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Marked for Death (1990) R
Steven Seagal destroys Jamaican drug posse and shows he has bigger magick than their leader Screwface.
Seagal is an undercover cop and former DEA agent who decides he's had enough and tries to retire. He ends up pissing local Jamaican drug dealers who mark his whole family for death. Apparently the only solution to this is to kill the Jamaican bossman Screwface and mr. Seagal delivers.
Marked for Death is not Seagal's best film but it's still OK. There is not that much martial arts in it and lots of the kills are made with guns. Most of the hand-to-hand action is great though and while not completely realistic it still looks believable enough (I still hate how the bad guys are using knives). Seagal's fights break the usual formula in many ways; he's often completely unchallenged by his opponents, he uses lots of grappling and some throws, he's a big man often just overpowering clearly smaller opponents, etc. I like that and it really separates him from other martial arts stars of his era.
Storywise the film is very basic. Seagal is a cop who's using questionable methods and who gets burned out for losing the war on crime. He seeks peace from his family but the trouble follows and he needs to return to his old ways. Characters are paper thin and Seagal himself acts with expressiveness of a log. Screwface is kinda interesting villain but we don't really get to know him.
Basically the film is an average action film in every regard but Seagal element elevates it a notch.
Steven Seagal destroys Jamaican drug posse and shows he has bigger magick than their leader Screwface.
Seagal is an undercover cop and former DEA agent who decides he's had enough and tries to retire. He ends up pissing local Jamaican drug dealers who mark his whole family for death. Apparently the only solution to this is to kill the Jamaican bossman Screwface and mr. Seagal delivers.
Marked for Death is not Seagal's best film but it's still OK. There is not that much martial arts in it and lots of the kills are made with guns. Most of the hand-to-hand action is great though and while not completely realistic it still looks believable enough (I still hate how the bad guys are using knives). Seagal's fights break the usual formula in many ways; he's often completely unchallenged by his opponents, he uses lots of grappling and some throws, he's a big man often just overpowering clearly smaller opponents, etc. I like that and it really separates him from other martial arts stars of his era.
Storywise the film is very basic. Seagal is a cop who's using questionable methods and who gets burned out for losing the war on crime. He seeks peace from his family but the trouble follows and he needs to return to his old ways. Characters are paper thin and Seagal himself acts with expressiveness of a log. Screwface is kinda interesting villain but we don't really get to know him.
Basically the film is an average action film in every regard but Seagal element elevates it a notch.