Steven Seagal: His First Five Movies Ranked

While many would say Steven Seagal has become a self-parody, his first five movies are great. Let’s rank them!

Last Updated on October 14, 2024

It can’t be denied that as far as the old-time action heroes go, Steven Seagal doesn’t get much respect these days. A whole lot has been written about Steven Seagal’s behaviour off-screen (much of it by us), and I’m not going to rehash it all here, but suffice it to say there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of goodwill left over for the former ponytailed action hero. While many would say he’s become a parody of himself in recent years, one shouldn’t forget that, at the start of his career, Seagal was ultra-popular. His Aikido moves, plus his tall, almost lanky figure and quiet demeanour made him unique among action heroes of the day. And, if you look at his filmography, his first five movies are really good as far as action flicks of the era go. Everything else? Well, not so much, with 1994’s On Deadly Ground, the point where the lean and mean action hero we knew from back in the day kind of stopped existing. However, those first five movies were great – but which one was the best? We’re have ranked his first five movies – and let us know in the comments if you agree with our order!

Under Siege (1992):

In some ways, Andrew Davis’s Under Siege was both the best and worst thing that ever happened to Steven Seagal. It was his best movie, and it elevated him to A-list status in Hollywood, but it made him such a big star that he could get anything he wanted made, and the stuff he wanted to make – well – it tanked his career. Even still, Under Siege is probably the best Die Hard riff of its era, with Seagal perfectly cast as Casey Ryback, a chef on a Navy battleship who does battle with a group of mercenaries that take over the ship and kill his captain. Seagal’s used somewhat sparsely here, with Davis allowing the movie’s two villains, played by Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey, to utterly steal the whole thing. Within months of this movie’s release, Jones would be on his way toward winning an Oscar for The Fugitive, which would reteam him with Davis. 

Marked for Death (1990):

This is probably Seagal’s most hardcore actioner, with him playing a DEA agent named John Hatcher who takes on a Jamaican drug cartel after his family is attacked. Director Dwight Little is arguably Seagal’s best director (other than Andrew Davis), as he knows exactly how to use his star. It has all Seagal’s best one-liners and action sequences, including a killer showdown with the villain, Basil Wallace’s Screwface. Plus, Keith David rocks as Seagal’s sidekick and should have gotten his own action movie back in the nineties.

Out for Justice (1991):

This one is almost as rock solid as Marked for Death, with director John Flynn delivering a lean and mean revenge thriller, with Seagal’s cop avenging his partner’s murder at the hands of a psychotic gangster played by William Forsythe. It has a couple of great action scenes, including a memorable bit where Seagal takes down a bar full of tough guys, including the legendary Dan Inosanto. However, it’s marred by Seagal’s poor attempt at a Brooklyn accent, and his name in the movie, Gino Fellino, is tough to say without giggling. Still, it’s pretty fun.

In many ways, this movie gave us the classic era of Steven Seagal we all knew and loved (for a while anyway). This is the first movie where he’s rocking a ponytail, and it has more martial arts mayhem than Above the Law did. However, the fact that Seagal’s character spends seven years in a coma and then, after a day or two, can once again become a one-man army is a bit tough to swallow. However, this has some classic action beats and Kelly LeBrock as Seagal’s love interest.

Above the Law (1988):

A lot of you reading this probably think I’m crazy and that Above the Law should be closer to the top of the list. I always found it to be wildly inconsistent. It has a pretty serious, compelling storyline, but then it has some incredibly stupid cop movie moments, such as when Seagal, just to be cool, calmly executes a man in cold blood in front of witnesses without any repercussions. You can’t have it both ways – embrace the cheese (as most of Seagal’s later films did) or do something serious. Even still, it’s a solid action movie, with some great Aikido beat-downs and a gory climax where poor Henry Silva dies a GRUESOME death.

What do you think of our rankings? Let us know in the comments!