View source for Half Past Dead

{{short description|2002 American action movie by Don Michael Paul}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Half Past Dead
| image = Half Past Dead.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = [[Don Michael Paul]]
| producer = {{plainlist|
* [[Elie Samaha]]
* [[Steven Seagal]]
* [[Andrew Stevens]]
}}
| writer = Don Michael Paul
| starring = {{plainlist|
* Steven Seagal
* [[Morris Chestnut]]
* [[Ja Rule]]
* [[Nia Peeples]]
* [[Tony Plana]]
* [[Kurupt]]
}}
| music = [[Tyler Bates]]
| cinematography = [[Michael Slovis]]
| editing = Vanick Moradian
| studio = [[Franchise Pictures]]
| distributor = [[Screen Gems]] (through [[Sony Pictures Releasing]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Half Past Dead (2002)|work=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]|access-date=March 15, 2021|url=http://catalog.afi.com/Film/62404-HALF-PASTDEAD?sid=4fd97998-2e25-4564-b64b-dd6986187069&sr=13.040645&cp=1&pos=0}}</ref>)
| released = {{Film date|2002|11|15}}
| runtime = 98 minutes
| country = {{plainlist|
* United States
* Germany
}}
| language = English
| budget = $25 million<ref>[http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Half-Past-Dead#tab=summary 'Half Past Dead' production budget], ''[[The Numbers (website)|The Numbers]]''. Retrieved March 18, 2015.</ref>
| gross = $19.2 million<ref name=mojo>{{cite web |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=halfpastdead.htm |title=Half Past Dead (2002) |website=Box Office Mojo |access-date=August 19, 2010}}</ref><ref name=TheNumbers>[http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Half-Past-Dead#tab=summary "The Box Office History of 'Half Past Dead' (2002)"], ''[[The Numbers (website)|The Numbers]]'', published 2003. Retrieved April 22, 2017.</ref>
}}
'''''Half Past Dead''''' is a 2002 American [[action film]] written and directed by [[Don Michael Paul]] in his directorial debut. It was produced by [[Elie Samaha]], [[Andrew Stevens]], and [[Steven Seagal]], who also starred in the lead role.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/15/movies/film-review-prison-bam-pyrotechnics.html|title=Half Past Dead (2002) FILM REVIEW; Prison (Bam!) Pyrotechnics|first=Elvis|last=Mitchell|author-link=Elvis Mitchell|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=November 15, 2002|access-date=February 24, 2024|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927014628/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/15/movies/film-review-prison-bam-pyrotechnics.html|archive-date=September 27, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> The film co-stars [[Morris Chestnut]], [[Ja Rule]], [[Tony Plana]], [[Kurupt]], and [[Nia Peeples]].

It tells the story of a criminal who infiltrates a prison to interrogate a prisoner about the location of a fortune in gold while an undercover [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agent has to stop him.

Distribution and copyrights were held by [[Columbia Pictures]]. ''Half Past Dead'' was released in the United States on November 15, 2002, by [[Screen Gems]]. The film was panned by critics, with Seagal's performance receiving the most criticism, and only grossed $19.2 million worldwide against its $25 million production budget, making it a [[box-office bomb]]. ''Half Past Dead'' was Steven Seagal's last [[wide release|widely released]] film before he shifted to several [[direct-to-video]] films in many years [[Machete (2010 film)|until 2010]].

==Plot==
In [[San Francisco]], FBI agent Sasha Petrosevitch goes undercover as a Russian car thief and is brought in by criminal Nick Frazier to work for crime boss Sonny Eckvall, who apparently shot and killed Sasha's wife. After some time, FBI Special Agent Ellen Williams and her team show up to nail Nick, but things go wrong, and Sasha gets shot.

After eight months of recovery following his brief bout of being clinically dead from the shooting, Sasha is incarcerated along with Nick in the newly reopened [[Alcatraz]] prison. Run by the charismatic warden, Juan Ruiz "El Fuego" Escarzaga, 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 is the first death row prisoner brought to the new Alcatraz and also 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 and hid the loot at an unknown location that has seen an unsuccessful search for 17 years. Federal Bureau of Prisons head Frank Hubbard and Supreme Court Justice Jane McPherson have arrived to witness the execution, which is a result of Jane 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 Alcatraz island and gained control of it. Led by 49er One, a.k.a. Hubbard's assistant Donny Johnson, and 49er Six, 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 and threatens to kill others if the information is not delivered.

Donny's plan is disrupted, however, when Sasha decides to step in and fight back. With the 49ers having strapped Jane to the electric chair and threaten to kill her, while Ellen and her team prepare a rescue plan from the mainland, Sasha extracts Lester and plans to use him later in a prisoner exchange with Jane. After Nick helps Sasha get away from Donny, Sasha reveals his true identity along with the fact he used Nick to get to Sonny Eckvall, on whom he seeks revenge on for the death of his wife.

With the help of Nick and some of the other inmates such as Twitch and Little Joe, Sasha sets out to rescue Jane and bring Donny down, before Alcatraz becomes everyone's final resting place. The conflict culminates in the 49ers taking McPherson and Lester on a helicopter and departing with Sasha in pursuit. Donny attempts to buy time by throwing MacPherson out of the helicopter, but Sacha dives after her and manages to save her using a parachute. Lester reveals that he was previously given an improvised bomb vest of grenades that he sets off, killing himself and Donny. Sasha subsequently leads the investigators to the gold, as Lester told him the location before his death.

A month later, Nick, having previously learnt of Sasha's reasons for hunting Sonny, is still recovering in prison, but is informed in a meeting with Sasha that he is being released early for his role in the hostage crisis.

==Cast==
{{div col}}
* [[Steven Seagal]] as FBI Agent Sasha Petrosevitch
* [[Morris Chestnut]] as Donny Johnson "49er One"
* [[Ja Rule]] as Nick Frazier
* [[Nia Peeples]] as "49er Six"
* [[Tony Plana]] as Warden Juan Ruiz "El Fuego" Escarzaga
* [[Kurupt]] as Bernard "Twitch"
* [[Michael Taliferro|Michael "Bear" Taliferro]] as Joe "Little Joe"
* [[Claudia Christian]] as FBI Special Agent Ellen Williams
* [[Linda Thorson]] as Judge Jane McPherson
* [[Bruce Weitz]] as Lester McKenna
* [[Michael McGrady]] as Guard Damon J. Kestner
* [[Richard Bremmer]] as Sonny Eckvall
* [[Hannes Jaenicke]] as FBI Agent Hartmann
* [[Mo'Nique]] as Twitch's Girl
* [[Stephen J. Cannell]] as Frank Hubbard
* [[Matt Battaglia]] as "49er Three"
* Wiliam T. Bowers as Alcatraz Guard
{{div col end}}

==Production==
The film was at one stage known as ''Lockdown'' and was shot in Germany.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|329990720}} |title=Spielberg would consider directing Harry Potter sequel |work=National Post |location=Don Mills, Ont |date=20 September 2001 |page=A20 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hive4media.com/news/html/theatrical_article.cfm?article_id=1794|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011101142854/http://www.hive4media.com/news/html/theatrical_article.cfm?article_id=1794|title=Seagal Ready for Action on Franchise's 'Half Past Dead' and 'Foreigner'|website=[[hive4media.com]]|archive-date=November 1, 2001|date=September 20, 2001|access-date=September 21, 2019|via=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Release==
===Home media===
The film was released on DVD in the US on March 4, 2003.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ign.com/movies/half-past-dead|title=Half Past Dead|website=[[IGN]]|access-date=December 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118053232/https://www.ign.com/movies/half-past-dead|archive-date=January 18, 2024|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Reception==
===Box office===
''Half Past Dead'' was released on November 15, 2002, in the United States, where it grossed $7.8 million on its opening weekend. It grossed $15.5 million in the US and another $3.7 million outside the US, for a total worldwide gross of $19.2 million.<ref name=mojo/>

===Critical response===
{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|3|3.1|88|Seagal is now too bulky to make a convincing action hero, and ''Half Past Dead'' is too silly and incoherent to deliver any visceral kicks.|access-date=February 24, 2024|ref=yes}} {{Metacritic film prose|23|23|ref=yes|access-date=December 21, 2015}} Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.<ref name="CinemaScore">{{cite web|url=https://m.cinemascore.com|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20170916153548/https://m.cinemascore.com/|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 16, 2017|title=CinemaScore|work=cinemascore.com|access-date=August 17, 2020}}</ref> It was ranked number 61 in a ''Rotten Tomatoes'' editorial on the 100 worst movies of all time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/worst-movies-of-all-time/|title=Bad Movies: The 100 Worst Movies of All Time|website=Rotten Tomatoes|publisher=Fandango Media|access-date=February 24, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221044238/https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/worst-movies-of-all-time/|archive-date=February 21, 2024|url-status=live}}</ref>

Critic [[Roger Ebert]] wrote, "''Half Past Dead'' is like an alarm that goes off while nobody is in the room. It does its job and stops, and nobody cares."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/half-past-dead-2002|title=Half Past Dead|newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|date=November 15, 2002|access-date=December 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423051020/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/half-past-dead-2002|archive-date=April 23, 2023|url-status=live|via=[[RogerEbert.com]]}} {{Rating|0.5|4}}</ref>

Seagal was nominated for Worst Actor at the 2002 [[Stinkers Bad Movie Awards]] and the [[23rd Golden Raspberry Awards]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/feb/10/filmnews.film|title=Raspberry time for Hollywood's worst|last=Campbell|first=Duncan|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=February 9, 2003|access-date=December 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524145846/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/feb/10/filmnews.film|archive-date=May 24, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Past Winners Database|url=http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/year/2002/2002st.htm|website=The Envelope at LA Times|access-date=September 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815213025/http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/year/2002/2002st.htm|archive-date=August 15, 2007}}</ref>

==Sequel==
{{Main|Half Past Dead 2}}
''Half Past Dead 2'' was released direct-to-video on May 15, 2007. The film does not feature actors Steven Seagal or Ja Rule, though they appear in the film via archived footage from the first movie. The starring characters were Twitch ([[Kurupt]]) and Burke ([[Bill Goldberg]]).

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Film}}
* {{IMDb title|0297162|Half Past Dead}}
* {{TCMDb title|438716|Half Past Dead}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|half_past_dead}}

{{Don Michael Paul}}

[[Category:2002 films]]
[[Category:2002 action films]]
[[Category:2002 directorial debut films]]
[[Category:2002 American films]]
[[Category:2002 English-language films]]
[[Category:Alcatraz Island in fiction]]
[[Category:American action films]]
[[Category:American gangster films]]
[[Category:American prison films]]
[[Category:English-language action films]]
[[Category:English-language German films]]
[[Category:Films about race and ethnicity]]
[[Category:Films about terrorism in the United States]]
[[Category:Films about the Federal Bureau of Investigation]]
[[Category:Films directed by Don Michael Paul]]
[[Category:Films produced by Elie Samaha]]
[[Category:Films scored by Tyler Bates]]
[[Category:Films set in Berlin]]
[[Category:Films set in San Francisco]]
[[Category:Franchise Pictures films]]
[[Category:Screen Gems films]]