1991) 02 - Hard to Kill (1990) 03 - Under Siege (1992) 04 - Marked for Death (1990) 05 - Above the Law (1988) 06 - Fire Down Below (1997) 07 - On Deadly Ground (1994) 08 - The Glimmer Man (1996) 09 - Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995) 10 - Belly of the Beast (2003)
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 10, 2017 9:44:45 GMT
I actually like this one too. Solid story, cracking action and quite decent cast. Seagal is in effortless form. That fight scene with the timber always reminds of the one in "Pale Rider".
My top 10 is pretty much the same, but in a different order. I agree with your number one pick though.
1. Out for Justice 2. Marked for Death 3. Hard to Kill 4. Above the Law 5. Under Siege 6. Executive Decision 7. Fire Down Below 8. On Deadly Ground 9. Under Siege 2: Dark Territory 10. The Glimmer Man
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 11, 2017 11:25:31 GMT
Executive Decision is one film I have not seen for a long time, but I thought I had to feature one of his post 90s releases, and Belly of the Beast I think is one of the best efforts, but that is over 14 years ago, which sadly says a lot of the "quality" of what came afterwards of Seagal's films.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 12, 2017 1:55:33 GMT
I was hesitant at first, being that it's not a leading role, but at the same time it's still a Seagal film. Probably one of his better performances too.
Of his post 90s, I would go with "Exit Wounds". I wouldn't mind checking out "Machete" one of these days.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 12, 2017 13:37:33 GMT
Machete I thought was real good when I first saw it. Loved seeing Seagal and Don Johnson as the main villains. However, the sequel which popped up a couple of years later turned out to be a huge disappointment (at least so I thought). Exit Wounds was a decent/ok film, but the whole flirting with the hip-hop/rap community was just not my kind of fun. Still, the action/fight scenes was well done, and compared to 90-95 percent of his films that came afterwards, it was more on the same level has his late 90s releases.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 14, 2017 11:30:03 GMT
Machete I thought was real good when I first saw it. Loved seeing Seagal and Don Johnson as the main villains. However, the sequel which popped up a couple of years later turned out to be a huge disappointment (at least so I thought). Exit Wounds was a decent/ok film, but the whole flirting with the hip-hop/rap community was just not my kind of fun. Still, the action/fight scenes was well done, and compared to 90-95 percent of his films that came afterwards, it was more on the same level has his late 90s releases. The cast in "Machete" does look mouth-watering. Does Seagal allow anyone to beat him up in the film? "Exit Wounds" was a safe bet. If had to pick a DTV; Maybe "Shadow Man" or "The Keeper". Most of his DTV releases for me, all seem to blur into one. Making it hard to remember what scenes went with what movie, sometimes confusing myself if I've actually watched it, or not. Funnily enough, I don't have that problem with Van Damm or Lundgren's DTV output.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 14, 2017 12:21:33 GMT
Does Seagal allow anyone to beat him up in the film?
Well, I will not spoil the fun for you, but we all know Seagal pretty much by now, so I guess there is no big surprise waiting, but I thought he handled himself well in Machete and I kind hope he would let his ego down, (for a short time) and do The Expendables 4, hopefully as the main villain, which then leads up to a final climax fight with Van Damme who is rumoured to strike back as the good twin brother (of the villain he played in part two).
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 14, 2017 14:08:59 GMT
How old is that rumour? I thought I remembered reading/or hearing Stallone didn't want anything more to do with that franchise?
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Post by kuatorises on Jul 14, 2017 15:42:31 GMT
Machete I thought was real good when I first saw it. Loved seeing Seagal and Don Johnson as the main villains. However, the sequel which popped up a couple of years later turned out to be a huge disappointment (at least so I thought). Exit Wounds was a decent/ok film, but the whole flirting with the hip-hop/rap community was just not my kind of fun. Still, the action/fight scenes was well done, and compared to 90-95 percent of his films that came afterwards, it was more on the same level has his late 90s releases. The cast in "Machete" does look mouth-watering. Does Seagal allow anyone to beat him up in the film?"Exit Wounds" was a safe bet. If had to pick a DTV; Maybe "Shadow Man" or "The Keeper". Most of his DTV releases for me, all seem to blur into one. Making it hard to remember what scenes went with what movie, sometimes confusing myself if I've actually watched it, or not. Funnily enough, I don't have that problem with Van Damm or Lundgren's DTV output. I was just about to ask the same question. His movies lack tension and excitement because his characters are never in any danger. Forget losing, but I never even gets touched.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2017 19:15:44 GMT
Not among Seagals' best but far from his worst, I'm sure. The main value lies in his supporting cast, especially Stephen Lang (playing a creepy guy, as he always does so well) and Harry Dean Stanton.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 15, 2017 5:25:13 GMT
The cast in "Machete" does look mouth-watering. Does Seagal allow anyone to beat him up in the film?"Exit Wounds" was a safe bet. If had to pick a DTV; Maybe "Shadow Man" or "The Keeper". Most of his DTV releases for me, all seem to blur into one. Making it hard to remember what scenes went with what movie, sometimes confusing myself if I've actually watched it, or not. Funnily enough, I don't have that problem with Van Damm or Lundgren's DTV output. I was just about to ask the same question. His movies lack tension and excitement because his characters are never in any danger. Forget losing, but I never even gets touched. Other than the coma plot device in "Hard to Kill", I can't think of any. Even then that wasn't caused by hand-to-hand combat. That's why I prefer his real early stuff, while he might not be at the end of it they do deliver on unapologetic brutality.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 15, 2017 12:41:42 GMT
How old is that rumour? I thought I remembered reading/or hearing Stallone didn't want anything more to do with that franchise? I guess, too old. I am not really that sorry if there is no new films in the making, as the third one was really mediocre/average and half of the Expendable crew I could not care less about, for me it was all about the chemistry/bond between guys like Sly, Dolph, Jet Li and Mickey Rourke in the first film, and while not a big fan of Statham he fared better than some of the other, as both Arnie/Bruce just seemed to be thrown in at the last minute and I was not too impressed by their appearences.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 15, 2017 12:56:27 GMT
I was just about to ask the same question. His movies lack tension and excitement because his characters are never in any danger. Forget losing, but I never even gets touched. Other than the coma plot device in "Hard to Kill", I can't think of any. Even then that wasn't caused by hand-to-hand combat. That's why I prefer his real early stuff, while he might not be at the end of it they do deliver on unapologetic brutality. Seagal did manage to end up taking some beating when facing the main villain Screwface, twice, but it does end with one of the most nasty/brutal deaths scenes in any of his films, as he first pushes Screwface's eyeballs into his skull, then Hatcher's breaks the guys spine on his knee, before throwing him down into some elevator shaft, being penetrated by a random metal spike lying at the bottom Then I think in The Glimmer Man (1996) some bald bad guy actually hits Seagal in the face, making him bleed from the nose, but of course that was just a "mistake", and the rest of the fight was pretty much one-sided as they come. However in 2001, Exit Wounds some horrible rapper/hip-hop dude, ends up taking Seagal to the "max" which I think ends up in a draw. Must be because the ego/street "cred" of the rapper was not to be destroyed by being humilated by a now middle aged Steven Seagal in a fist fight. Nowdays, Seagal mostly end up "fighting" or destroying is more the word, some random looking east-european villain that is often 20-30 years younger than him, and the fight scenes are so one-sided that it is not even funny anymore, just sad. And when a guy like Michael Paré shows up, in the turd that was Maximum Convction (2012), it is so one-sided that I cannot believe anybody would take on the part as the villian anymore, knowing they would thrown around like a little ragdoll for a couple of minutes, but I guess the paycheck is good.
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Post by kuatorises on Jul 17, 2017 18:53:18 GMT
Other than the coma plot device in "Hard to Kill", I can't think of any. Even then that wasn't caused by hand-to-hand combat. That's why I prefer his real early stuff, while he might not be at the end of it they do deliver on unapologetic brutality. Seagal did manage to end up taking some beating when facing the main villain Screwface, twice, but it does end with one of the most nasty/brutal deaths scenes in any of his films, as he first pushes Screwface's eyeballs into his skull, then Hatcher's breaks the guys spine on his knee, before throwing him down into some elevator shaft, being penetrated by a random metal spike lying at the bottom Then I think in The Glimmer Man (1996) some bald bad guy actually hits Seagal in the face, making him bleed from the nose, but of course that was just a "mistake", and the rest of the fight was pretty much one-sided as they come. However in 2001, Exit Wounds some horrible rapper/hip-hop dude, ends up taking Seagal to the "max" which I think ends up in a draw. Must be because the ego/street "cred" of the rapper was not to be destroyed by being humilated by a now middle aged Steven Seagal in a fist fight. Nowdays, Seagal mostly end up "fighting" or destroying is more the word, some random looking east-european villain that is often 20-30 years younger than him, and the fight scenes are so one-sided that it is not even funny anymore, just sad. And when a guy like Michael Paré shows up, in the turd that was Maximum Convction (2012), it is so one-sided that I cannot believe anybody would take on the part as the villian anymore, knowing they would thrown around like a little ragdoll for a couple of minutes, but I guess the paycheck is good. That second clip, oh my. Like, what's the point?
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