Half Past Dead
Encyclopedia
Half Past Dead is a 2002 action movie in which a criminal infiltrates a prison to interrogate a prisoner about the location of a fortune in gold while an undercover FBI agent has to stop him. The film stars Steven Seagal
, Morris Chestnut
, Ja Rule
, Nia Peeples
, Kurupt
, and Claudia Christian
. It is written and directed by Don Michael Paul
and produced by Elie Samaha, Uwe Schott and Allison Semenza. Distribution and copy rights are held by Columbia Pictures
.
Half Past Dead was Steven Seagal's last movie to be released theatrically in many countries until 2010's Machete
.
This is the first and, to date, only Steven Seagal film not to be rated R (the film was rated PG-13 by the MPAA).
) is a car thief who's brought in by criminal Nick Frazier (Jeffrey "Ja Rule
" Atkins) to work for crime boss Sonny Eckvall (Richard Bremmer
), who apparently shot and killed Sascha's wife.
FBI Special Agent Ellen "E. Z." Williams (Claudia Christian
) and her team show up to nail Nick, but things go bad, and Sascha gets shot.
After eight months of recovery following his brief bout of being clinically dead from the shooting, Sascha is incarcerated along with Nick in the newly reopened Alcatraz prison.
Run by the charismatic warden, Juan Ruiz "El Fuego" Escarzaga (Tony Plana
), the place is known for its new state of the art death chamber where the condemned can choose from five different ways to die—lethal injection, gas chamber, hanging, firing squad, or electric chair.
Lester McKenna (Bruce Weitz
) is the first prisoner scheduled to be executed. An older man, he stole $200,000,000 worth of gold bricks in a heist that resulted in five deaths.
Federal Bureau of Prisons head Frank Hubbard (Stephen J. Cannell
) and Supreme Court Justice June McPherson (Linda Thorson
) have arrived to witness the execution, which is a result of June sentencing Lester.
But she's not the only one interested in Lester. A small but well-equipped team of terrorists who call themselves the "49ers" have parachuted onto the island, and gained control of it.
Led by 49er One, a.k.a. Hubbard's assistant Donny Johnson (Morris Chestnut
), and 49er Six (Nia Peeples
), the team finds Lester, and they want him to give up the location of his hidden stash of gold.
When Lester will not tell them, Donny shoots a nearby priest (Eva-Maria Schönecker), and threatens to kill others if the information is not delivered.
Donny's plan is disrupted, however, when Sascha decides to step in and fight back. It turns out that Sascha is actually an undercover FBI agent who has been trying to use Nick to get to Sonny Eckvall.
When Sascha rescues Lester, the 49ers strap June to the electric chair and threaten to kill her, all while Ellen and her team prepare a rescue plan from the mainland.
With the help of Nick and some of the other inmates such as Twitch (Ricardo "Kurupt
" Brown) and Little Joe (Michael "Bear" Taliferro), Sascha sets out to rescue June and bring Donny down, before Alcatraz becomes everyone's final resting place.
's 100 worst films of the 2000s and had a 2% fresh rating, with critic Roger Ebert
stating: "Half Past Dead is like an alarm that goes off with nobody in the room. It does its job, stops, and nobody cares."
Seagal earned a Razzie Award nomination as Worst Actor for his work in Half Past Dead.
was released direct to video in 2007, though it did not star Steven Seagal or Ja Rule. The only returning characters were Twitch (Kurupt
) and Juan Ruiz "El Fuego" Escarzaga (Tony Plana
).
Steven Seagal
Steven Frederic Seagal is an American action film star, producer, writer, martial artist, guitarist and reserve deputy sheriff. A 7th-dan black belt in Aikido, Seagal began his adult life as an Aikido instructor in Japan...
, Morris Chestnut
Morris Chestnut
Morris L. Chestnut is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles as teenage father Ricky Baker in the 1991 film Boyz n the Hood, groom-to-be Lance Sullivan in the 1999 film The Best Man, as Tracy Reynolds, NBA star in the 2002 film Like Mike, and as the Visitor Ryan in the...
, Ja Rule
Ja Rule
Jeffrey Atkins , better known by his stage name Ja Rule, is an American rapper, singer, and actor.Born in Hollis, Queens, he began his career in the group Cash Money Click and debuted in 1999 with Venni Vetti Vecci and its single "Holla Holla"...
, Nia Peeples
Nia Peeples
Virenia Gwendolyn "Nia" Peeples is an American R&B and dance music singer and actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Nicole Chapman on Fame...
, Kurupt
Kurupt
Ricardo Emmanuel Brown , better known by his stage name Kurupt, also known as Kurupt Tha Kingpin, Kurupt Young Gotti or Young Gotstra is an American rapper and former Executive Vice President of Death Row Records...
, and Claudia Christian
Claudia Christian
Claudia Ann Christian is an American actress, writer, singer, musician, and director, best known for her role as Commander Susan Ivanova on the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Career:...
. It is written and directed by Don Michael Paul
Don Michael Paul
Don Michael Paul, is an actor, director, writer and producer.He starred in the movie Heart of Dixie and "Rich Girl " with Jill Schoelen. He wrote the screenplay for Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man. He was one of three brothers in the short-lived 1992 CBS detective series The Hat Squad...
and produced by Elie Samaha, Uwe Schott and Allison Semenza. Distribution and copy rights are held by Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
.
Half Past Dead was Steven Seagal's last movie to be released theatrically in many countries until 2010's Machete
Machete (film)
Machete is a 2010 action film directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis. The "Machete" character originates from the 2001 Spy Kids film, written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. This film is an expansion of a fake trailer that was released together with Rodriguez's and Quentin Tarantino's...
.
This is the first and, to date, only Steven Seagal film not to be rated R (the film was rated PG-13 by the MPAA).
Plot
Sascha Petrosevitch (Steven SeagalSteven Seagal
Steven Frederic Seagal is an American action film star, producer, writer, martial artist, guitarist and reserve deputy sheriff. A 7th-dan black belt in Aikido, Seagal began his adult life as an Aikido instructor in Japan...
) is a car thief who's brought in by criminal Nick Frazier (Jeffrey "Ja Rule
Ja Rule
Jeffrey Atkins , better known by his stage name Ja Rule, is an American rapper, singer, and actor.Born in Hollis, Queens, he began his career in the group Cash Money Click and debuted in 1999 with Venni Vetti Vecci and its single "Holla Holla"...
" Atkins) to work for crime boss Sonny Eckvall (Richard Bremmer
Richard Bremmer
Richard Bremmer is a British actor. He played Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and played Skeld in The 13th Warrior. He also had a role in the 2004 movie :Vipere au poing.-External links:...
), who apparently shot and killed Sascha's wife.
FBI Special Agent Ellen "E. Z." Williams (Claudia Christian
Claudia Christian
Claudia Ann Christian is an American actress, writer, singer, musician, and director, best known for her role as Commander Susan Ivanova on the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Career:...
) and her team show up to nail Nick, but things go bad, and Sascha gets shot.
After eight months of recovery following his brief bout of being clinically dead from the shooting, Sascha is incarcerated along with Nick in the newly reopened Alcatraz prison.
Tony Plana
Tony Plana is a Cuban-American actor and director. He is well known for playing Betty Suarez's father, Ignacio Suarez, on the ABC show Ugly Betty.-Personal life:...
), the place is known for its new state of the art death chamber where the condemned can choose from five different ways to die—lethal injection, gas chamber, hanging, firing squad, or electric chair.
Lester McKenna (Bruce Weitz
Bruce Weitz
Bruce Peter Weitz is an American actor. He is perhaps best-known for his role as Sgt. Michael "Mick" Belker in the 1980s TV series Hill Street Blues for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 1984.-Early life:Weitz was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, the son...
) is the first prisoner scheduled to be executed. An older man, he stole $200,000,000 worth of gold bricks in a heist that resulted in five deaths.
Federal Bureau of Prisons head Frank Hubbard (Stephen J. Cannell
Stephen J. Cannell
Stephen Joseph Cannell was an American television producer, writer, novelist and occasional actor, and the founder of Stephen J. Cannell Productions.-Early life:...
) and Supreme Court Justice June McPherson (Linda Thorson
Linda Thorson
Linda Thorson is a Canadian actress, most famous for her work as Tara King in The Avengers.-Personal life:...
) have arrived to witness the execution, which is a result of June sentencing Lester.
But she's not the only one interested in Lester. A small but well-equipped team of terrorists who call themselves the "49ers" have parachuted onto the island, and gained control of it.
Led by 49er One, a.k.a. Hubbard's assistant Donny Johnson (Morris Chestnut
Morris Chestnut
Morris L. Chestnut is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles as teenage father Ricky Baker in the 1991 film Boyz n the Hood, groom-to-be Lance Sullivan in the 1999 film The Best Man, as Tracy Reynolds, NBA star in the 2002 film Like Mike, and as the Visitor Ryan in the...
), and 49er Six (Nia Peeples
Nia Peeples
Virenia Gwendolyn "Nia" Peeples is an American R&B and dance music singer and actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Nicole Chapman on Fame...
), the team finds Lester, and they want him to give up the location of his hidden stash of gold.
When Lester will not tell them, Donny shoots a nearby priest (Eva-Maria Schönecker), and threatens to kill others if the information is not delivered.
Donny's plan is disrupted, however, when Sascha decides to step in and fight back. It turns out that Sascha is actually an undercover FBI agent who has been trying to use Nick to get to Sonny Eckvall.
When Sascha rescues Lester, the 49ers strap June to the electric chair and threaten to kill her, all while Ellen and her team prepare a rescue plan from the mainland.
With the help of Nick and some of the other inmates such as Twitch (Ricardo "Kurupt
Kurupt
Ricardo Emmanuel Brown , better known by his stage name Kurupt, also known as Kurupt Tha Kingpin, Kurupt Young Gotti or Young Gotstra is an American rapper and former Executive Vice President of Death Row Records...
" Brown) and Little Joe (Michael "Bear" Taliferro), Sascha sets out to rescue June and bring Donny down, before Alcatraz becomes everyone's final resting place.
Reception
The film received negative reviews from most film critics. It ranked 19th in Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
's 100 worst films of the 2000s and had a 2% fresh rating, with critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
stating: "Half Past Dead is like an alarm that goes off with nobody in the room. It does its job, stops, and nobody cares."
Seagal earned a Razzie Award nomination as Worst Actor for his work in Half Past Dead.
Sequel
Half Past Dead 2Half Past Dead 2
Half Past Dead 2 is a straight to DVD 2007 action film and is a sequel to the 2002 Steven Seagal and Morris Chestnut action movie, Half Past Dead. Among the main cast of the original movie, only Kurupt returns to reprise his role of Twitch.-Plot:...
was released direct to video in 2007, though it did not star Steven Seagal or Ja Rule. The only returning characters were Twitch (Kurupt
Kurupt
Ricardo Emmanuel Brown , better known by his stage name Kurupt, also known as Kurupt Tha Kingpin, Kurupt Young Gotti or Young Gotstra is an American rapper and former Executive Vice President of Death Row Records...
) and Juan Ruiz "El Fuego" Escarzaga (Tony Plana
Tony Plana
Tony Plana is a Cuban-American actor and director. He is well known for playing Betty Suarez's father, Ignacio Suarez, on the ABC show Ugly Betty.-Personal life:...
).