Liam Neeson
Honorable Mentions:
1. Star Wars Episode I- He had some pretty formidable foes in this one; Darth Maul, Emperor Palpatine, and possibly the worst one, Jar-Jar Binks. It's a real bummer he dies.
2. The Grey- Liam plays a oil worker who also happens to be an extremely skilled huntsman, so when the plane goes down this is a guy you want with you. The plane crashes in Alaska and if that wasn't enough they are tracked by a ruthless pack of wolves.
3. Non-Stop- I have only flown once and it was pretty terrifying for me, being on a plane with a US Marshall seems comforting right? Wrong, this Marshall played by Neeson keeps receiving random text messages demanding $150 million or every 20 minutes a passenger will die. Yeah, no thanks.
Top Villains:
1. TakenVillain: Albanian Sex Traffickers
Of course this movie made the list, this honestly might be one of the best action movies of the last 10 years (how is it possible this movie came out in 2008?). If you have been living under a rock for the last decade here's a quick rundown: Liam's daughter is going on a trip Paris with another friend (of course he is skeptical of this idea) and while overseas his daughter and her friend are abducted and the sex trafficker tells Neeson, "Good luck". Little does he know Neeson is a bad ass retired CIA field agent. Our boy has 96 hours to find his daughter before she disappears into a sex trafficking ring forever, so he does everything possible to get her back. The guys he battles against are no joke man, there are a few shootouts and hand to hand combat scenes that challenge Neeson to the fullest. You ever seen a man die from being electrocuted by a light switch? Also, Ellen comments that it's an interesting one to watch with your father.
2. Battleship
Villain: Extraterrestrials
This could be one of the worst movies on our list. It's pretty bad but that doesn't stop it from having some serious villains and another plus, Rihanna is in it. A few alien ships land on Earth and start an all out assault planning to conquer the planet and make it their own. Liam stars as the an Admiral and leads the battle plan against the aliens. Three points on this movie: 1. I have seen this movie and I do not remember a damn thing about it. 2. I honestly have no idea why it is titled Battleship I thought it was named for the classic board-game but there are no references to that. Can someone fill me in on the name? Surely it isn't named this because the movie is on the sea and ships are battling, that might be the lamest thing ever. 3. I don't ever remember seeing the aliens in this movie but they conquer planets and that's the reason they make the list here.
3. Schindler's List
Villain: Nazi Germany
Battleship is probably the worst movie on this list but Schindler's List is probably the best. Liam plays Oskar Schindler, a member of the Nazi party. He gets a factory and begins producing enamelware hiring a few Jewish workers because they cost less. Obviously, as the movie progresses Germany becomes stronger and stronger with time but Oskar continues to support the Jewish community. Eventually he ends up saving more than 1,100 Jewish people from going to Auschwitz, he spends his entire fortune to help people he is supposed to help kill. (Seems like an idea that should be adopted today) Being a Nazi but choosing to save Jewish lives is an incredible battle Liam undertakes during this film. Going against Nazi Germany was a death sentence but instead our guy survived and saved hundreds of lives. It's also a true story which is even more incredible.
Steven Seagal
A quick comment before we get to Steve's movies, IMDB credits him with 56 movies (which seems low) but I am almost positive he has only done action movies. It took me a remarkable amount of time to go through his filmography.Honorable Mentions:
1. Marked for Death- Steve plays a former DEA agent who just wants to move back to his hometown and relax but it's never that easy. He discovers his hometown has been taken over by a Jamaican gang and their leader SCREWFACE (arguably the best name ever next to Snake Plissken).
2. Glimmer Man- First of all, what a name for a movie man. Seagal plays a former government operative known as, you guessed it, "The Glimmer Man." How did he get this name you ask? He was so stealthy his enemies would only see a glimmer before he took them out. That's all you need to know about this one.
3. Deadly Ground- Steve plays Forrest Taft, a specialist that deals with oil-drilling fires which is an incredibly specific role. He is called in to work on a fire that starts after an oil company starts cutting corners and ends with Taft kicking ass and taking names.
Top Villains:
1. Fire Down Below
Villain: Dirty Coal Company
Seagal has no mercy for individuals who are destroying the Earth and her resources, Hanner Coal Company falls into that category. Hanner is getting paid to dump toxins into an abandoned mine shaft and Jack Taggert is called to investigate these goons. (Side note, it seems like Seagal has played every single type of government agent) As Taggert begins investigating he is threatened by the son of Hanner Coal and a corrupt sheriff plus a few of their thugs. Of course Steve doesn't back down, so the bad dudes declare war on him, a decision they will learn to regret. At one point in the movie they put two rattlesnakes in the place Taggert is staying but they are no match for him. He quickly catches them alive and puts them in the bad dude's car causing them to crash. The owner of Hanner Coal is Orin Hanner Sr., who is wanted on crimes of murder, corruption, racketeering, and conspiracy. Orin is also destroying the Earth and passing all these "life lessons" onto his son, he is definitely not someone I would want to mess with.2. The Patriot
Villain: Rebel Militia and Deadly Virus
Steve plays a local doctor and former government research immunologist by the name of Wesley McClaren who lives in Ennis, Montana. He gets summoned to a hospital when people start dying from an unknown disease. The virus is traced back to a rebel militia leader, Floyd Chisholm, who is a nasty son of a bitch. While on trial, he injects the virus in himself and spits on the judge continuing the spread of the disease. Floyd's followers attack the prison he is being held in and free him and then take the hospital for themselves. They realize the hospital does not have a cure and make Wesley work to find one. He finds his daughter has been infected by the virus but is fighting it off, how is that possible? Eventually he discovers why, she has been drinking a tea made with a specific herb known to Native American healers. That might be the most ridiculous thing I have ever written but it fits perfectly for a Steven Seagal movie.
3. Against the Dark
Villain: Infected Humans Strongly Resembling Vampires and a Bomb
In a post-apocalyptic world that is ravaged by a disease that turns humans into creatures that I am convinced are simply vampires, Seagal plays a dude named Tao. He is the leader of vigilantes trying to save a group of people trapped in a hospital. There is no known cure for this disease and there a very few survivors. Not only do the vigilantes have to fight their way through the hospital against the human/vampire infected but the army base is planning on dropping a bomb on the hospital at dawn to sterilize the area. These human/vampires are no joke and that's why they take the final spot for Mr. Seagal.
Tom Cruise
Honorable Mentions:
1. The Firm- This is an awesome book written by John Grisham that I highly recommend, I have never seen the movie but need to check it out. Tom battles against his employer, a high powered law firm dealing in tax fraud, money laundering, and murder.
2. Minority Report- Set in the 2054, Cruise plays a PreCrime Police Captain by the name of John Anderton. PreCrime Police? In the future this sector of police can stop murderers before they commit their crime and John has shown up on their radar.
3. The Mummy- First off I have to say I will never see this movie because Brendan Frasier's Mummy was the shit. A group of US soldiers accidentally unearth the ancient tomb of an Egyptian Princess and, basically, she is a bad ass bitch.
Top Villains:1. Legend
Villain: Lord of Darkness
This sounds like one wild ass movie, listen to some of these characters: Lord of Darkness, a few goblins named Blix, Pox, and Blunder, a hotheaded elf Honeythorn Gump, and dwarves Brown Tom and Screwball. I mean what kind of drugs were the creators of this one on? Tom plays Jack and starts off as a bad guy but realizes the error in his way and goes up against the Lord of Darkness. I don't have to tell you about this guy because with a name like that I am definitely not messing with him. He is also played by Tim Curry who is a strange ass dude.
2. Mission Impossible 2
Villain: Sean Ambrose and a Biological Weapon
Just in case you didn't know Mission Impossible 6 is about to come out this summer, how did we get here? Anyway, Tom plays Ethan Hunt in MI2 and does battle against the rogue IMF agent Sean Ambrose. Ambrose snuck into the US using Hunt's alias and brought a new bio weapon, Chimera, with him. Chimera causes death by mass destruction of the victim's red blood cells. Yeah... that doesn't sound like something I want to play around with and that's why Sean Ambrose ends up on this list.
3. Edge of Tomorrow
Villain: Mimics and Time Loop
Tom portrays a public relations officer (Major William Cage) with no combat experience who gets thrown into battle against an alien race, known as Mimics, attacking Earth. He gets killed fairly quickly but wakes up the day before the battle and realizes he is in a time loop that sends him back to the day before the battle every time he dies. Eventually he teams up with Emily Blunt who helps to improve his battle skills. Cage has to find the "Omega" and destroy it or the battle and time loop will continue, but of course the Omega is not easily found. This alien race is no joke, I mean look at that picture! These things are quite scary looking and are trying to take over Earth. Good thing we have Tom (and Emily) on our side.
