This is an OK action movie, for Steven Seagal fans. It’s got some weak bits and some strong bits.
This movie stars Steven Seagal alongside Ja Rule, and they make a funny duo in how they both have a very awkward fake ghetto accent. Just like many people in the martial arts community have been making fun of Seagal, many people in the rap community have been making fun of Ja Rule – both accused of being terribly fake. Having said that, I do believe Seagal is half way legit. The YouTubers who mock him generally don’t know what they’re talking about. As for Ja Rule, I can’t disagree with the criticism. But his acting is satisfactory here – he makes a good team with Seagal – their acting is equally cringeworthy.
The plot of Half Past Dead is quite a fun concept, at least for the first half of the movie. Seagal is his usual hotshot self, but gets shot and nearly killed by the FBI while working for some gangsters alongside Ja Rule. Then they both end up in Alcatraz – a prison on an island, that’s theoretically impossible to escape from (until it gets raided by an elite squad of parachuting mercenaries). This is all within the first half hour.
Another plot twist, or revelation, occurs half way in, as we learn who Seagal’s character really is.
Style wise, a lot of the action scenes are clearly taking inspiration from The Matrix, with similar music as they rock up with machine guns, then later walking up walls and doing axe kicks in slow motion while wearing long black coats, etc. It’s like some kind of poundshop Matrix impersonation.
Supporting cast is not bad. It’s an OK movie. But the plot becomes a bit dead after half way through. It should be called Dead Past Half. After a strong story has been built, and things are starting to get really interesting, it then gets stuck in a hole and never moves on. We just get a load of white noise music accompanying meaningless flickering gunfire scenes, like kids suddenly took over the movie and made a mess of it. It has a very respectable first half, and very weak second half. Maybe they ran out of budget and cut the story short? I fast-forwarded through the last 15 minutes and didn’t miss anything worth rewinding & slowing down for.
