Different from other Seagal movies.

Ok first off, Van Damme is not a real martial artist. You do realize that right? I do agree that they definitely needed to lose all those special effects. In terms of the monk praying to keep Seagal alive, he never would have had to do that if it weren't for the voodoo guy. so if you cut both those guys out of the movie, and he would have had no problem with the Muay Thai Style Officer at the end.

In terms of Seagal taking out any other martial arts actor, now I'm as big a fan of his as anybody and his style I have a 5th dan in Aikido myself (Seagal is an 8th Dan in Aikido), but I also have black belts in Judo, Jui Jitsu, Kretan, and Arnis, but I hope you realize that he has already lost several fights in Japan and China, not in the movies but in real life. Amazing as Jet Li is, Seagal has beaten him before twice. Jackie Chan has beaten both Jet Li and Steven Seagal 3 times, and now of course there is Tony Jaa who hasnt faught any of the three formally, but would definitely present a challenge against any of them.

An Attacker With a Weapon, is an Attacker Without Hope.

"Mainly because he makes killing with your bare hands seem so simple. Unlike other martial arts actors (van Damme, Norris etc.) Seagal kills/maims/incapacitates his opponent before all the Hollywood effects take place. A bad guy is trying to kill Seagal with a big knife and Seagal just does a woosh woosh slam stunt and the guys arms are broken and the knife is down his throat. "

One of the things Hollywood consistently gets wrong is to portray fights as long, protracted affairs with a lot of back-and-forth superiority. Admittedly, they do this under artistic license - it makes for better cinema. But it also confuses people about real combat. I won't say Seagal fights are "realistic," but they're _closer_ than the usual Hollywood fare. A fight with at least one trained combatant is usually quick - permanently damaging or killing a person is easier than Hollywood would have to believe (in fact, there's a significant number of people who have suffered debilitating concussions from people trying to emulate the Hollywood trope of "hit someone on the head and they just get knocked out but are otherwise fine"). My favorite game when watching a movie is to count the lethal wounds people walk away from. Seagal movies are still ridiculous, mind you, but are _closer_ in that the combat is usually quicker and more damaging.