Half Past Dead

After watching 2 Chuck Norris movies I decided it was turn to another ‘icon’ in the genre: Steven Seagal. Seagal is an atypical action movie star because he is an aikidoka and so doesn’t kick and punch like a typical karate practitioner. The fighting style with a lot of close combat grappling and limb crunching gave his fight sequences extra brutality. I like the fighting style in his movies because it is different but I don’t really like his on screen persona. His characters are often cold and rigid and there is something almost pompous about how he moves about when is not fighting. Still, I went ahead and watched Half Past Dead which I would call one of his better movies. In this movie he plays an FBI agent that goes undercover in the newly reopened Alcatraz prison. While there he gets caught up in a plot where outsiders take over the prison to find out where a death row inmate has hidden $200 million of gold. The limited area where the action takes place works well and what make the movie bearable are the villains portrayed by Morris Chestnut and Ja Rule. There is sufficient screen time devoted to these characters and it is not all about Seagal only. Without this and their acting performance I would not have watched this movie again. Some of the smaller roles are also well done but there are also a few sequences that don’t work at all in my opinion. On a high level I would describe this movie as a mix of Die Hard, Under Siege and The Rock. And these 3 movies are each a lot better than Half Past Dead. If you are aiming for 1 Steven Seagal movie to watch then Under Siege is the one you should watch.