HALF PAST DEAD

US, 2002, 90 minutes, Colour.
Steven Seagal, Morris Chestnut, Nia Peeples.
Directed by Don Michael Paul.

Half Past Dead is a very good title for a film. However, this is a Steven Seagal action film, written and directed by actor turned director, Don Michael Paul (The Garden, Who’s Your Caddy).

Seagal, as he grows older and heavier, does go through some action sequences but they are very much controlled and not emphasising his age. Here he is a man who goes into a prison, a high-tech prison, getting information about the people who killed his wife. However, there is a bigger subplot – a death row inmate has a multimillion stash of gold and people are dying and killing others in order to find out the truth about this stash.

The film has a very strong black supporting cast including Morris Chestnut, Ja Rules and Nia Peeples.

Typical later Steven Seagal material.

1. The popularity of Steven Seagal films, their plots, conspiracies, characters (even if one-dimensional)?

2. The action films, the stunts, crimes? The Alcatraz settings? The arms and the violence?

3. The title and the hero's situation, dying, coming alive again? Half past dead for the criminals?

4. The credits sequences, the action, the hero in deep cover?

5. Steven Seagal as a credible character, age, weight, experience, commitment? Involvement in the crime, his being with the criminals, the gang, his going through the lie detector, his making a pal of Nick? The attack, the police, his saving Nick, being wounded? The revival after being half past dead? His arrest and sentenced to Alcatraz?

6. Alcatraz, the cells, the blocks? The prison conventions used for the film? Life in Alcatraz? The hero serving out his sentence, supportive of Nick?

7. The revelation that he was in deep cover, the background of his story, his wife's death, his need for vengeance, the crime chief, befriending Nick in order to get close to him?

8. The governor, his speech, his assistants? His assistant and his respectability? His suddenly turning to be criminal, his gang, the vicious woman lieutenant, the plan for the gold, the helicopter, the taking over the prison, taking the judge as hostage? The tight planning?

9. The execution, the old man and the burial of the gold? The judge present for the execution? Everything in readiness? The set-up, the criminals, their taking the judge as hostage?

10. The clash with the prisoners, the hero leading the rebellion? The criminals and their strategies, the counter-strategies? Using Nick and his being gung-ho? The special effects for the explosions and the confrontations? The contacts, the bargaining?

11. The judge, her fears, her role as hostage? The old criminal, his finally agreeing to give the information? Part of the plan, his going to his own death in order to save the others? The defeat of the criminals? The helicopter confrontation at the end?

12. Nick and the hero, the revelation of the truth, Nick's disgust? Yet his help in getting the parole? The shortening of the sentence? The nature of friendship - despite everything?

13. A satisfying action show of the Steven Seagal variety?