Gillsing: My go-to method for defeating the bruisers who are too large for a takedown is to jump-kick them. Back and forth, I jump and then quickly click the left mouse button right after jumping, so the kick hits them on the way up. This seems to confound them, and while they usually try to kick or punch, sometimes they'll just freeze and stand still, completely ignoring me for no particular reason. The next time I hit with them with a jump-kick or a punch they come back to their senses and start walking around or attacking again.

Not really a problem for me, but perhaps something that someone might wish to fix at some point? And I'm playing the game in Linux, in case that matters.

EDIT: I think I also saw a crowbar-ganger freeze in a similar fashion, so apparently jump-kicks can cause any enemy to freeze like that.