[Talisman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gashatfreak

Who?

A hack fraud martial arts actor whose claims as a martial artist rank a littlbe bit above George Dillman and Ashida Kim, most notable for a forgettable film career and crapping himself after choked out by Gene LeBell. Oh, and also being a rancid human being.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DH21965

No one important or significant

Except as the poster child of failing upwards.

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Originally Posted by GreenPsychoRanger

He was a big "martial artist/action" actor back in the 80's and 90's. Big in terms of both size (wide and tall) and renown. He wasn't exactly that great at his job, but he was popular for some reason. If memory serves correct, he was Buddhist? Although, I'm shocked to know he had a music career.

I wouldn't say big in terms of popularity... He always seemed to have presence but nobody was ever flocking to the newest Seagal flick because I swear the man is the reason Direct To Video/DVD/Streaming was invented.

Because generally speaking they were terrible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

Personally, what I liked about Seagal in his heyday was that his characters weren't beaten up. In action films of that period, especially with an emphasis on hand-to-hand combat, it was customary that in the final battle the hero would turned into a punching bag for the villain and only after thousands life-threatening injuries would he have the strength to win. But Seagal always allowed the strongest of the enemies to carry out a couple of good punches, no more. And sometimes he received minor wounds. Therefore, by the way, it is strange that jokes about coolness were told specifically about Chuck Norris, and not about him.

For one thing, the Chuck Norris jokes started as Vin Diesel jokes and just took off due to a heavy(er) dose of irony. For another: That's because Seagal was never actually cool. He was in movies but literally not one that came after Under Siege was particularly notable, because he was an absolute asshole that nobody wanted to work with.

And also just a shit martial artist.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EpsilonX

Is that really a thing in ? I feel like I see it a lot in anime, but not really in films (from that era). Maybe Rocky movies, but the typical Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, for instance, has him just straight dominating most encounters.

I guess Die Hard featured that trope. Any other famous examples? Not saying this to doubt you, I just never noticed. Or maybe I've watched the wrong movies, lol.

Die Hard was kind of where the "invincible hero" trope started losing ground, due in no small part to the fact that McClane was played by a then-better-known-for-comedies Bruce Willis, who looked absolutely nothing like the typical Action Hero embodied by Schwarznegger and Stallone, and didn't have the sort of martial arts skills that others like Van Damme had. Though I think martial arts heroes became more common after Die Hard as well as the scene transitioned from muscle men to eventually the likes of Keanu Reeves.

Anyway he's done both blues and dance music and the knowledge of these things has been clawing away inside my skull like I just got spotted by a Winter Lantern.