![]() ![]() Seagal answers in his regular Seagal voice, “yeah, you got a problem with that?” What Seagal is really thinking, “I’m Steven Seagal and I don’t need to act Russian to be Russian, you punk.” The rest of the movie is filled with funny cliched slang, such as the most famous one, “Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!” I knew I was in for a treat when a goon asks Steven Seagal if he’s Russian. Also, the movie is full of slang which may be annoying to many, but I find that type of dialogue extremely entertaining and funny. African-Americans are rarely cast as villains so I was glad to see Chestnut get a juicy role for a change. Previously playing an annoying sidekick to Seagal in Under Siege 2, Morris Chestnut reunites with Seagal as the main intimidating villain in Half Past Dead. There are a few other positives in this film. In the only beautifully-choreographed and nicely-edited action scene, Nia Peeples kicks Ja Rule’s ass! This was a great moment because Ja Rule is the Jar Jar Binks-irritating character in the movie. Fortunately, Half Past Dead has at least one awesome fight scene – Nia Peeples versus Ja Rule. The director even hired a Hong Kong action choreographer, Xin Xin Xiong, who worked in the Once Upon a Time In China movies, Dragon Inn, Black Mask, and The Musketeer but his skills were barely used as well! A smaller budget should not hamper the fight scenes, especially if you hired a Hong Kong action choreographer for the film. ![]() When I watch a Seagal movie, I expect to see a good amount of him bitch-slapping a baddie through a window. Those were some heart-pounding 15 seconds, but the audience deserves more. Did the director forget that this man spent most of his life as an Aikido instructor before he became an actor? Seagal does a lot of jogging around and shooting into the air, but his two hand-to-hand combat scenes amount to about 15 seconds long. The main problem with Half Past Dead and why this movie ended Steven Seagal’s theatrical movie career is that the movie should have been released ten years earlier and also because the director, Don Michael Paul, did not take advantage of Seagal’s strengths.Įven older and puffier, Steven Seagal is still an imposing presence yet Don Michael Paul barely used his fighting skills in Half Past Dead. Half Past Dead is neither a boring movie nor a bad action movie. Sascha’s plan is to stop the criminals from succeeding by getting help from the other prisoners, whooping ass, and taking control of the prison. The criminals are there for one reason only – to pry information from a death-row prisoner who knows where 200 million dollars worth of gold bars are hidden. A group of bad-ass criminals led by 49er One (Morris Chestnut) and 49er Six (Nia Peeples) storm the prison, kill most of the guards, and hold the warden hostage. Sascha Petrosevitch (Steven Seagal) is an undercover FBI agent who is sent to a newly reopened Alcatraz prison, along with his car thief sidekick Nick Frazier (Ja Rule). Half Past Dead was the film that ended Seagal’s career in the theaters, but at least he continues to have success in the straight-to-video film industry. ![]() I was one of the few that still went to see Half Past Dead in the theaters, but the film flopped – making a profit of about 5 million bucks. It was cute the first time with DMX but not the second time with Ja Rule. When I first saw the trailer for Steven Seagal’s Half Past Dead in 2002, I shook my head in shame as I watched one of America’s best action stars of the 1990s swagger around in a silly-looking bandana in his quest to appeal to teenage audiences as he somewhat successfully attempted in his previous film – Exit Wounds. ![]()
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