MovieChat Forums > Half Past Dead (2002) Discussion > Why was Steven Segal Russian?

Why was Steven Segal Russian?

posted 20 years ago by EdWood-8
5 replies | jump to latest

For anyone who claims to have enjoyed this film, I have one question: Why was Steven Segal Russian? There seems to be no reason given in the "plot". He never even remotely tries an accent, which is probably wise as I'm sure he would never have pulled it off. How can a film which ignores such a fundamental element of its main character be any good at all?

There are other things:

A Supreme Court justice who flies all the way across the country to see the execution of a man whose case she presided over 17 years ago? Gimme a break.

These guys break into New Alcatraz, killing several people, and get all the way to the execution chamber without anyone there knowing? No alarms, security cameras, etc.

A security guard's heart is restarted by a taser?

I could go on.

Question everything

[–] Riku2003 20 years ago

I hate this movie.

Steven Seagal was Russian because Russians are always the non-talking big buff tough guys with big guns. Though Seagal doesn't use an accent (better this way), the fact that he is Russian is supposed to make popcorn viewers enjoy the character more (yeah right...)

The Supreme Court Justice thing was a load of crap. Same goes for "my father beat me and my mother raped me"... which I found in all of its stupidity hilarious.

The fact that no one notices about the break in is sort of funny too. A big mistake really. And obviously being in the US and all they would've sent the army to take care of this. And in the states, do they really care about people imprisoned for life and those with death sentences?

In this movie there are approximately 10-15 people locked up in the whole New Alcatraz (!?).

Oh! And the tazer thing! I got the best laugh in weeks! A guy gets pumped full of lead by an angry criminal (H&K MP5 9mm). Probably some 7-8 bullets in the chest. He's gone for about a minute, heart stopped and everything. Enter Seagal. A god damn tazer, just a couple of shocks (that knock people out usually) and the guard is alive!!! Seriously. What-the-heck!?

[–] EdWood-8 20 years ago

I mean, if they wanted a tough Russian guy why didn't they cast Dolph Lundgren?

Yeah, the tazer thing was just so over the top ridiculous. And that's a good point about the 10-15 inmates. They go to all this trouble to reopen Alcatraz - a project that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars (what with the high-tech wall videos of deserts and cityscapes in the death chamber) - to house a handful of prisoners.

Utterly absurd.

Question everything

[–] MarvelousSebas 20 years ago

he didnt have to be russian just of russian descent hence no accent.

There weren't only 10-15 prisoners only that many in that one cell block if you didnt notice when the cop got shot the criminals in a different cell block.

They didnt notice them come in because they shorted the cameras and killed most of the guards

And the tazer thing is just plain stupid, and the reason for that one is Aikido magic.

[–] RyanMuir 20 years ago

The best part was that, although he was supposedly Russian, he sounded more like a white American trying to use Ebonics. Oh wait...he was. Comedic gold. :)

[–] wdarbishire 20 years ago

Oh, this is standard form for Seagal. He appears convinced that he can pass as a wide variety of ethnicities: Russian; Italian-American; Native American; you name it, Seagal's "portrayed" it in a manner oddly similar to every other role he's played, ie chubby, gurning white man with a copy of The Patriot rammed firmly up his arse.

Don't get me wrong, I like Seagal. I almost feel guilty for saying that I enjoy watching his martial arts style (if nothing else its very distinct from the usual wushu stuff od martial arts movies), and his spectacularly crap movies have given me hours of entertainment. Half Past Dead, however, was one of the lowest moments in Seagal's career, although not as bad as The Patriot.