Urban Justice

I was forced to watch yet another Steven Seagal movie in the line of duty. This one is called Urban Justice. Inescapably, we come face to face with Steven Seagal's trademark deadpan blank stare, eyes in soft focus on an indefinite point in space, as if his grasp of his lines was so tenuous that any effort beyond intoning them evenly throughout the movie might devastate his ability to deliver them at all. His "understated understatement" method of acting with emotions ranging from wax doll to heavily sedated grunt is set against other plot characters who seem to take no note of this elephant in the room and interact with the multi-purpose low growl emanating from Seagal as if they didn't suspect that he was really a stand-in double. We are to believe that his character is numbed with grief for the duration of the movie, when in fact he is just numb. The script even has him deliver some quasi-philosophical lines, and while his philosophy might be appealing to Ugh from Caveville, I realize that this is supposed to be an action movie and not high drama. Fortunately for Seagal, he has a fan-club of the already-impressed that he caters to, so he can get away with allowing them to project all his action in their minds. What we actually see here are one-second takes of fists punching, legs striking, Seagal-shaped bodies with the head just outside the frame kicking ass. Really the one redeeming feature of this movie are the nice gangsters, who at least appear like some genuine people. But our protagonist's atrocious performance isn't even funny anymore. Which makes it all the more amazing that he keeps making movies which in turn make him millions. What wave is he riding? How can he keep getting good reviews? Why is he considered a professional? What is it that people love about him? And why do I think that real quality is proportionate to recognition and remuneration?