Hollywood's designation of Steven Seagal as its Leading Man of Martial Arts was instantaneous. In 1988, he exploded on the scene with Above the Law then followed it up with practically annual action-packed thrillers Hard to Kill (1990), Marked for Death (1990), Out for Justice (1991) and Under Siege (1992). After that, success went to his pony-tailed head a bit and he decided that being producer, star, and sometimes co-writer wasn't enough. He wanted to be director, too, so we got the ill-received On Deadly Ground (1994). But before there was hubris, there was plenty of respectable ass-kicking. Tonight's double feature is a chance to revisit a time when Seagal was as cool a spokesman for aikido as Jean-Claude Van Damme was for karate or Chuck Norris for taekwondo.

Above the Law plays tonight, Sunday, December 30 at 8 p.m. | 7C on AMC followed by Marked for Death at 10:15 p.m. | 9:15C.