| Fine... I may have
exaggerated just a tad. But there is something about Seagal
that makes this typically snobbish critic forego all of his cinematic
experience and knowledge. I just can't help liking Seagal
movies... I watch them all and I am never disappointed. Sure --
All the plots are the same -- Rogue ex-CIA operative has to be
recruited for one more mission, always in a foreign land, always
with the many lives at stake, always with a couple of token hotties,
always with a bad-ass tough guy (who will eventually die in hand to
hand combat with Seagal), always with at least three neck breaks,
always with a knife fight, always with a rousing action sequence
using stock footage, and finally ending with a 30-second scene of
Seagal back home (either mourning at a funeral or walking off screen
with the hot chick).
"Flight of Fury" is more of the fantastic same. This time,
the mission is to steal a stealth plane out of Afghanistan.
Insert this plot point into the outline above and you have this film
nailed.
Is it incredible cinema? Of course not... but it is typical
Seagal and it will please his loyal fans. It may only get a C+
on the grading scale, but on a Seagal scale this movie would get a
B+ or an A-.
He keeps churning
out these movies at the rate of about 3 a year... they make tons of
money overseas, and they do well on DVD despite never making a North
American cineplex. He keeps making and we keep watching... Who
cares if the majority of the public would rather move on with newer,
younger stars like Vin Diesel and Jason Statham. Fuck em!
Seagal could simultaneously snap Statham's neck, break Diesel's
legs, crush Chuck Norris' skull, shatter The Rock's ribcage, AND...
reduce Jean Claude Van Damme to tears with a single glare. He
could do all that blindfolded and with one hand tied behind his
back.
I give Seagal movies good grades for two reasons...
1. I don't want him to hurt me.
2. They are some of my only guilty pleasure movies. |
