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Half Past Dead

2002

Director: Don Michael Paul

Fight director: Hung Yan-Yan

Stars: Steven Segal, Ja Rule, Morris Chestnut, Nia Peeples, Bruce Weitz

Who would have thought that out of the '80's action stars it would be tubby Steven Seagal that would age the best? Instead of doing straight-to-video junk like Van Damme's The Order, Seagal is actually still putting out theatrical releases, and -- lo and behold -- they haven't been too bad. Sure, you're not going to mistake Half Past Dead for Enter the Dragon or anything like that, but it is a pretty entertaining action movie.

The story has our boy Stevie (who only sports a semi-mullet in this movie, how hip) as an undercover FBI agent put into the new, re-vamped Alcatraz in order to find out where a master criminal (Bruce Weitz) has stashed $20 million in gold. The problem is that there's a team of mercenaries led by Morris Chestnut who are looking to do the same. Taking his mandatory sidekick (rapper Ja Rule) in tow, Seagal begins to dish out justice the only way he knows how -- no, not by cleaning out the Old Country Buffet -- with his fists.

Half Past Dead almost really clicks as a whole. The action (helmed by Hung Yan-Yan) is pretty tight; Seagal thankfully drops the attempts at wire-fu featured in Exit Wounds and goes with a more hard-hitting style, which works for the most part. Technically -- especially for a US movie with a small budget -- the film looks really good. Even though there are only a few main sets, they are designed well, and some good cinematography helps liven things up.

However, Half Past Dead also falls prey to some of the pitfalls of B-list movie-making. The script is laughable in parts, and some of the attempts at big special effects look cheesy. I also didn't buy Ja Rule as any sort of tough guy, and I'm getting really tired of the "tough bad chick in leather" (Nia Peeples in this case) that's seemingly featured in every action movie nowadays -- especially when it's played by someone who used to host a cheesy dance show called "The Party Machine".

Overall, though, if you're an action fan and are willing to forgive some shortcomings, you could do a lot worse than Half Past Dead.

RATING: 6.5

A review for the DVD of this movie can be found here

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