Good movie but grossly overrated

Boring

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

John Hatcher (Seagal) is a retired DEA agent and now police "troubleshooter" who doesn't like the fact that a ruthless Jamaican gang is now selling drugs to children at the local schools and getting into violent turf wars. (We're helpfully informed that these gangs are called "posses"). Deciding to clean up the streets, he teams up with old buddy Max (David) and a Jamaican cop named Charles (Wright). But a psychotic, violent, pure evil baddie named Screwface (Wallace) is the head of the snake, as it were. It seems that these Jamaicans are not irie. Not irie at all. When members of Screwface's gang - sorry, posse - target Hatcher's sister and her young daughter, Hatcher gets really mad and decides to eliminate the posse for good. He even gets to travel to Jamaica, which seems like a delightful perk during your vengeance-obsessed rampage. Will Hatcher and the gang get Screwface...or will the fact that he's MARKED FOR DEATH get in his way? Find out today! Ah, to go back to those golden years when action movies were violent, bone-crunching affairs that delivered the goods with a nice, simple revenge plot, some nudity, a few car chases, shootouts, Martial Arts scenes, and a minimum of dilly-dallying; when Seagal movies had quality, the good guys were good and the bad guys were evil. This is exactly what Marked For Death encompasses, and we couldn't be happier about it. The initial Seagal "three-word title" era was clearly the best time in his career, and here is a prime example from those glory years. It seems he actually cares, and all he wants to do is take drugs off the streets - WAY off. If that means some baddies have a rough time of it, so be it. Comes with the territory. Because Seagal was embraced by Hollywood at the time, it has good production values and is shot well. Perhaps one of the all-time best Seagal action sequences is in Marked For Death - the car chase/mall fight. It's truly excellent and Seagal at his best. Teaming him up with Keith David so they can go bust some heads was the right choice and pays off well. Opposite them is a tour-de-force performance by Basil Wallace as Screwface - Wallace goes "all in" as a truly scary and unhinged bad guy. Action movies need a bad baddie, as we always say, and here you get a doozy. It would have been nice to see more of Joanna Pacula, but something had to give, because this movie really moves - great pacing is another plus here. There's really not much fat to speak of. That would come in later Seagal vehicles. Right before Hatcher and Max go on their final "revenge vacation" to Jamaica, there's a nice "making the weapons" montage that we always love to see. These guys don't do off-the-rack bullets. They take the time to craft their own. If Seagal's career as a Lawman ever ends (we hope it doesn't), he could always move back to Brooklyn - where he was in Out For Justice - and sell artisanal ammunition. That even has a nice ring to it. And, in what is perhaps the opposite of Burt Reynolds in Malone (1987), everybody already knows Hatcher. From the local hoodlums to the police higher-ups, it seems everybody is always saying something like, "oh, it's you, Hatcher" - everyone in Chicago has had prior experience with the guy. Someone else that knows Hatcher (well, Seagal, really)? Jimmy Cliff. Seagal insisted he perform in the movie, and he even does so with the musical backing of Seagal himself. He also co-wrote the song "John Crow", which makes sense as it directly mentions the name Screwface in the lyrics. You never see movies nowadays that reference the characters in song. It's really a shame we've lost that. Marked For Death represents the middle of an action-movie trifecta for director Dwight Little. Previous to this, he directed Getting Even (1986) of "Kenderson!!!!" fame, and after it he came up with another winner - Rapid Fire (1992). Clearly the guy knows his stuff, which would explain why Marked For Death delivers the goods. Too bad he had to go into TV work because Hollywood sucks so much now. He should have continued making enjoyable action movies like the three mentioned above - imagine what he could have done had he continued on that path? Well, let's be thankful for what we've got. Perhaps not wanting to seem insensitive to the Jamaican community, there is a credit at the end of the movie that informs us that - and I'm paraphrasing here - "bad Jamaicans" represent less than one percent of the total Jamaican population in the U.S., and that the evils of posses were blown out of proportion for entertainment purposes only. I'm sure immigrant communities that saw Marked For Death and then waited until the end of the end credits appreciated this. In other words, relax, people, Screwface isn't going to be coming to a community near you. However, due to the popularity of then-current In Living Color sketch "Hey Mon!" and its hardworking ethos, this may have been rendered unnecessary. But we digress. Sometimes pretty far. Marked For Death is prime early-90's video store action, prime Seagal, and a darn fine time in front of your TV screen. Crack open a cold one and enjoy.

I find the movie acting and action scenes over-toned, but I am not a fan of Steven anyway. What does come at deeper level is the "choice of enemy".Well, its no secret Jamaican gangs (posse) exist. Whether they rule US streets, that is pretensions. However, Stevens movies were never realistic, but about action and "defense of US pride and justice" but this one kicks it over the edge with a lot of stereotypes.Dreadlocks are criminal stereotype, instead of Rastafarians who are peaceful and certainly not a violent international drug dealers (even when it comes to herb).While Screwface does display some Rastafarian features such as Patois language, and observing US as "Babylon system" he does practice belief in Voodoo and magic (which isn't prominent in Jamaica at all). Gang members call each other Rasta - while real faith opposes crime and violence and is often victim of it (e,g. Robert Nesta aka Bob Marley was a a wound victim of a paid assassins of such a posse)Such elements have ruined something that could have been a good action movie with a message, and depicts overall Jamaicans as primitive and drug dealing people.That this isn't alone voice is indicated by real Jamaicans / Rastafarian protest at time of movie release, being put on a list of most racist movies ever and overall today perception "of how not to do movie and play with other cultures".What is even strangest is that movie featured some nice reggae and rap music, such as Jimmy Cliff. I suppose buying music for soundtrack goes before movie is presented to the musicians. They do also appear live in clubs of Jamaica.

This is the first Steven Seagal movie I seen. So I wasn't familiar with his films but from what I know, he usually plays a arrogant and cocky character that goes after the bad guys without hardly ever getting hurt or breaking a sweat. So in another words it sounded like some absurd and ridiculous action movie with bunch of kung-fu thrown in and to some degree that is exactly what this movie is. In this Steven Seagal's character is a retired DEA after on a the line of duty things don't go according to plan. And now he is going after Jamaican drug dealers with dreadlocks and is in some sort of cult with a couple of friends after they mess with his loved ones. Yeah the plot is very very narrow and the villains are comical and not in a good way either. After just few minutes in the movie just seemed to drag, constantly putting excuse to put some action sequences in which this has a lot of. Steven Seagal beats people up while saying catch phrases, some works some just don't. Just about everything about this movie is generic and predictable and almost nothing is all that engaging. The fight sequences with Seagal using judo or aikido was sort of cool though and watchable thus I give this movie a 4.5 even if the acting is atrocious thus I am being generous. I will just say this movie didn't make me a fan of his.4.5/10

We all know that it is B grade B movie. The "afternoon" or "rainy night" kind of time filler. So I won't get harsh, though with the presence of Steven Seagal it's impossible not to ! After Seagal's first movie (Above the Law – 1988), some critic said about the new rising star "He's a fine mix of John Wayne, Bruce Lee and Clint Eastwood". How deceived that miserable critic was ! In fact Seagal is nothing but another Charles Bronson yet with marital arts experience. Observe well Seagal's so-called acting to discover easily that he must have watched Bronson's Death Wish movies for countless times !The conflict this round is some tough cop fighting some voodoo drug dealers. The friction of the two's worlds was done absurdly. That cop's violence is too much; he walks like a deadly epidemic that leaves no wounded guys, only corpses. The attack at the gang's headquarters reminded me of (Commando), 5 years earlier. However the real reason of bothering was Seagal himself. It's not about the eternal truth that he doesn't smile, or doesn't know the way to. It's about another thing. They gave him a little dialog, which is a good idea, till you know that it was filled with many one-liners. OK, how they got the nerve ?! That guy is the worst of the worst at delivering any one-liner ! Watch him saying "They were both wrong" or "I hope they weren't triplets"; if Tom from Tom and Jerry said these lines, he would be less awful and more cool than Mr. Steven-The Whispering Zombie-Seagal !The action is average, but it works. In movies of that kind don't ask much, just watch the fights. In general I liked 2 things, one of them is Seagal's black car; it was a stunner for every guy back in the 1990s start. And the second is of course the surprise of the evil guy as alive; that trick of having a twin brother was excellent (that fake decapitated head was so real it's freaky too !). Other than that...Seagal's grins could have killed me !P.S : I read that Seagal didn't want to make this movie, hating it openly from day one till now, so how come he produced it ?!