Distributed by
Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment
Cert: PG-13
Cat.no: 08784
Running time: 98 minutes
Year: 2002
Pressing: 2003
Region(s): 1, NTSC
Chapters: 28
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 (Eng only)
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: English, French
Widescreen: 1.85:1; Full Frame: 1.33:1
16:9-Enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: No
Disc Format: DVD 9
Price: $27.96
Extras:
3 Deleted Scenes, Director's Commentary, Making of Half Past
Dead, Theatrical Trailers
Director:
Don Michael Paul
Screenplay:
Don Michael Paul
Cast:
Sasha: Steven Seagal
Nick: Ja Rule
49er One: Morris Chestnut
49er Six: Na Peeples
El Fuego: Tony Plana
There are some theatrical releases in this world that deserved to be
either canned or doomed to video.
Which one is this abysmal Steven Seagal hogwash? I'd have to say neither because
this film deserved to have been Half Past Dead a long time ago... alright that was a bad pun.
Segal tries to repeat the "pair an action star with a hip, fresh rapper"
formula set in his last effort Exit Wounds (where he was teamed with
DMX who can be seen in the recent and decent Cradle 2 the Grave with
Jet Li). Does it work a second time or has Seagal reached the bottom of
the barrel? I think you know what the answer is.
You want a story summary? Well... I'll try the best I can. Two fellow
partners in crime Sasha (Seagal) and Nick (Ja Rule) are arrested by the
FBI after a failed car boost. Sasha survives some wounds only to be
declared half past dead which for some reason deserved the title of the
movie. The two are sent to... wait for it... the recently reopened
Alcatraz! That's a great idea! Let's take "The Rock" and put a spin on
it!
Meanwhile, the first convict to be executed at New Alcatraz has a secret
of his own. Years earlier he stole two hundred million dollars in US
gold brick and hasn't told where it is. Of course, moments before his
execution a group of terrorists come and take the whole place over. They
want the location of the gold and they'll do anything to stop it
including threatening to execute a judge in return for a chopper. Now
Sasha and the rest of the convicts must fight for The Rock (had to say
that) and save the judge's life.
What follows is a series of mindless action scenes spread out pretty far
and when they're there you can tell it's forced. Take for example a
scene where Sasha and the villain... 49er One just fight out of nowhere
on chains, I had no idea why or where that came from. Watch the fight
between Nick and 49er Six to see a person flip six feet in the air when
kicked.
Sony also has another infamous product placement moment (not as
bad as
Men in Black II,
for more on that read my R1 review) when a
convict is seen playing a PS2 with Hot Shots Golf 3. I doubt a convict
would have the money for a PS2 and I highly doubt that Hot Shots Golf 3
would be his game of choice but it's a Sony game so why not? Anyway...
Now I love action movies. The genre is my favorite and there's nothing
better to me than popping in a great action flick and having fun but
when there's absolutely no story or reason behind the action then what's
the point? I mean this formula was done in
xXx,
mindless action, mindless story=no fun. I'm not expecting too much from Steven Seagal
nowadays but this is quite a step back for him. I guess he takes what he
can get.
Despite the terrible film Columbia Tristar presents an awesome transfer.
Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen the cold blue and often very
dark color palette looks great. The only problem with the transfer is a
few moments of background flicker mainly on walls but this seems to be
common in Screen Gems films
(Resident Evil
and Formula 51 come to mind). Pixelization is absent. Columbia has also
included a worthless full frame transfer on the same disc.
Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. For an action flick your system
won't get that much of a work out. The track just doesn't show enough
ambience and bass when needed, gun shots and other sound effects come
off as very plain. Not a total loss but could have been much better.
The extras department will leave you feeling as empty as this movie.
Here's how it stacks up:
Director's Commentary:
Why anybody would want to listen to the creator
of this mess is beyond me but here it is. He explains how he wrote this
years ago but it was shelved when 'The Rock' went into production. I
think we know which film is better.
Deleted Scenes:
Presented in non-anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen (where
the bars are a faded grey for some reason). These add only more to the
gruelling mess of the film and definitely deserve to have been cut.
Making of Half Past Dead:
Nothing but the standard promotional fluff filled with interviews and scenes
of the film. Little over 13 minutes, Full frame.
Theatrical Trailers:
Trailers for Half Past Dead, I Spy, National Security, and
xXx are included. I can't even remember a Columbia DVD
without a xXx trailer included.
You won't find much of anything worth watching here in the extras, trust
me.
Packaging is amaray and sports a horrible art for it's cover. It's quite
a departure from the pure white with distorted characters of the
theatrical poster. Menus are static and feature music in the background.
Overall, I found Half Past Dead to be really dead and devoid of any
enjoyment. This is a major step back for the action scene but it was
quickly forgotten so I guess it didn't cause much damage. The transfer
on this disc is great though if that's any shining light but what else
is here is not. Die-hard Seagal fans might find something worth interest
in here but all else should stay far, far away. Imagine that, I didn't
say anything about Steven Seagal's career being the same as the title!
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
