Half Past Dead (2002)

Very Cool!!!

Awesome Movie

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Certainly the prison-set action movie is one of the most popular genres out there, and also one of the most overcrowded. 2003 saw the release of two such movies from former high-profile stars Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme's flick, IN HELL, was a stylistic if disturbing minor masterpiece which played with the audience's expectations, whilst the former's effort is HALF PAST DEAD, a film at the opposite end of the spectrum: cheap, boringly directed, with cheesy special effects and pretty appalling acting. Thankfully the film is made bearable by the presence of so many so-bad-they're-good elements, the biggest (in both senses of the word) being the considerable presence of Mr. Seagal himself. More good-natured than usual (he smiles a lot here), Seagal delights the viewer with his acting capabilities, even if, it has to be said, his martial arts isn't what it used to be – in fact for almost all the fights or stunts, he's doubled, and obviously at that.The film takes place in a futuristic-looking prison nicknamed the New Alcatraz, and the inmates are a disparate group of old TV actors and unknown black guys. Certainly there are two rappers in the cast, one of whom, Ja Rule, shares a leading role with Seagal. Sadly, it is well known that rappers can't act, so Mr. Rule's performance is somewhat disappointing. The sleazy bad guy is played by Morris Chestnut, whom some (but probably not many) may remember as Seagal's buddy in UNDER SIEGE II: DARK TERRITORY. He's grown up a lot since then, and is now a hulking, ruthless nemesis, but nothing Seagal can't handle of course. The female lead belongs to a lacklustre Claudia Christian, who has an annoying habit of squeezing her eyes tight shut every time she fires a gun, so her authenticity as a chief FBI agent is somewhat comprised.Real kudos should go to 40-something but surprisingly hot Nia Peeples as a female assassin, a martial arts mistress who kicks butt throughout the film; she's the only one who inserts any drive or enthusiasm into this piece, and it's a shame she isn't on the screen for longer. As for the action, well it is cheesy and uses wire work when necessary, and the trappings rip-off the likes of DIE HARD all the while. There are some CGI effects, the bane of low budget films, which are of course ludicrous, although the interplay between the main characters (principally the death row inmate, the prison warden, and the bad guys) isn't half bad. This is definitely a film which moves fast and doesn't give you time to reach for the remote; it may be bad and it may be clichéd, but damn if it isn't cheesy and entertaining in equal measure. Far from Seagal's best, but also far from his worst (that'd be THE PATRIOT).

Steven Seagal is an undercover officer who has infiltrated a criminal organisation and ends up getting shot by the police and was dead for a while hence the title of the film.Still undercover he ends up in New Alcatraz presumably the authorities must be sick and tired of timeshare touts in San Francisco buying tickets for this place and decided to jail them all.However a group criminals have broken into New Alcatraz just as an inmate is getting executed as he knows the whereabouts of some buried gold. Its left to Seagal to save the day.Here we have have an older flabbier Seagal with I presume a hair weave. Long past his physical prime, it is left to his stunt double to do the action scenes.The film has a few good supporting actors, but the action sequences are dull, the story is flimsy as well as silly, its really nothing to get excited about and its no wonder Seagal was soon to go Straight to DVD.

Half Past Dead is a very messy product, and could be one of the worst films of 2003. Hearing how bad this movie is, I had to see, which my mate told me as well. They weren't wrong. We get the kind of non acting or s..t acting from Seagal as we expect. He hasn't improved one iota. The movie is so far fetched, faults a many, which forces the audience to take it as a comedy. That becomes legitimate over a strained end credit sequence, I never expected, where to cure my astonishment, (where I thought I was dreaming) and fuel my amusement, stayed back with a other few. This was also in a much better Seagal vehicle, his previous cinematic one, Exit Wounds. There are some bad performances, but mostly others are good, especially Linda Thorson and the great Tony Plana (Salvador, 187) as the prison warden. Get this, the plots classic, even though illogical. Seagal ends up in prison, purposefully with his convict friend. Part of an undercover operation, he's there to find out who killed his wife. There's also an old guy, about to go to the gas chamber, but has a secret, involving a lot of stashed moolah, some corrupt authorities want badly, where the old codger, awaiting death, stays a resistant SOB. When the prison, Alcatraz, is taken over by them and some outside people, involving a lethal female fetale, who sadly doesn't share a fighting round with Steve, it's Seagal to the rescue. In fact Steve didn't kick much arse in this, believe it or not, which many Seagal fans would of been p...ed. Cinematicaly, Half Past Dead, is the worst film Steve's done. Even at the start, when the bad guys smells Seagal as fishy, again he passes a lie detector test. I swear to you, watch this film just to realize how bad and funny, it is, but somehow being this, still somehow makes it come off better than it should. Good or Bad news, there's a sequel. Not. Seriously "Yes". Half Past Dead is a cool titled movie, emphasis on titled, not movie.

The plot concerns a man who goes undercover in a newly reopened Alcatraz prison to find out information to help prosecute those who killed his wife. How many films are there where the lead is seeking revenge for the murder of his wife? In filmland women need to watch out if they marry! The dialogue is clichéd, and stilted. The plot is illogical. Who wrote this? The answer is the director – Don Michael Paul. However the camera-work is fine and the sound good.The film moves along nicely but the action scenes are over the top. How is it possible to fire so many bullets without hitting anyone? The stunt work and the fight choreography were nominated for awards, as was Seagal for a Razzie as worst actor! So I have to think – do I give this film a second star? I think in fairness to all the guys who worked in art, sound, effects, stunts, camera, sound – they did good work and this mess wasn't their fault. Two stars