"Half Past Dead" Review
By Kam Williams
TBWT Contributor
Article Dated 11/19/2002
Even though it has stood unpopulated for decades, abandoned Alcatraz Island apparently still has a certain mystique about it. For years, it served as a maximum security penal institution for California's most dangerous cons. But today, high-tech dungeons like Pelican Bay, Soledad and San Quentin do an infinitely more efficient job of incarcerating and crushing any anti-social inclinations out of the criminal element of American society.
Nonetheless, Alcatraz, remains eminently more popular with filmmakers, primarily because of its sweeping visual capture. The prison's stark, stately facade sits so serenly amidst the icy isolation of jagged rock, continuously pounded by the rushing waters of San Francisco Bay. Plus, the impenetrable island's minimalist seascape sets such a jarring cinematic contrast to the busy skyline visible just off in the distance.
Many movies have been made about the prison since Alcatraz Island (1937) first made the place a household name. But normally the plotline involves crooks wanting to break out of rather than into the infamous facility. While Half Past Dead might be almost unique in this regard, it is, unfortunately, suspiciously similar to The Rock, a 1996 action flick starring Sean Connery. And it doesn't come close to measuring up to that nail-biter.
This minimally-plotted excuse for pyrotechnics and gunplay marks the debut of Don Michael Paul, an actor-turned-director with three first names but not the sense he was born with. Mr. Paul also takes credit for the measly script which reads like it was written by a guy who doesn't have two brain cells to rub together. Yet, for those willing to overlook the absence of rhyme or reason for any of the action, I have to admit that there's ample entertainment to hold your attention for an hour and forty minutes.
This test of common sense stars aging ass-kicker Steven Seagal (Under Siege), who was carefully shot through filtered lenses and at complimentary angles in order to preserve his martial arts marquee image. The misadventure has the almost embalmed Seagal embuddied with gangsta' rapper Ja Rule (Turn It Up) who does a decent job, even if typecast as the sort of gangsta' he plays in music videos.
The diverse cast is stocked with an alarming array of talent which ranges from hunky Morris Chestnut (Like Mike) to legendary TV scriptwriter Stephen J. Cannell (The A Team) to pop singer Nia Peebles (Blues Brothers 2000) to hip-hop artist Kurupt. It is to the director's credit that he was able to fashion a semblance of a story from such a hodgepodge of players.
The semblance starts with Sascha (Seagal), an FBI Agent who goes undercover to earn the confidence of a career criminal named Nick (Rule). In an altruistic display of loyalty, Sascha even sashays into the line of fire during a shootout to take seven bullets to the belly for Nick. The incident leaves the agent half past dead, as they say, when his heart stops for 22 minutes.
Fast forward to a recently refurbished Alcatraz, (Why? I have no idea.) where our protagonists are reuniting behind bars. Nick is doing hard time, but Sascha is there incognito, only because the government is after $200 million in gold bullion heisted and hidden by Lester (Bruce Weitz), an inmate running out of time on Death Row.
But before Sascha can squeeze the truth out of the imminently departed, a disgruntled bureaucrat named Donny (Chestnut) hatches his own plan to get the info first. Donny's descends by helicopter with a kamikaze commando team that kidnaps the US Supreme Court Chief Justice who just happened to be at Alcatraz to witness the execution. All hell breaks loose with the inmates running the asylum in the ensuing free-for-all which degenerates into an absurd amount of gratuitous bloodletting.
But not as crazy as it sounds. Crazier!
Fair (1.5 stars)
Rated PG-13 for cursing, cleavage and continuous cartoonish violence.
Taken from:
http://www.tbwt.com/blackworldradio/reviews/review.asp?reviewid=202
By Kam Williams
TBWT Contributor
Article Dated 11/19/2002
Even though it has stood unpopulated for decades, abandoned Alcatraz Island apparently still has a certain mystique about it. For years, it served as a maximum security penal institution for California's most dangerous cons. But today, high-tech dungeons like Pelican Bay, Soledad and San Quentin do an infinitely more efficient job of incarcerating and crushing any anti-social inclinations out of the criminal element of American society.
Nonetheless, Alcatraz, remains eminently more popular with filmmakers, primarily because of its sweeping visual capture. The prison's stark, stately facade sits so serenly amidst the icy isolation of jagged rock, continuously pounded by the rushing waters of San Francisco Bay. Plus, the impenetrable island's minimalist seascape sets such a jarring cinematic contrast to the busy skyline visible just off in the distance.
Many movies have been made about the prison since Alcatraz Island (1937) first made the place a household name. But normally the plotline involves crooks wanting to break out of rather than into the infamous facility. While Half Past Dead might be almost unique in this regard, it is, unfortunately, suspiciously similar to The Rock, a 1996 action flick starring Sean Connery. And it doesn't come close to measuring up to that nail-biter.
This minimally-plotted excuse for pyrotechnics and gunplay marks the debut of Don Michael Paul, an actor-turned-director with three first names but not the sense he was born with. Mr. Paul also takes credit for the measly script which reads like it was written by a guy who doesn't have two brain cells to rub together. Yet, for those willing to overlook the absence of rhyme or reason for any of the action, I have to admit that there's ample entertainment to hold your attention for an hour and forty minutes.
This test of common sense stars aging ass-kicker Steven Seagal (Under Siege), who was carefully shot through filtered lenses and at complimentary angles in order to preserve his martial arts marquee image. The misadventure has the almost embalmed Seagal embuddied with gangsta' rapper Ja Rule (Turn It Up) who does a decent job, even if typecast as the sort of gangsta' he plays in music videos.
The diverse cast is stocked with an alarming array of talent which ranges from hunky Morris Chestnut (Like Mike) to legendary TV scriptwriter Stephen J. Cannell (The A Team) to pop singer Nia Peebles (Blues Brothers 2000) to hip-hop artist Kurupt. It is to the director's credit that he was able to fashion a semblance of a story from such a hodgepodge of players.
The semblance starts with Sascha (Seagal), an FBI Agent who goes undercover to earn the confidence of a career criminal named Nick (Rule). In an altruistic display of loyalty, Sascha even sashays into the line of fire during a shootout to take seven bullets to the belly for Nick. The incident leaves the agent half past dead, as they say, when his heart stops for 22 minutes.
Fast forward to a recently refurbished Alcatraz, (Why? I have no idea.) where our protagonists are reuniting behind bars. Nick is doing hard time, but Sascha is there incognito, only because the government is after $200 million in gold bullion heisted and hidden by Lester (Bruce Weitz), an inmate running out of time on Death Row.
But before Sascha can squeeze the truth out of the imminently departed, a disgruntled bureaucrat named Donny (Chestnut) hatches his own plan to get the info first. Donny's descends by helicopter with a kamikaze commando team that kidnaps the US Supreme Court Chief Justice who just happened to be at Alcatraz to witness the execution. All hell breaks loose with the inmates running the asylum in the ensuing free-for-all which degenerates into an absurd amount of gratuitous bloodletting.
But not as crazy as it sounds. Crazier!
Fair (1.5 stars)
Rated PG-13 for cursing, cleavage and continuous cartoonish violence.
Taken from:
http://www.tbwt.com/blackworldradio/reviews/review.asp?reviewid=202
