Marcado para la muerte

Yes, Steven Segal has packed on the pounds lately - haven't we all. He doesn't move like he did in his early films. I believe this was his second film and it has all the action one could wish for in a kick-butt martial arts action movie.

You are not here to see Oscar-worthy acting or sumptuous costumes and sets, you are here for an adrenaline-pumping vicarious thumping of the bad guys - in this case Jamaican drug dealers. so, sit back and enjoy the ride with a big bowl of popcorn and you will not be disappointed.

Now, if I could just figure out the name of that drop-dead beauty he was dancing with in the Jamaican bar, I would die a happy man.

Of Stevens Seagal's movies, this is clearly one of the better. It's from 1990, and that was around his prime time as a action star. ("Under Siege" came two years later). There are a couple of really cool fights in this movie where Seagal handles lots of bad guys without any effort at all. The last part of the movie, where he's invading the Jamaica-man bad guy's base is especially entertaining. In this movie, he has one of the best comments of all his films:"One thought he was immortal, and the other one thought he could fly. Both were wrong". Watch the movie to find out what I'm talking about. You won't regret it if you like easy action.

You can split Segal films into 2 categories, the early stuff (Hard To Kill, Nico) and the later stuff (Fire Down Below, Today You Die). The latter group doesn't usually even get to the cinema but the former has some real action gems. Marked for death is one of them.

This film has loads of martial arts, Yardies, drugs, black magic, Drive by shootings, people dressed like Aswad, and the big black guy from platoon who escapes from the shootout at the end by getting rotated back to America. One of the things that ruins Segal films is having too much shooting and not enough fighting, But the action is pitched just right here, with still enough shooting thrown in to spice it up. The guys playing the Yardies are fantastic and the dialogue is second to none, in fact for those IDM fans out there Luke Vibert sampled some in 'screwface'. Other than Segal and the platoon guy the only person I recognised was Danny Trejo, Hollywoods default Mexican criminal. This is an action classic folks, watch it or Screwface will give you a thousand deaths worse than mine.

Although I am not a huge fan of action movies I enjoy them from time to time. One of the reasons I saw this movie is because it has Steven Seagal as the lead, and there was a period back in the 1990s when he used to do some great movies (such as ABOVE THE LAW, UNDER SIEGE, ON DEADLY GROUND, OUT FOR JUSTICE) and I consider him an enjoyable actor despite he has also made various terrible movies especially in recent years. While this one didn't struck me, I still liked it.

At the beginning John Hatcher (Seagal) is in Columbia chasing a thug (played by a then unknown Danny Trejo) and after he manages to capture there is a brutal murder where a young prostitute is involved (and there is also some blood splattered in the process). As a result he retires and returns in the USA with his family. He passes by the local school and meets his childhood friend Max Keller (Keith David), who has become the trainer for the school's football theme after he left the US Army. Max and John join forces to find out about the man who sells drugs illegally in their hometown; it's a Jamaican witch doctor named Screwface that has lots of henchmen that worship him as a God, One night Max and John go to his HQ in a small Jamaican island and Hatcher be-heads Screwface with a sword; back in the US he shows the head to his friends but Screwface arrives as the decapited one was his twin. Hatcher manages to get rid for him and while he goes away into the night with Max he realizes that he has freed his hometown from the dangers of drug smuggling.

One of the reasons why I liked this movie is because Steven Seagal played so well and in a convincing way a man that wants justice and won't stop at nothing for getting it (and he doesn't take NO for an answer) and I really felt his reasons for behaving that way as very appropriate. It actually reminded me a bit of the DIRTY HARRY movies. The soundtrack was also very good and I loved the ending song JOHN CROW.

Seagal gives one of his best performances and I think he was born for this role. Keith David gives great support as Seagal's best friend who follows him around. In supporting roles even then-unknown character actors Kevin Dunn and Danny Trejo.

Although not an excellent action movie, it was quite decent despite a few gory scenes. Great for Steven Seagal fans and enjoyable for everyone else.

A war veteran and ex-drug agent named John Hatcher (Steven Seagal) retires himself from his dangerous employment. He returns to his family , his sister (Bette Ford) and nephew(Danielle Harris). But he confronts against a Jamaican dope delinquents led by Screwface (Basil Wallace who's a better villain than Seagal's previous films). And as the title says marked him and his family for death. Hatcher and his pals (Keith David and Tom Wright) are back in action to track down the Jamaican killer who is threatening his family. Then Hatcher and Screwface playing a cat-and-mouse game.

Elaborately produced action film with tough Seagal is just another action film full of struggles ,thrills, noise and lots of violence. Ever-wooden Seagal as almost always, playing a two-fisted and loner cop, he delivers the goods in his own style full of usual violence and fights with snapping wrists and worth it just to see Steve in Jamaica where appears singing Jimmy Cliff. Atmospheric musical score by James Newton Howard though composed by synthesizer and appropriate cinematography by Ric Waite. The picture was made in the Seagal's best period when he played high budget movies such as ¨Hard to kill¨(1990 by Bruce Malmuth), ¨Under siege¨ ( Seagal's best film to date, 92, Andrew Davis), ¨Dark territory¨ (95, Geoff Murphy), ¨Executive decision¨ (96 by Stuart Baird), ¨Glimmer man¨ ((96, John Gray), ¨Exit wounds¨(2001, Andre Bartkowiak), among others. Nowadays he does fairly low standards, lesser budget and direct to video movies, such as ¨Half past dead¨, ¨The foreigner¨ and its sequel and many others.

Director Dwight H. Little who gave credibility to Wesley Snipes in 'Murder at 1600' teams up with Aikido expert Seagal for this action-filled cop thriller. The result is a strong outing for action enthusiasts and Seagal is fun to watch.