Steven Seagal Movie:

Editorial Review:
Despite critical roasting and a blink-and-you-missed it theatrical release, Half Past Dead is surprisingly not half bad. Once you recognize this bastard child's recent action-flick heritage (The Rock being the most obvious of a dozen pilfered plot lines), you can kick back and enjoy the unexpected perks that arise when a deep-cover FBI sleuth (Steven Seagal) accompanies a convicted crook (rapper Ja Rule) into "New Alcatraz" prison. A death-row killer (Bruce Weitz) sits on a $200 million goldmine, keeping his secret as a bargaining chip when criminal commandos (led by the ever-cool Morris Chestnut) drop in for a lethally greedy raid. After cutting his teeth on trashy, short-lived TV series, director Don Michael Paul can't do much to help the puffy, career-tanking Seagal, but he's got lively allies in Ja Rule and alleged "has-been" Nia Peeples (forget Lara Croft, this babe rocks), and even legendary action-TV producer Stephen J. Cannell drops in for a cameo. Derivative from the get-go, but fun just the same. --Jeff Shannon

Half Past Dead [Region 2] Reviews:
Well, I know Seagal's getting older, but 'Half Past Dead' seems a little harsh...
2009-07-12 - Half Past Dead (2002) After the success of Exit Wounds, Steven Seagal surrounded himself with more hip hop heroes for this, one of his last Big Screen Action Flicks. Seagal is Sascha Petrosevitch, a criminal recruited by Nick (Ja Rule) to work for big time mastermind Sonny (Richard Bremmer). But Sascha and Nick are soon caught and sent to a remodeled and renovated Alcatraz, which has a really cool new execution chamber with the choice of five different ways to die. A criminal named Lester (Bruce Weitz) is scheduled to be the first to go in the new death room, but not before several terrorist/criminals led by Donnie (Morris Chestnut) pop up looking for the location of some gold Lester stole and hid. It's then that Sascha reveals the truth--that he is an undercover FBI agent and it's up to him and his new pal Nick to stop the bad guys. From here this is standard Seagal territory, with lots of bone snapping fights and action aplenty. Seagal is chunking back up though, so the editing team is called on to assist him in regaining his speed of old, but the other, younger cast members acquit themselves pretty well in the fightin' and blowin' stuff up arenas. Writer/director Don Michael Paul used to be an actor, with lots of tv series and tv movies under his belt. He's been away from the lens side of the camera for a while, writing and directing several episodes of a varied assortment of tv shows, and he also wrote the script for Harley Davidson and The Marlboro Man, that rather strange Don Johnson/Mickey Rourke movie from 1991. He does a workmanlike job with both of his assignments here, not breaking much new ground, but providing the required elements in the required doses at the required intervals. While this is a somewhat lesser light in the Seagal Ouevre, it has enough to recommend it to hardcore fans, including the cool casting of former Avengers star Linda Thorson as a judge, and the somewhat goofy casting of Don Michael Paul's former producer boss Stephen J. Cannell as the head of the Bureau of Prisons (?) If you're looking for some simple action on a medium to small scale, this flick will serve your purpose. All others need not apply. Also with Nia Peeples and Claudia Christian.

Better than I thought it would be but nothing too impressive
2008-09-07 - When I first saw the trailer for Half Past Dead I thought film would be allright but then I found it was PG-13 and named it a stinker on arrival. I'll admit my opinon was wrong while the film isn't Segal's best it's not his worst either. The action seqeunces in the film are okay, I think there could have been more martial arts fights and Ja Rule is good as alwayas. Morris Chestnut makes a good bad guy (he hasn't played one since The Inkwell) and Kurput is good in his small role. The film is full of errrors and non believeable stunts but if you're willing to look past that and just wanna waste 90 min then do so with this film. It's not bad or good just aight.

Seagal's Most Recent Theatrical Release...And From The Look Of It His Last One
2008-08-07 - Even after "Ticker" I was hoping that Segal would redeem himself and make a better effort like he did in Exit Wounds. But Seagal couldn't resist in making another crappy film, so he gave us this "Half Past Dead"...More like Half Past 300 Pounds ; Seagal also couldn't resist from eating more quarter pounders, I bet he created his own cheeseburger during the hiatus he had from Exit wounds to Half Past Dead.It must have been called "Seagal's gain weight in 10 days cheeseburger". Seriously, I don't understand how someone can gain weight from one movie to another. If you were to put Exit Wounds & Half Past Dead together side by side you will notice a huge difference in weight.

As for the movie itself its ludicrous at most; the plot is so laughable that I have no idea how anyone could have green light this project, First of all this is a rip-off "The Rock". the whole movie is about some dudes that decide to brake in to a newly reopened Alcatraz, inside they will find an inmate that has the location of a lot of money in gold brick. The inmates decide to fight back against the criminals that are breaking in..Ironic isn't? Funny thing is if you watch the trailer for the movie it seems somewhat interesting, the idea of breaking into a jailhouse is a bit original and neat, but the way it was executed here was very weak. Even though this movie is billed as a "Seagal" movie, it really isn't. Ja-Rule, Morris Chestnut and even Kurupt have more screen time than Seagal. And the most annoying thing is the doubles; Seagal has doubles for all of his fights, and when he does fight is just the camera closing in on his overweight face doing patty cake with his hands.

Conclusion, seeing Seagal trying to be Gansta, wearing Durags and wearing big clothes to look thinner wont make a movie better, as a matter of fact it will make it worse. And why make a PG-13 Seagal movie, all of them have been rated R; its like making Die Hard or Alien Pg-13 (Which they did) The only good thing about this movie is the intro music from Ja-Rule. Do-not buy, maybe rent, but not buy. Surprisingly a vastly superior sequel Staring Bill Goldberg was made in 2007.


MY PERSONAL RATING: 1 ½ OUT OF 5



Not vintage Seagal -but damn better than most everything else out there
2008-07-31 - Just went on to find a review for a Seagal film - since the last 2 films I saw were abominable - I won't rent a Seagal movie now without a recommendation. But what a bunch of ill minded reviewers picking apart one of the few great REAL martial artists on the screen. I did see this movie and it genuinely fun! It has genuinely good action. Seagal doesn't look too fat. The story is engaging and their is emotional content. Try getting a fraction of this with all these whimpy superheros who would wet their pants if someone yelled at them. They just can't convey tough guyness - never will. (Russell Crowe can for instance. The new Bond CAN.) Gee Whiz - most of the films I rent hoping to enjoy - lack what this movie has. So why are you guys panning it so? I will watch it again (unlike the last 2). I studied martial arts most of my life and aikido the most. Seagal comes across like a real fighter = BECAUSE he IS a real fighter. I worked in all types of security all over the world including the former CIS - including bounty hunting - there is no one in hollowwood who would make me nervous - except Steven Seagal! Now where are you going to find that? Seagal was truly one of the great action heroes of our time - of all time. If he can't keep the quality up - he should bloody well quit so we can remember him for the great martial artist and screen hero he is! Meantime - rent this - its still damn good!

Not Half Past Bad
2008-06-27 - I'll let it be known right away: I like "Half Past Dead" mainly because it has Steven Seagal in it. Indeed, this tends to make more casual viewers like a film even less, but as someone raised on the man's DTV debacles, I found HPD a surprisingly exhilarating departure from the repetitive wrist-snapping, stale shootouts, and predictable storylines of the majority of the aikido master's films. Less passionate or non-fans of Seagal will almost certainly catch onto the film's faults, but devotees shouldn't be disillusioned: our hero's last theatrical outing is worth watching.

Sasha Petrosevich (Seagal) is a car thief digging deep into the underworld with the help of his friend and partner Nick (Ja Rule) when the two of them are busted by the FBI and sent to the newly-opened Alcatraz. Before long, the in-prison execution of an infamous gold thief (Bruce Weitz, "Hill Street Blues") is interrupted by terrorists eager to find his hidden treasure (headed by Morris Chestnut and Nia Peebles). Sasha must now rally the prisoners to the side of justice and use his uncanny abilities to foil the plot.

Style-wise, "Half Past Dead" is a combination of Seagal's "Exit Wounds" and Sean Connery's "The Rock". However, there's really no comparing the two when it comes to which is the better piece of drama: Seagal is probably the first man to play a Russian without an accent, and nobody in the film acts with any kind of memorable finesse - Ja Rule's and Claudia Christian's performances, in particular, are best left forgotten. In addition, whoever was in charge of the editing and camera deserves a swat on the nose: endless slow-motion is only topped by hit-and-miss cinematography that develops a trend of showing guns being pointed and fired, but not seeing who was shot. Add a few silly scenes - like Seagal "accidentally" hurling Ja Rule out of his car as a joke - and it's easy to see why this film didn't make back its budget.

However, once we consider that this is a Steven Seagal film, we begin to appreciate it for its good points, all of which come back the fact that it's a return to action for our hero. The gunfights are numerous and diverse (the final shootout in the cell block is pure action fantasy), and the hand-to-hand fights are similarly nice, with nifty choreography proving that Seagal still had the moves at the time of his downfall. Though the latter have a knack for ending disappointingly (a roundhouse kick kills an otherwise able soldier?), the encounters are fast-paced and range from an unexpected Nia Peebles/Ja Rule confrontation to an acrobatic Seagal/Chestnut tussle on 15-foot hanging chains.
If that's not enough, then judge on the fact that "Half Past Dead" is built entirely upon fun: whereas flicks like "The Foreigner" focused excruciatingly on stories that no one understood, "Dead" is a straightforward action vehicle that makes no secret of being silly but boasts some definite adrenaline-pumpers. Essentially, it's the kind of movie that makes hotdogs and popcorn taste even better.

Trust me: Seagal fans will not want to be without this one. Others viewers will be a bit harder to sell on this premise, but even in their case, you could definitely find worse if you're looking for a way to spend the evening in front of the television.