![]() ![]() Theywant the location of the gold and they’ll do anything to stop itincluding threatening to execute a judge in return for a chopper. Of course, moments before hisexecution a group of terrorists come and take the whole place over. Years earlier he stole two hundred million dollars in USgold brick and hasn’t told where it is. Meanwhile, the first convict to be executed at New Alcatraz has a secretof his own. The two are sent to… wait for it… the recently reopenedAlcatraz! That’s a great idea! Let’s take “The Rock” and put a spin onit! Sasha survives some wounds only to bedeclared half past dead which for some reason deserved the title of themovie. Two fellowpartners in crime Sasha (Seagal) and Nick (Ja Rule) are arrested by theFBI after a failed car boost. You want a story summary? Well… I’ll try the best I can. Does it work a second time or has Seagal reached the bottom ofthe barrel? I think you know what the answer is. 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 withDMX who can be seen in the recent and decent Cradle 2 the Grave withJet Li). There are some theatrical releases in this world that deserved to beeither canned or doomed to video.Which one is this abysmal Steven Seagal hogwash? I’d have to say neither becausethis film deserved to have been Half Past Dead a long time ago… alright that was a bad pun. Sasha: Steven Seagal Nick: Ja Rule 49er One: Morris Chestnut 49er Six: Na Peeples El Fuego: Tony Plana Extras:3 Deleted Scenes, Director’s Commentary, Making of Half PastDead, Theatrical Trailers.Hate to say it, but to me nothing works in 'Contract to Kill' and it is an awful mess in every way.Travis Willock reviews Half Past DeadDistributed by Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment And it's not just the editing, the slapdash special effects, drab photography and laughably bad green screen (that was too obvious and jarring) are just as bad. Direction is flat and ill-at ease, while the sound/soundtrack are one-note and obvious as well as poorly recorded and the whole film looks cheap. The story is by-the-numbers, dull and not always easy to follow. The action doesn't feature enough in comparison and suffer from pedestrian choreography and bacon-slicer-like editing. There is no urgency, let alone tension, intrigue or suspense. Its excessively talky nature affects severely the pacing, which never comes to life. ![]() The dialogue is risible, with a lot of cheesiness, awkwardness and far too much talk delivered with little emotion or momentum and bordering on the near-incomprehensible. The characters are ones we know very little about and don't care what happens to happen, so unengaging and one-dimensional they are. The rest of the cast are just as poor though in all fairness have little to work with. His reading-from-an-autocue-like and robotic line delivery in particular betrays that. Seagal himself gives another lazy and wooden performance that shows that he was not interested and wanted to be somewhere else. 'Contract to Kill' is far from that, more closer to a waste of time that shows little signs of trying. Also do appreciate the action genre and there are good films out there in the genre, classics even. Did not expect much, but watched it because Seagal has shown signs that he can be halfway decent and as said not all his films are bad. Awful even, and for me if ranking Seagal's filmography from best to worst it would be towards the bottom. 'Contract to Kill' is one of the very bad ones. He has also done a lot of mediocre and less films, indicative of laziness and that Seagal was well past his sell by date, and a good deal of them are even very bad. Steven Seagal has done some good, or at least watchable, films. ![]()
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