* Half Past Dead (Columbia TriStar video and DVD, PG-13, 98 min.) I'm not a big fan of Steven Seagal, but this has to be the most entertaining film I've seen him in. Call it "Die Hard in Alcatraz," but at least the action is plentiful and the actors appealing, especially rapper Ja Rule as Seagal's sidekick Nicholas Frazier. The film opens with Seagal's FBI agent Sascha Petrosevitch (we're not actually told until 47 minutes in that he is FBI, but it's pretty obvious from the trailer and box copy that he is) trying to get a job as a car thief for Sonny Ekvall, an East European crime syndicate head. Frazier is Ekvall's assistant. After stealing a car and driving crazily, a shootout erupts when FBI Special Agent Ellen Williams (Claudia Christian of TV's "Babylon 5") tries to arrest them. The film then cuts to eight months later at the newly reopened Alcatraz island prison (Alcatraz was closed in 1962) in San Francisco Bay. Frazier and Petrosevitch are both being processed as inmates. Because Petrosevitch was shot and his heart actually stopped beating during the raid, convicted killer Lester McKenna (Bruce Weitz) asks for Petrosevitch to be his companion in his last hour before execution. McKenna has mellowed in prison and found religion, but he still will not reveal the whereabouts of his $200 million in gold "blood money." One guest at the execution is Jane McPherson (Linda Thorson), now a Supreme Court justice, but also the judge who originally sentenced McKenna. Unexpected guests are a group of parachuting commandos, led by actors Morris Chestnut and Nia Peeples; but they only want to free McKenna to learn where the gold is hidden. Tony Plena plays Latino warden "El Fuego" and rapper Kurupt plays prisoner Twitch. Some of the film's stunts at the beginning and ending seem there only because they are stunts, but the stuff in the prison itself hangs together well. Writer/director Don Michael Paul also includes a very funny deleted scene, during the closing credits, of Twitch's jailhouse conversation with his "large" girlfriend, played by Monique
The DVD includes audio commentary by the director; a 13 1/4-minute making-of feature; and three deleted scenes, the most important of which is a flashback to the death of Petrosevitch's wife. Rating: film 3 stars; extras 2 stars.
Taken from <a href="http://www.zwire.com">Courier Gazette</a>
The DVD includes audio commentary by the director; a 13 1/4-minute making-of feature; and three deleted scenes, the most important of which is a flashback to the death of Petrosevitch's wife. Rating: film 3 stars; extras 2 stars.
Taken from <a href="http://www.zwire.com">Courier Gazette</a>