Let me start that I'm very friggin tired of PG13 Action films. Why, you ask? Because majority of them suck ! Sure, you can blame the bad story or actors, that can be a factor indeed, but also as I said before, PG13 limit the possible scope of action. When they have to worry about the rating, it affects the film in the bad way. Gunfights are less thrilling, since they cant show many people get shot, or when shot they just fall down. Fights are less violent and become I punch you, you puch me, then we run affairs. And whole feel of the movie changes. Too many films this year are victim of this approach - Bad Company, The Transporter, etc. And this brings us to Half Past Dead.
Steven Seagal comes back to the big screen, after succes of his last year film, Exit Wounds. That film was moderate hit, and it gave Steven the idea, why not to pair up with another popular rapper, in hopes to attract a bigger audience. But did it work this time around?
I wont be covering the storyline, since you can find it out, just by reading the film desctiption. So I will just talk about what I thought about it.
I think they tried more dramatic approach this time around, with Seagal's character being sad, and torn by the death of his wife. Hell bent on trying to get the people responsible, he would have stop at nothing to get them. Too bad his character ended up looking too silly, and little overweight for most of the film. First thing that baffled me, he was supposively Russian ! Seagal as Russian Thanks god they didnt made him speak it. Then, every time I saw him in his prison get up, surrounded by homeboys, it made me laugh. Hes delivery was pretty much the same as usuall, only this time around they showed more of him trying to look sad and grieving. He did ok in the fight scenes, and I will talk about those later. Rest of the cast were a mixed bag. Ja Rule trying to look tough, just looked very silly. Rest of the prisoners, were pretty bad as well. Big Fat Guy, and annoying Kurrupt taking the cake.
I liked 2 main bad guys though. Morris Chestnut was ok as evil leader, but it was just silly to see him and Seagal working together again, after UnderSiege 2, where Chestnut was less then a tough guy
49-6, female right hand of CHestnut, was pretty cool though. Sure they went for the Matrix look, with flashy moves, leather coat and attitude, but at least she did kick ass, something you cant say about many other characters in the film. Too bad, they didnt let her fight Seagal, and her death was too cliched and stupid.
Direction wise, it was ok, but I think the director tried to hard to make it look cool and hip. Too much of slow mo used not it the right time, fast cuts just to make it look fast and flashy, doent make the film better. I'm usually not the one to complaint about the style in action films, but here it bothered me.
Now lets talk about most important part of the Action film, the Action
Well, It wasnt all out action fest, but it had plenty of action scenes. But more doenst make it better. For example, the opening gun fight(and if to think of that, all other ones in the film), were staged pretty badly. Imagine 2 groups of people shooting at each other, camera cutting back and forth from one shooter to another, add slo mo and necessary shots of people firing 2 guns, and then no one is getting shot !!!! WTF??? Another example would be fight between Ja Rule and 49-6, where she kicks his ass pretty hard, but at the end of the fight neither have ANY BRUISES to show for it??? Once again, Seagal was unstoapable, and none of the opponents could really stand up to him. His fight with Chestnut, where they jump and kick while hanging on the chains HIGH IN THE AIR !!! was plain silly. Or how about the Helicopter stand off, with everyone firing at each other AGAIN, and AGAIN almost no one getting shot !!! Sorry, But I think that just stupid
And the ENDING !!! It just blew me away. Seagal skydiving !!! and old man EXPLODING !!!! I was laughing SOO HARD my wife got mad at me
Music wise, most of it was either rap, that was edited which soudned were funny, or hard rock, and unfortunately the score didnt fit the action scenes right.
Returning to my original line of though, here we have another example of movie that was hurt by PG13 rating. Be it R, I'm sure they could have made action and fights more intense. It would have had harder attitude, and while not necessary made it a better film, it would have made it more entertaining.
Its smaller budget British made sci-fi action film, starring Christian Bale, that Miramax supposevly will be releasing December 6. From the big article on the film, it sounds really kick ass and exciting. It has alot of very cool HK influence, and lots of new and cool tricks.
The Darkest Soul
Thanks god they didnt made him speak it. Then, every time I saw him in his prison get up, surrounded by homeboys, it made me laugh. Hes delivery was pretty much the same as usuall, only this time around they showed more of him trying to look sad and grieving. He did ok in the fight scenes, and I will talk about those later. Rest of the cast were a mixed bag. Ja Rule trying to look tough, just looked very silly. Rest of the prisoners, were pretty bad as well. Big Fat Guy, and annoying Kurrupt taking the cake.
Plus, Dont forget about Equilibrium this December. God Damn Miramax, release the trailer allready !
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