Littledragon
Above The Law
November 15, 2002 --
HALF PAST DEAD
Stale B action movie.
Running time: 90 minutes. Rated PG-13 (lots of brutal but bloodless violence). At the Empire, the Loews 84th Street, the Union Square, others.
THE secret of Steven Seagal's initial success - in spite of a limited acting range, effeminate voice and smugly impassive demeanor - lies in his formidable martial arts skills.
So when he developed an impressive gut and ceased to move much, even while playing unstoppable action heroes, it should have ended his career.
But clever filmmakers have learned that the way to use Seagal inoffensively is to partner him with rap stars and dilute the irritating save-the-planet/Billy Jack-on-steroids persona he took on in "Fire Down Below" and "On Deadly Ground."
It worked in his last hit, the repulsively brutal "Exit Wounds," and it works in Don Michael Paul's "Half Past Dead."
That doesn't make it a good movie, even by the standards of the Seagal oeuvre.
On the contrary, with its unimaginatively recycled "Under Siege"/"Die Hard" plot, wince-inducing dialogue and lack of convincing exterior shots (it was made in Berlin), "Half Past Dead" has the cheesy, deadened feel of a straight-to-cable film.
Even the violence has a TV feel: There's so much automatic weapons fire to little bloody or deadly effect that "Half Past Dead" could almost be an episode of "The A-Team."
The only thing that marks it as intended for the big screen is some straining-to-be-cool slow-motion and fast-motion sequences, and film-studenty close-ups of Seagal's face that show his pores in alarming detail.
Mysterious car thief Sascha Petrosevich (Seagal) and best friend Nick Frazier (rapper Ja Rule) are both sent to Alcatraz - which has been reopened as a prison run by a scary warden nicknamed El Fuego (Tony Plana).
Soon after they arrive, Alcatraz is about to witness the execution, with a Supreme Court justice in attendance, of a prisoner who has hidden $200 million in gold.
But a team of heavily armed criminals parachutes onto the island and takes control of the prison, intent on discovering the location of the gold and taking the justice hostage.
Naturally, they haven't counted on the presence of Sascha, who turns out to be an FBI agent in deep cover.
But will Sascha's friend Nick back him up, now that he's been revealed to be a cop?
Nia Peebles kicks butt as an improbably dressed and made-up villain.
And you have to admire the aplomb with which the capable Morris Chestnut (as the chief bad guy), plus a supporting cast that includes Babylon 5's Claudia Christian and writer-producer Stephen Cannell, tries to deliver bad lines.
B action movies can often be daring in matters of race and casting (remember Schwarzenegger's black and Latina love interests in "Commando" and "Running Man"?), and "Half Past Dead" is no exception.
Not only does it employ an impressively diverse group of actors, but it achieves a first with Tony Plana's portrayal of a mean, explicitly Hispanic prison warden.
In a sign of things to come in the movie industry, it doesn't bother translating his frequent Spanish expressions into English.
Source : http://www.nypost.com/movies/50551.htm
HALF PAST DEAD
Stale B action movie.
Running time: 90 minutes. Rated PG-13 (lots of brutal but bloodless violence). At the Empire, the Loews 84th Street, the Union Square, others.
THE secret of Steven Seagal's initial success - in spite of a limited acting range, effeminate voice and smugly impassive demeanor - lies in his formidable martial arts skills.
So when he developed an impressive gut and ceased to move much, even while playing unstoppable action heroes, it should have ended his career.
But clever filmmakers have learned that the way to use Seagal inoffensively is to partner him with rap stars and dilute the irritating save-the-planet/Billy Jack-on-steroids persona he took on in "Fire Down Below" and "On Deadly Ground."
It worked in his last hit, the repulsively brutal "Exit Wounds," and it works in Don Michael Paul's "Half Past Dead."
That doesn't make it a good movie, even by the standards of the Seagal oeuvre.
On the contrary, with its unimaginatively recycled "Under Siege"/"Die Hard" plot, wince-inducing dialogue and lack of convincing exterior shots (it was made in Berlin), "Half Past Dead" has the cheesy, deadened feel of a straight-to-cable film.
Even the violence has a TV feel: There's so much automatic weapons fire to little bloody or deadly effect that "Half Past Dead" could almost be an episode of "The A-Team."
The only thing that marks it as intended for the big screen is some straining-to-be-cool slow-motion and fast-motion sequences, and film-studenty close-ups of Seagal's face that show his pores in alarming detail.
Mysterious car thief Sascha Petrosevich (Seagal) and best friend Nick Frazier (rapper Ja Rule) are both sent to Alcatraz - which has been reopened as a prison run by a scary warden nicknamed El Fuego (Tony Plana).
Soon after they arrive, Alcatraz is about to witness the execution, with a Supreme Court justice in attendance, of a prisoner who has hidden $200 million in gold.
But a team of heavily armed criminals parachutes onto the island and takes control of the prison, intent on discovering the location of the gold and taking the justice hostage.
Naturally, they haven't counted on the presence of Sascha, who turns out to be an FBI agent in deep cover.
But will Sascha's friend Nick back him up, now that he's been revealed to be a cop?
Nia Peebles kicks butt as an improbably dressed and made-up villain.
And you have to admire the aplomb with which the capable Morris Chestnut (as the chief bad guy), plus a supporting cast that includes Babylon 5's Claudia Christian and writer-producer Stephen Cannell, tries to deliver bad lines.
B action movies can often be daring in matters of race and casting (remember Schwarzenegger's black and Latina love interests in "Commando" and "Running Man"?), and "Half Past Dead" is no exception.
Not only does it employ an impressively diverse group of actors, but it achieves a first with Tony Plana's portrayal of a mean, explicitly Hispanic prison warden.
In a sign of things to come in the movie industry, it doesn't bother translating his frequent Spanish expressions into English.
Source : http://www.nypost.com/movies/50551.htm