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Steven Seagal
Steven Seagal is a striking and somewhat boyishly handsome looking (often with ponytail) and usually impeccably dressed action star who burst onto the martial arts film scene in 1988 in the fast-paced Warner Bros. production Above the Law (1988). The enigmatic Seagal commenced his martial arts training at the age of seven under the tutelage of well known karate instructor and author Fumio Demura, and in the 1960s commenced his aikido training in Orange County, California, under the instruction of Harry Ishisaka. Seagal received his first dan accreditation in 1974, after he had moved to Japan to further his martial arts training. After spending many years there honing his skills, he achieved the ranking of a 7th dan in the Japanese martial art "aikido" and was instructing wealthy clients in Los Angeles when he came to the attention of Hollywood power broker Michael Ovitz.
Ovitz saw star value in the imposing-looking Seagal. The high-octane action movie genre was in full swing in the late 1980s, and Seagal's debut movie, Above the Law (1988), was wildly received by action fans and actually received some complimentary critical reviews. He followed up Above the Law (1988) with another slam-bang thriller, Hard to Kill (1990), as a gunned-down cop who revives from a coma to strike back at the mob. The movie also starred Seagal's wife at the time, leggy Kelly LeBrock, who was married to him from 1987 to 1996 and is the mother of three of his children. His next outing was battling voodoo-using Jamaican drug "posses" in the hyper-violent Marked For Death (1990), before returning to fight psychotic mob gangster William Forsythe in the even more punishing Out For Justice (1991). Seagal was by now enormously popular, and his next movie, the big-budgeted Under Siege (1992), set aboard the battleship USS Missouri and also starring Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey, was arguably his best film to date, impressing both fans and critcs alike.
Seagal's fighting style was rather different from that of other on-screen martial arts dynamos, such as Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme, who were predominantly fighters from striking arts background such as karate or tang soo do. However, aikido is built around using an opponent's inertia and body weight to employ various locks, chokes and holds that incapacitate him. Seagal carries himself differently, too, and often appears wearing Italian designer clothes and usually favors an all-black outfit, generally with a three-quarter-length coat with an elaborate trim. Additionally, Seagal's on-screen characters were often seemingly benign or timid individuals; however, when the going gets rough they reveal themselves to be deadly ex-CIA operatives, or retired Special Forces soldiers capable of wholesale destruction!
As his box office drawing power grew, Seagal began to influence his film projects to reflect his personal and spiritual beliefs, especially concerning the abuse of the environment. He appeared as an oil fire expert who turns against his corrupt CEO (played by Michael Caine) in On Deadly Ground (1994) to save the Eskimo population from an oil disaster; in Fire Down Below (1997) he plays an environmental agency troubleshooter investigating the dumping of toxic waste in Kentucky coal mines, and in the slow-moving The Patriot (1998) he plays a medical specialist trying to stop a lethal virus unleashed by an extremist group.
Action fans struggled to come to terms with social messaging being built into bone-crunching fight films; however, Seagal's box office clout remained fairly strong, and more traditional chopsocky projects followed with the "buddy cop" film The Glimmer Man (1996), then almost a cameo role as a Navy SEAL alongside CIA analyst Kurt Russell, before Seagal is sucked out of a jet at 35,000 feet in Executive Decision (1996).
In 1999 Seagal took a different turn in his film projects with the surprising genteel Prince of Central Park (2000), about a child living inside NYC's most famous park. He returned to more familiar territory with further high-voltage, guns-blazing action in Exit Wounds (2001), Half Past Dead (2002), Out For A Kill (2003) (V) and Belly Of The Beast (2003) (V) .
Unbeknownst to many, in 1997 Seagal publicly announced that one of his Buddhist teachers, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, had accorded Seagal as a tulku, the reincarnation of a Buddhist Lama. This initial announcement was met with some disbelief until Penor Rinpoche himself gave a confirmation statement on Seagal's new title. Seagal has repeatedly discussed his involvement in Buddhism and how he devotes many hours studying and meditating this ancient Eastern religion.
While his box-office appeal has somewhat declined from his halcyon blockbusters of the mid-'90s, Seagal still has a very loyal fan base in the action movie genre and continues to remain a highly bankable star.
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Steven Seagal - news / articles
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Seagal scraps Stallone film over producer -
9 June 2009
-Action man Steven Seagal has turned down the chance to team up with pal Sylvester Stallone, Mickey Rourke and Dolph Lundgren in new film The Expendables over a reported dispute with one of the movie's producers. -
-The Under Siege star has worked with producer Avi Ler
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Steven Seagal Under Siege from the law -
10 June 2005
The 54-year-old actor Steven Seagal is Under Siege from the law, as film company Killer Master Productions and sales agent Nu Image sue The Patriot actor.-Seagal, who is most famous for his appearances in Under Siege and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, is accused of del
Steven Seagal - what members say
Steven Seagal - filmography
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Keeper, The - BLU-RAY Version
(2009)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Luce Rains, Jessica Williams
Director: Keoni Waxman
Certificate: 
In the vein of "The Professional" and "Man on Fire", Steven Seagal plays an LA cop who after nearly being killed by his greedy partner, flees to New Mexico to work as a bodyguard for the daughter of a wealthy businessman. When mobsters kidnap her, he hunts them down to rescue her and protect her.
Rate this:
 
42%
from 14 members
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Driven To Kill - BLU-RAY Version
(2009)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Aleks Paunovic, Igor Jijikine
Director: Jeff King
Certificate: 
Years after leaving behind a life as a Russian mobster, crime novelist Ruslan Drachev (Steven Seagal) returns to his idyllic home one day to discover that his daughter in engaged to marry his old enemy. In the blink of an eye, Drachev's deadly past comes crashing back, and his once-safe family is ..read more »
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48%
from 127 members
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Dangerous Man
(2009)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Hugo Steele, Byron Mann
Director: Keoni Waxman
Certificate: 
Steven Seagal stars as Shane Daniels, a man released from prison after serving 15 years for a crime he didn't commit. Unfortunately, his luck doesn't get much better on the outside, when he unwittingly bears witness to an illegal diamond deal that results in a number of dead state troopers and ..read more »
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55%
from 2 members
Due for release on 28th December 2009
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The Keeper
on DVD
(2009)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Luce Rains, Jessica Williams
Director: Keoni Waxman
Certificate:
Tough L.A. cop Roland Sallinger (Seagal) is betrayed by his partner during a stake out, and left for dead – but Roland is still breathing when the ambulance arrives. A year later, he’s still recovering from his ordeal and has been forced into retirement from the squad. Meanwhile in ..read more »
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49%
from 37 members
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Driven To Kill
on DVD
(2009)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Aleks Paunovic, Igor Jijikine
Director: Jeff King
Certificate:
Years after leaving behind a life as a Russian mobster, crime novelist Ruslan Drachev (Steven Seagal) returns to his idyllic home one day to discover that his daughter in engaged to marry his old enemy. In the blink of an eye, Drachev's deadly past comes crashing back, and his once-safe family is ..read more »
Rate this:
55%
from 392 members
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Kill Switch - BLU-RAY Version
(2008)
Starring: Isaac Hayes, Holly Dignard, Steven Seagal
Director: Jeff King
Certificate:
Steven Seagal (OUT FOR JUSTICE) stars as Jacob King, a Memphis homicide detective nursing a very personal wound: the murder of his twin brother. The death, which he witnessed, has put King on a furious hunt for serial killers. But in KILL SWITCH the stakes are doubled, with two deranged killers on ..read more »
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36%
from 355 members
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Kill Switch
on DVD
(2008)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Holly Dignard, Chris Thomas King
Director: Jeff King
Certificate:
Steven Seagal (OUT FOR JUSTICE) stars as Jacob King, a Memphis homicide detective nursing a very personal wound: the murder of his twin brother. The death, which he witnessed, has put King on a furious hunt for serial killers. But in KILL SWITCH the stakes are doubled, with two deranged killers on ..read more »
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50%
from 1,310 member
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The News Movie
on DVD
(2008)
Starring: Daniel Chacón, Ken Takemoto, Steven Seagal
Director: Tom Kuntz, Mike Maguire
Certificate:
The Onion invades DVD! Based on the wildly popular newspaper hailed by The New Yorker as "the funniest publication in the United States", The News Movie (aka The Onion Movie) brings you uncensored, uninhibited, UNRATED news and views from around the world.
In a stunning development, when Onion ..read more »
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44%
from 510 members
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Against The Dark
on DVD
(2008)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Tanoai Reed, Jeff Chase
Director: Richard Crudo
Certificate:
Katana master Tao (Steven Seagal) leads a special ops squad of ex-military vigilantes on a massacre mission, their target: vampires. On the post apocalyptic globe, sucked dry by bloodthirsty vampires, a few remaining survivors are trapped in an infected hospital. Tao is their only hope and he knows ..read more »
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40%
from 2,202 members
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Flight Of Fury
on DVD
(2007)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Steve Toussaint, Angus MacInnes
Director: Michael Keusch
Certificate:
John Sands is a special agent working for an underground division of the U.S. Air Force. When his own agency begins to feel threatened by the knowledge he's gained from past missions, they decide to imprison him an wipe his memory clean, leading John to escape from a high-tech detention center. But ..read more »
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50%
from 3,336 members
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Mercenary For Justice
on DVD
(2006)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Luke Goss, Jacqueline Lord
Director: Don E. Fauntleroy
Certificate:
When a deadly mission goes wrong and his partner and best friend is slaughtered before his eyes by Mercenaries, the CIA deny all knowledge of the incident, refusing to even pay compensation to the bereaved family. Seeger is then forced back into action when the same band of Mercenaries kidnap his ..read more »
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49%
from 4,786 members
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Attack Force
on DVD
(2006)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Lisa Lovbrand, David Kennedy
Director: Michael Keusch
Certificate:
Steven Seagal is back in this high-octane, action-thriller!
When Marshall Lawson looses his son to a cold-blooded and seemingly random attack, he takes it upon himself to investigate the suspicious circumstances of the brutal killings.
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43%
from 2,871 members
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Today You Die
on DVD
(2005)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Anthony Criss, Lawrence Turner
Director: Don E. Fauntleroy
Certificate:
Max Stevens (Steven Seagal) is the best kind of thief, a modern-day Robin Hood who steals from the rich and gives to those in need. His talents, however, are peerless, and he will do whatever it takes to get the job done, regardless of the ruthlessness involved. Convinced by his lover that it's ..read more »
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51%
from 4,777 members
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Black Dawn
on DVD
(2005)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Mike Baldridge, Eddie Velez
Director: Alexander Gruszynski
Certificate:
Ex CIA Agent, Jonathan Col, mysteriously surfaces on the agency's radar when he springs a dangerous arms dealer from prison and sets out to help a band of terrorists obtain a nuclear weapon - to be used in an attack on the US...
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47%
from 6,760 members
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Into The Sun
on DVD
(2005)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Takao Osawa, Matthew Davis
Director: Mink
Certificate:
When a government official is killed, an American operative with experience in the Yakuza culture is brought into investigate.
Rate this:
46%
from 4,330 members
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Submerged
on DVD
(2005)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Christine Adams, Nick Brimble
Director: Anthony Hickox
Certificate:
Chris Kody, the world's best mercenary, is freed from prison -- but there's a catch. Kody must use his lethal weapons and fighting skills to stop a group of terrorists who have taken over a nuclear sub.
Rate this:
50%
from 4,290 members
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Out Of Reach
on DVD
(2004)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Matt Schulze, Nick Brimble
Director: Po Chih Leong
Certificate:
Steven Seagul plays Billy Ray Lancing, a former undecover government agent working on a wildlife refuge finds himself back in action when he discovers that a young girl he's been writing and sending money to in an Eastern European orphanage (through a bona fide international program, honest guv) is ..read more »
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51%
from 3,872 members
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Belly Of The Beast
on DVD
(2003)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Byron Mann, Russell Wong
Director: Siu-Tung Ching
Certificate:
Soon-to-retire CIA agent Jake Hopper (Steven Seagal) is on vacation in Thailand when his daughter is kidnapped by a ruthless terrorist group. The CIA launches their own operative to retrieve her safely, but unorthodox Hopper feels the need to take the matter into his own hands.
Rate this:
55%
from 3,705 members
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Out For A Kill
on DVD
(2003)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Corey Johnson
Director: Michael Oblowitz
Certificate:
Archaeologist Robert Burns (Steven Seagal) has unearthed some priceless artifacts in eastern China. When he discovers that the Chinese mafia--the Tong--are using them as containers to smuggle drugs overseas, Burns is marked for death. The Tong frame him for the murder of his assistant and he is ..read more »
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57%
from 1,926 member
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The Foreigner
on DVD
(2002)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Sherman Augustus, Kate Fischer
Director: Michael Oblowitz
Certificate:
Steven Seagal is Jon Cold, an international secret agent hired to carry a mysterious package from France to the U.S. He soon finds out that many people are willing to kill to get whatever is inside, and Cold must contend with the bad guys and political corruption in the fulfillment of his dangerous ..read more »
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50%
from 2,712 members
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Half Past Dead
on DVD
(2002)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Morris Chestnut, Ja Rule
Director: Don Michael Paul
Certificate:
An undercover FBI agent, Sascha Petrosevitch (Steven Seagal), takes bullets for his buddy, Nick Frazier (Ja Rule). Nick figures Sascha for dead until the two are reunited again on duty at New Alcatraz (a hellish, high-tech version of the now-defunct prison). At New Alcatraz, criminal mastermind ..read more »
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58%
from 3,468 members
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Half Past Dead - BLU-RAY Version
(2002)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Morris Chestnut, Ja Rule
Director: Don Michael Paul
Certificate:
An undercover FBI agent, Sascha Petrosevitch (Steven Seagal), takes bullets for his buddy, Nick Frazier (Ja Rule). Nick figures Sascha for dead until the two are reunited again on duty at New Alcatraz (a hellish, high-tech version of the now-defunct prison). At New Alcatraz, criminal mastermind ..read more »
Rate this:
51%
from 130 members
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Exit Wounds
on DVD
(2001)
Starring: Steven Seagal, DMX, Isaiah Washington
Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Certificate:
Detroit cop Orin Byrd (Steven Seagal) plays by his own rules. He knows what's right and what's wrong, and like Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan, he doesn't mind leaving a little destruction in his wake as long as he gets the job done. But after saving the vice president from a militia group in a ..read more »
Rate this:
61%
from 3,528 members
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Ticker
on DVD
(2001)
Starring: Tom Sizemore, Dennis Hopper, Steven Seagal
Director: Albert Pyun
Certificate:
Two of the action world's biggest heavyweights--Steven Seagal and Dennis Hopper--square off in this tense, dramatic thriller. With Seagal fighting for good, and Hopper hamming it up as the maniacal villain, TICKER capitalizes on what the two actors do best. When Hopper's insane bomber hides a huge ..read more »
Rate this:
53%
from 1,733 member
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The Patriot
on DVD
(1998)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Gailard Sartain, L.Q. Jones
Director: Dean Semler
Certificate:
Steven Seagal once again brings out the heavy artillery, this time against a militia group which has unleashed a deadly virus. Based on the book "The Last Canadian" by William Heine.
Rate this:
57%
from 2,328 members
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Fire Down Below
on DVD
(1997)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Marg Helgenberger, Harry Dean Stanton
Director: Felix Enriques Alcala
Certificate:
Action guru Seagal goes rustic as a hard-line EPA agent who brings his own brand of environmental justice to bear upon waste-dumping corporate baddies in a run-down Kentucky mining town. When not bringing villains to their knees, he befriends a band of locals and empowers them to stand up for their ..read more »
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60%
from 2,347 members
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The Glimmer Man
on DVD
(1996)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Robert Gunton
Director: John Gray
Certificate:
A string of serial killings in Los Angeles forces the LAPD to call on a specialist from New York: detective Jack Cole, who's dubbed the "Glimmer Man" because he's so fast his targets only see a glimmer of him before they're caught. Teamed up with a reluctant local cop, he uncovers a sinister ..read more »
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62%
from 2,990 members
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Executive Decision
on DVD
(1996)
Starring: Kurt Russell, Halle Berry, John Leguizamo
Director: Stuart Baird
Certificate:
A ruthless terrorist group are holding hostage the passengers on board a 747 airliner. Using an experimental docking aircraft, an elite team must make an air-to-air transfer to save four hundred lives in a gripping do-or-die mission.
Rate this:
63%
from 4,577 members
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Under Siege 2
on DVD
(1995)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Eric Bogosian, Katherine Heigl
Director: Geoff Murphy
Certificate:
Ex-Navy SEAL Casey Ryback returns, this time aboard a train which is hijacked by a psycho genius out to steal a satellite weapons system he invented for the government. Only the inscrutable, martial arts and weapons master Ryback can save the day in this all-out actioner.
Rate this:
59%
from 6,066 members
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Under Siege
on DVD
(1992)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Busey
Director: Andrew Davis
Certificate:
When a Navy ship carrying nuclear warheads is hijacked by terrorists, the fate of the world depends on the ship's cook--who just happens to be a Special Forces martial arts and weapons expert! Filmed aboard the U.S.S. Missouri. Academy Award Nominations: Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Sound.
Rate this:
63%
from 10,966 members
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Marked For Death
on DVD
(1990)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Joanna Pacula, Keith David
Director: Dwight Little
Certificate:
A retired DEA agent (Steven Seagal) returns to his bucolic hometown only to discover that a dangerous drug lord has taken over. When the agent ventilates one of the drug lord's gunmen, he finds himself marked for death. In retaliation, he goes after the bad guys--with a vengeance.
Rate this:
65%
from 2,505 members
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Hard to Kill
(1990)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Kelly LeBrock, William Sadler
Director: Bruce Malmuth
Certificate:
L.A. Detective Mason Storm (Steven Seagal) uncovers high-level political corruption. Before he can expose his discoveries, Storm's family home is attacked. His wife and child are murdered, and he is left for dead. After surviving a seven-year coma, Storm regains consciousness, desperate to avenge ..read more »
Rate this:
66%
from 547 members
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Nico - Above The Law
on DVD
(1988)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Pam Grier, Sharon Stone
Director: Andrew Davis
Certificate:
When Chicago cop Nico Toscani (Steven Seagal) discovers that suspects apprehended in a drug bust are allowed to walk, he's not happy. Soon Nico himself is asked to turn in his badge. Although he's now off the force, no way is he out of the action. Seagal makes a smashing screen debut in this tale ..read more »
Rate this:
62%
from 3,314 members
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On Deadly Ground
Starring: Steven Seagal, Michael Caine
Director: Steven Seagal
Certificate:
Seagal is Forrest Taft, an oil rig worker who specialises in putting out fires for the giant Aegis Oil Company. When he learns that the company President Michael Jennings (Michael Caine), intends to destroy the environment and livlihoods of the local Inuit population for profit, he is determined to ..read more »
Rate this:
57%
from 395 members
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Clementine
Starring: Steven Seagal, Jun Lee
Director: Du-yeong Kim
Certificate:
Jun Lee portrays Kim Seung Hyun who gets cheated out of his Tae Kwon Do championship title through an unfair judgment. Tragedy strikes him even harder as he returns home to discover that his beloved wife has passed away. He decides to give up his fighting career for good in order to take care of ..read more »
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44%
from 505 members
Not currently released
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Shadow Man
on DVD
Starring: Steven Seagal, Vasile Albinet, Skye Bennett
Director: Michael Keusch
Certificate:
Steven Seagal stars in this pulse-pounding thriller about an ex-C.I.A operative who must unravel a lethal web of international espionage to save his daughter and stop a deadly virus from falling into enemy hands.
When rogue operatives within the C.I.A. smuggle a lethal virus out of the U.S. and ..read more »
Rate this:
50%
from 3,195 members
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Steven Seagal facts
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TOP MOVIE !!! 26 October 2005
...Martial arts hero Steven Seagal developed, co-wrote, co-produced, choreographed, and debuted in this thrill ride - a cop film with more attitude, and more plot, than its sta...
Executive Decision 14 October 2004
10 July 2004
