A busy weekend started on Wednesday night with a bro, bbq and Steven Seagal's sole directorial effort, On Deadly Ground on HBO. There's quite a few flicks from Seagal, Stallone and Eastwood on the premium outlet but only one each from Van Damme and Arnold's. It's been a while since I've seen the Alaska set, oil company man sells out then sides with the locals to fight the shady corporation eco-action-thriller and it actually holds up pretty well. Of course it's totally ridiculous with Seagal being some clean up specialist for an evil oil company, blowing up wells to shut them off when faulty equipment causes a blaze or keeping ticked off Inuit people away from billionaire scumbag Michael Caine (here with dark hair for maybe the first time I've ever seen). When roughnecks mess with the local tribal people, Seagal's Forrest Taft beats the shit out of all of them while asking "what does it take to change the essence of a man?"
The Alaskan locales are beautifully shot, there's plenty of bone breaking hand to hand combat, gunplay, giant explosions and terribly hilarious dialog like "my nuts!". At the end of the film, Seagal delivers a surprisingly effective speech on how the environment is suffering due to cars, oil drilling, pollution, etc. that seems especially true today let alone in 1994. The Aikido man was hot off the success of $150 million grossing Under Siege and Warner Brothers handed him the directorial reigns in exchange for a Siege follow up. An excellent supporting cast joins Caine (who reportedly replaced Jeremy Irons), a high strung and screaming John C. McGinley (The Rock, Scrubs), Joan Chen (The Hunted), R. Lee Emery (Full Metal Jacket), a chubby and funny Billy Bob Thornton along with Arnold buddy Sven-Ole Thorsen.
The budget pushed $50 million but On Deadly Ground would gross under $40 million, less than half of Under Siege. Seagal's box office mojo would quickly dwindle with Under Siege 2 rebounding a bit before getting killed off in 1996's Executive Decision. Three films later, Seagal went straight to video. Michael Caine would reflect kindly in his memoirs on Seagal and crew while hating the location.
Since seeing Kurt Russell at Beyond Fest a couple months ago I've been revisiting his vast body of work like Tombstone, Captain Ron, Stargate, Big Trouble In Little China, Unlawful Entry, Miracle, Sky High and the 1996 classic action thriller Executive Decision. I'd nearly forgotten that Steven Seagal gets high billing but is killed off in the film's first act. Remember when I told you my theory that Dammaged Goods style action movies died in 1996? The kind starring charismatic, physical heroes who took care of the job with machine guns, muscles, martial arts and one liners? To refresh your memory, check out my piece on Sylvester Stallone, who along with Arnold Schwarzenegger, ushered in a cottage brand of action flick in the 80's and paved the way for lesser cinematic icons Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme. While no other action star would reach the heights of the two kings, mysterious Aikido expert and would be CIA agent Seagal nearly got there after bursting onto the scene with 1988's Warner Brothers starring vehicle Above the Law with no prior acting experience. The sub-$10 million flick grossed nearly $20 million.
Before that, Seagal had the distinction of allegedly being the first non-Japanese to open his own Aikido studio in the mother land. Working in Hollywood it's rumored that he broke Sean Connery's wrist while training the James Bond star for Never Say Never Again and impressed uber agent Michael Ovitz who got Seagal in with Warner Brothers. While Jean-Claude Van Damme toiled with low budget filmmakers, independent studios, first time directors, no name casts and $1 million budgets, Seagal had a major studio behind him and familiar faces beside him his first time out. Follow up Hard to Kill more than doubled Law's take and audiences were hooked on the tall, often pony tailed hero who spoke in whispers and took out dozens without ever taking a punch with painful looking joint locks and throws. Fight scenes in Seagal movies always elicited real groans and winces as it looked like people really got slammed into the floor or through a table. Seagal's "aura of invincibility" went with his mysterious past as a martial arts instructor in Japan coupled with his own hints of working with or for the CIA.
By 1992, Warner Brothers had already produced or distributed three of Seagal's four titles and backed Under Siege, a reported $35 million, Die Hard style actioner set on a battle ship. Above the Law director Andrew Davis had already lent a bit of class to Chuck Norris with Code of Silence before doing the same for Seagal on Law and was recruited for a second run. As former Navy S.E.A.L. turned cook Casey Ryback, Seagal fights, shoots, stabs and sabotages his way through a terrorist takeover lead by more than capable actors like Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey. A true action classic, Under Siege would open to $15 million opening weekend, good enough for the 9th largest of the year on it's way to an $83 million U.S. take and $156 million worldwide. Now on top of the world, Seagal would exercise his spirit and ego on his next film, the ecological themed On Deadly Ground, which he would also produce and direct. The $50 million Alaska set film takes on oil cartels and Inuit treatment head on while ending with a monologue by the star discussing how the world is dying. A noble endeavor but the film would gross less than half of Under Siege and earn few critical marks.
With success always comes controversy and rumors of Seagal's prickly attitude and unbelievable ego on and off set began to surface. A dispute with writers on Marked for Death, kicking Gary Busey off the sequel to Under Siege, thinking he could easily deliver an Academy Award winning performance if Hollywood hadn't pigeonholed him, taking potshots at JCVD on late night TV, misrepresenting the tribal nations people of Alaska, being accused of sexual harassment, Seagal's quick rise to the top was now catching up to him. Warner's had signed him to a four picture deal but pumped the brakes on Ground as the budget swelled to reevaluate. They also wanted any budget overages on 1995's $50-60 million Under Siege 2: Dark Territory to come out of the leading man's $10 million salary. Territory would hardly recapture the spirit, scale or excitement of the original but would still gross a solid $100 million worldwide.
But 1996's Executive Decision marked the beginning of the end. Long had Seagal carried a film as a super badass who never got hurt but now in Decision, he was making room for the guy who couldn't fight or shoot, the glasses wearing, tuxedo sporting analyst Kurt Russell. We see Seagal and his commando team slashing throats and taking out bad guys right away but it's Russell's smarts that save the day and stop a plane full of nerve agent from crashing into Washington D.C. While Seagal sacrifices himself for the mission and dies 40 minutes in, his career would never be the same. Warner Brothers fully backed Executive Decision with a reported $55 million budget, in house super producer Joel Silver (Die Hard, Lethal Weapon) was behind the scenes and legendary company editor Stuart Baird (Superman, Gorillas in the Mist) was making his directorial debut. I'm sure it was a shock in 1996 to see THE Steven Seagal get killed in the film but by the end you kind of forget he was even in it.
1996 follow up The Glimmer Man, a $45 million buddy picture with Keenan Ivory Wayans that he starred, produced and wrote music for, would gross a paltry $20 million compared to Decision's $69 million. 1997's Fire Down Below, another big budget action movie with an environmental message, would only bring in $16 million, $3 million less than Above the Law had nearly 10 years earlier but with $40 million more budget. By 1998 the party was truly over as The Patriot went Direct to Video. Joel Silver would provide some career juice with 2001's Exit Wounds that was part of a short stint of martial artists paired with rappers that also gave us Jet Li's Romeo Must Die and Cradle 2 the Grave. From there it mainly DTV fare with Seagal gaining more and more weight but appearing in the films less and less with filmmakers not caring if the audience could tell they were using a double or not. Seagal would crank out 2-3 films a year and still command a $5 million fee while dealing with FBI investigations, private investigators and very public lawsuits from former associates that hinted at mafia involvement.
As the home video market fell out in the 2000's, Seagal's output stayed steady as budgets got smaller and schedules shorter. A stint on reality TV followed with the short lived Steven Seagal: Lawman as the fully commissioned deputy performed his civic duty for the Sheriff's office in Louisiana. A villainous turn in Robert Rodriguez's Machete marked a return to cinemas after a near 9 year layoff. Seagal hasn't lacked for work though as he's released SIX films in 2016 alone. His latest, Contract to Kill comes out this weekend and features none other than Dammaged Goods favorite Russell Wong so it will be the first Seagal flick I've actively watched in years. Now "put your hands up!".
As Kurt Russell month rolls on, I unearthed a forgotten yet extremely interesting if not instant classic in his filmography, 2001's 3000 Miles to Graceland. While I grew up on Big Trouble in Little China, Escape From New York then L.A., Tango & Cash, Executive Decision, Breakdown, Soldier and especially Tombstone, 3000 just went unnoticed on my radar for some reason. I recall it playing on the college channel of free movies but I only caught the random opening titles where CGI scorpions fight each other and bits of forced dialog to pieces of tough talking Kevin Costner before random, hyper stylized and overlong shoot outs. Cut to last night and we popped in the ol' DVD fresh from Amazon to soak up some Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner as Elvis impersonators who rob a casino during a convention dedicated to the King of Rock and Roll.
When the credits ended, all I could exclaim was "wow, what a weird frigging movie". 3000 Miles to Graceland was directed and co-written by Demian Lichtenstein, a former music video helmer for the likes of Sting, Eric Clapton and Queen Latifah with a script assist from Richard Recco. We meet just out of prison Michael Zane (Kurt Russell) at a little crap hole hotel outside Las Vegas, he immediately falls in with hot single mom Cybil (Courteney Cox) and her pickpocket young son Jesse (David Kaye). Boots are knocked and wallet stolen as Zane waits for partner Murphy (Kevin Costner), a mean looking hombre with crazy side burns. Murphy has rounded up an eclectic posse of shady characters played by Christian Slater, Bokeem Woodbine and David Arquette to knock off a casino during a big Elvis convention. While Murph and his cronies go in strong with guns blazing and grab millions in cash, Michael hot wires an elevator so they can meet helicopter pilot Jack (Howie Long) on the roof. Of course things go wrong, there's no honor among thieves and Murph leaves his crew for dead but ol' Michael survives and is soon on the run with Cybil and Jesse as they try to find the cash and elude Murphy's psychotic bad guy tendencies. Thomas Haden Church and Kevin Pollak show up as the FBI agent types on their tail and after a detour into the pacific northwest, Murph and Michael have their final showdown at a shipping yard.
Part action flick, part heist movie, pieces of a fractured romantic comedy and straight slapstick, 3000 is one strange hybrid of a flick. First off, it's very of it's time in the post Pulp Fiction era of big music, editing, violence and slickness. While Tarantino's taste made his choices part of a personality infused film, Lichtenstein just throws it all in with no real purpose it seems. Music blares but is extremely generic and just loud. Action scenes showcase lots of gun fire, oh so much slow motion, things breaking and exploding but no real story, rhyme or reason. Russell is fine as the likeable and non-violent ex-con while Costner is solid as the vicious yet interesting villain. The rest of the cast doesn't have a whole lot to do but the familiar faces run deep as in addition to the already listed, you get Jon Lovitz and Ice-T popping up later in the film. I was surprised at the amount of objectifying of women; Michael gazing at Cybil's butt, Murph picking up a young lady at a gas station, waitresses bending over, etc. but no actual nudity in the rated R film. Being the early 2000's, the action is noteworthy as it's mostly done practically with glass breaking, squibs going off, choppers flying in, cars crashing and a giant, over done explosion shown from half a dozen angles. In the end, not a good movie but strangely memorable, probably due to it's cast, skewed sense of hunor and Russell's excellent take on Elvis in a couple scenes drawing on his history with The King. First appearing opposite of him in 1963's It Happened at the World's Fair, playing him in 1979's Elvis TV movie and providing a quick voice cover in 1993's Forrest Gump.
3000 Miles to Graceland came at a curious point in both Russell and Costner's careers. After years building up his film roles and becoming a dependable box office draw, Russell would make $3, $7, $10 then $15 million bucks for a movie, culminating with 1998's big budget action flop Soldier. 3000 seemed like an easy rebound for Russell as he shared the leading man duties with Costner who became a star off of hits The Untouchables, Bull Durham and Field of Dreams before taking control of his own destiny to produce and direct Oscar winning mega hit Dances with Wolves. Critical and commercial successes Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, JFK and The Bodyguard followed before high profile disappointments A Perfect World, Wyatt Earp and $80 million directing flop follow up The Postman. 3000's trailer made it seem like a fun and kitschy action flick starring two of the biggest names of the 1990's. During the credits we get Kurt Russell shucking, jiving and lipsyncing to Elvis while other cast members look silly dancing and waving prop guns. The now defunct official website made history by hosting three featurettes of flash animation to act as a prequel to the film, voiced by Costner and cast. But reviews were not kind and the $40 to $60 million film opened #3, grossing an anemic $7 million bucks on it's way to just $15.7 million total in the United States. It is rumored that both stars cut a version of the film, Russell's being more comedic and focusing on Michael's relationship with Cibyll while Costner's was reported to be more action focused. Lichtenstein attended Costner's appearance on Inside the Actor's Studio that year while Costner, Cox, Arquette and Stallone hit the red carpet premiere. But just last week, Russell stated he had nothing nice to say about Costner so who knows what happened.
The film was a product of Elie Samaha's independent movie house Franchise Pictures which also produced cult classic The Boondock Saints, several direct to video Dolph Lundgren titles, Bruce Willy's The Whole Nine Yards, notorious flop Battlefield Earth and several under performing Stallone pictures before shuttering under allegations then a judgement that they were padding budgets and overcharged partner Intertainment $100 million plus. While Costner and Russell bounced back and are still going strong today, Lichtenstein would never work with an as ample budget or cast again. Producer Samaha's film output slowed but he's still a force in the real estate world, co-owning the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood that recently underwent an overhaul to make it the largest capacity venue IMAX but not actually being a true IMAX screen.
After whetting my Street Fighter appetite with comics, it was time to revisit some of the animated efforts. Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie is one of the only Anime's I ever got into because it's just so fucking badass. From the opening credits that take place during a dark and stormy night where Ryu and Sagat face off in a fantastic and fierce battle in the middle of a field, you know you're in for a treat. Riding high on the success of the billion dollar video game franchise, Street Fighter was ready to take on all aspects of the pre-transmedia world. The Jean-Claude Van Damme starring movie adaptation was expected to be his latest break through role (it wasn't) and all things Street Fighter were hitting the market. I distinctly recall going to my local pharmacy/video store, Phar-Mor (Where you got Phar more but paid Phar less, get it?!) to pick up a copy of SF on VHS. I have no idea how I would know it's release date back then as the internet was barely in it's infancy and not quite into it's heyday of AOL CD's in the mail and Instant Messenger.
SFII is the story of Ryu, a vagabond martial artist searching for his next great fight. As a teen he trained and became friends with the blonde haired American Ken who would go on to become a world champion. Meanwhile, M. Bison and his Shadowlaw organization are traversing the world, searching for the world's best fighters in order to turn them into terrorists. For example, New Challenger Cammy is brainwashed and sent to kill a prominent government official. Bison employs monitor cyborgs (!) to study fighters and send their stats back to home base. Hot on Bison's trail is Captain Guile from the Air Force, a super buff and gruff tough guy who sports a giant, gravity defying blonde brush cut and no eyebrows. Interpol's sexy Chun-Li is sent to team up with the American to find Bison but has her own agenda as she's on the hunt for revenge as Bison threw her dad down an elevator shaft. In this iteration we get to see a little more of Ken and Ryu's past through quick flashbacks of their training as youths in Japan. Years later, Ryu is still the only person to be able to defeat Ken in a fight. Ryu walks the Earth and encounters familiar faces like movie star Fei Long, E. Honda and Dhalsim in street bouts while Ken runs into T. Hawk randomly one night and has to put the big guy down. Bison's bosses Sagat and Vega are nearby to handle the dirty work while Balrog is used as an enforcer in Vegas where a freak, underground match pits Russian wrestler Zangief versus the mysterious man-beast from Brazil, Blanka.
All paths intersect in a violent showdown as Bison has brainwashed Ken and sics him against his former best friend. It's fights galore as Ryu mixes it up with Fei-Long, random jerks, an unforgiving striking post and finally his confused friend Ken and then M. Bison. Chun-Li gets a nice fight post animated shower scene (complete with nudity in some countries) with assassin Vega where she kicks him through a wall and he plunges to his death. The fights in Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie are some of the greatest I've ever seen, animated or not. They're fast, brutal and fucking magnificent with back and forth hand to hand combat animated so fluidly that real life almost can't compare to the impact felt here. The dubbed English version has some hilarious line readings while like the comics, E. Honda provides some yuks as just being a big, loud, happy guy. Directed by Gisaburo Sugii, the pace is brisk and we get a sense of each of the main characters. Recognizable faces pop up for scenes but are sent on their way to avoid overcrowding and serve some story purpose versus a simple cameo to remind you you're watching Street Fighter. For the American version, a great, hard rock score is employed to give the fights and scenes punch. Silverchair, Alice In Chains, KMFDM and Korn are all used to spectacular effect and get you amped.
Sugii would soon return to the Street Fighter franchise with an animated series, Victory, which ran in Japan in 1995 before being brought to America during the Manga/Anime boom of the late 90's and early 2000's. Serving as a sort of prequel to the Animated Movie, Victory catches Ken and Ryu at 17, 2 years since they finished their training together. Ryu is working as a lumberjack while Ken is a playboy in America thanks to his dad's riches. Ken invites Ryu to America so he leaves his job and the bosses daughter who is lusting after him. Upon arrival, the duo get into trouble as they wade into an Air Force bar and beat up some locals. Guile arrives and puts the hurting on Ryu. Ken steps up to avenge his friend but just earns some lumps. This inspires the two to hit the road, finding more fighters to challenge their skill set so they can become the greatest in the world. It's a fun show with great macho and homoerotic goings on. Ken's always macking on chicks but the first thing he and Ryu do upon checking into a $20,000.00 a night hotel in Hong Kong is strip naked and go swimming together. Stuff like that. Again, the action here is fast, fluid and furiously violent. Being a cartoon, every man is jacked to the max while the females are bombshells.
With Ken and Ryu being younger, other characters are altered to match. Chun-Li is 15 and a tour guide while Fei-Long is a young Hong Kong movie star in the making. The duo run into other characters from the video game mythology as friends, foes and mentors. While we get random Akuma cameos in the background, the makers of Victory don't force EVERY Street Fighter character down our throats which is a surprise considering it ran for 26 episodes. But mainstays like E. Honda, Blanka and Dee Jay are nowhere to be found. The show employs a great theme song but with credits, recap and end credits, each episode only contains about 18 minutes of content. Being translated from Japanese gives the show a funny bent as you get show titles like "Trap Prison and the Scream of Truth" and the awesome tagline, "Gonna burn some muscle!".
Following the release of the live action film, a Street Fighter Animated Series debuted on USA in 1995. Like the movie, Guile is the lead character with Blanka and Chun-Li at his side while video game stars Ken and Ryu play supporting characters. Playing like a bad version of G.I. Joe, SFAS follows Guile and his team of street fighters as they fight M. Bison around the world and basically suck ass. Seriously, I tried watching a couple episodes of this and had no clue what was going on. It was just cheesy which means a lot coming from me because I'm into some cheesy shit... and who the crap thought Blanka was a good choice for a sidekick?
On a hot summer day in 1994, Jean-Claude Van Damme hopped on a private jet in Burbank, CA and flew to San Diego for Comic-Con. There, the self proclaimed fan of comic book heroes Spider-Man and Tintin greeted 2,000 waiting fans in an auditorium, answering questions and taking pictures of the crowd. Afterwards, Van Damme met the press in a small conference to promote his two upcoming pictures, Timecop (newly announced to be rebooted) and Street Fighter (since rebooted). Timecop would become one of Van Damme's biggest critical successes as well as his most lucrative.
Post presser, the Muscles From Brussels took to the convention floor where he created a small frenzy as fans recognized the cinematic hero of such 80's and 90's hits Bloodsport, Universal Soldier and Hard Target. Van Damme was escorted to the Marvel Comics booth to meet the legend himself, Stan Lee, who along with artists like John Romita, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby created Daredevil, Spider-Man, The Hulk and The Fantastic Four among hundreds of others.
After an amiable introduction, Van Damme hoped to catch Stan Lee later to discuss a project he had in mind, a big screen adaptation of The Man Without Fear, Daredevil. The Fred Astaire of Karate hoped to secure rights to the character with no upfront and points on the back end instead. A friend doubted Lee would take no upfront but Van Damme confidently replied that someone else could pay, sit on it and not have it made while he could get it into production, turn it into a sensation and Lee would be happy to have the points.
As cinema has shown us, it took nearly a decade to get Daredevil on screen and the results, while entertaining, won't exactly go down in the history books as a success. In the 2003 version, Ben Affleck played the blind lawyer by day, masked and costumed avenger by night. He's joined by a familiar supporting cast and rogues gallery from the comics; crime boss Kingpin, hyper accurate and insane assassin Bullseye, ninja trained love interest Electra and partner in the courtroom Foggy Nelson. These roles are gamely filled by the likes of Michael Clarke Duncan, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Garner and Jon Favreau. It's a visual translation of the comics; dark, brooding and violent yet lacks any real depth.
What would Van Damme's version entail? Who knows. But I've always been
intrigued by the notion of a comic book hero being played by an actor
with the physical prowess and action credentials of 80's and 90's stars. Guys like Van Damme, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren seemed tailor made to play superheroes because they were basically real life versions of them. Physical, driven, multi-talented and intelligent types who took care of the job.
A mid-1990's Daredevil would have benefited greatly from the action directors working at the time. Guys like James Cameron, Paul Verhoeven, Renny Harlin, Walter Hill, Andrew Davis, Roland Emmerich, John McTiernan and Jan De Bont all showed us intense, exciting, character driven action that didn't require wires or unbelievable CGI.
Physically, Wham Bam, Thank You Van Damme playing Daredevil would be no problem. His acrobatic grace and powerful kicks would have worked beautifully for the martial arts centric Horned Hero. But what about as secret identity Matt Murdock? The blind, skirt chasing defense lawyer? As we saw in Lionheart and Universal Soldier, Van Damme is fully capable of playing vulnerable and sensitive without appearing macho or threatening. As for the skirt chaser aspect of Murdock, well, JCVD has never lacked charm for the ladies on screen so it wouldn't have been an issue.
Jean-Claude Van Damme playing Daredevil would have been a treat as straight forward superhero movies weren't exactly the norm in the 90's. It might not have been the blockbuster of Batman or had the virtuoso touch of Dick Tracy but it could have definitely been a charged and entertaining time at the movies.
Here's Joe Carnahan's last minute effort to direct Daredevil for FOX before the rights lapsed:
