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Overall Rating : 4/10
Directed By : Art Camacho
Bill Goldberg (Santa's Slay)
Kurupt (Half Past Dead)
Angell Conwell (Baby Boy)
Robert Madrid (Primary Suspect)
Supplied By : Sony Pictures
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Apr. 24, 2007
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| PLOT Burk and Twitch, are two inmates serving time at Craton Prison, a notoriously tough and violent penitentiary ruled by rival gangs. When a riot breaks out and the prison goes into lockdown, the two must form an unlikely alliance to stay alive. Together, they navigate the hostile gang territory under the watchful eye of unsympathetic prison guards, in order to learn the identity of the inmate responsible for the riot. Eventually Burk discovers that gang leader, Cortez, is behind the riot and find that he's taken two hostages: Cherise, Twitch's fiancée, and Ellie, Burk’s daughter. Twitch and Burk find they must work together in order to save their loved ones and bring Cortez down. |
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| THE REVIEW In HALF PAST DEAD 2, an inmate, whom calls himself Twitch has just been transferred to Craton prison. Being the new guy on the block Twitch is quickly put under watch by the two rival prison gangs that rule other the facility. One a Latino group lead by Cortez, the other an African-American group lead by a man called Angel, liking the idea of being his own man, Twitch reluctantly refuses to join either side. When Angel is killed by Cortez, the blame is put on the prison's loner tough guy named Burke, and a huge riot commences amongst the prison. Cortez and strategically planned the said riot as I cover-up for his pending escape plan, and to further increasing the odds for his escape he captures two hostages, that being Burke's Daughter Ellie and Twitches Fiancée Cherise who were there visiting. With fellow inmates targeting them and a likewise goal(to save their loved ones), the unlikely duo of Burke and Twitch team up to find them - even if they must go down fighting to do so. HALF PAST DEAD 2 is the straight to video sequel to the 2002 theatrical film starring Steven Seagal. The only returning main cast member from HALF PAST DEAD is Kurupt(other than Tony Plana as "El Fuego", whose screentime is limited) as he reprises his role as Twitch, and replacing Steven Seagal, is Professional wrestler Bill Goldberg as a new character named Burke. From the beginning I was prepared for the typical prison movie equipped with clichéd plot points, such as separated prison gangs, lockdowns and prison riots, but I knew it wouldn't be at the same quality level of the original. From the get-go so to speak one can tell that this films budget is limited - as we begin with exterior shots of the prison, which very well could be stock footage for all I know. We first join Twitch while he is in Alcatraz, a fight brakes out during recreation time and the Warden "El Fuego" steps into cease it, warning that the next person to start a fight will be shipped off to Cranton, a prison he seems to think is the worst in the world. to set up the rest of the film's story, Twitch over hears this and takes this opportunity to be transferred, because, since Cranton is located in Missouri, he will be closer to the 160 Million dollars worth of gold he stashed away from the first film. This would only be the most minor plot focus however as the rescue of the Daughter and Fiancée would take up almost the entire film. As a fan of most prison movies I had a little hope for this one, but seeing as it was a straight to DVD film, I wondered if something made it one. Well, my notion was right as it did not feel at all authentic, as none of the characters seemed like real inmates due to some below average acting. But the thing that seems to hinder the film the most is that yes, it does get dull and cheesy at times. I believe the riot in the beginning of the film sort of hurt it, why start off the film with something you know is going to be virtually the sole focal point later on? - when it got there it lost any impact it could've had due to it just being another fight. Not only this about something that annoyed me as that for the first quarter of the film a scene would happen followed with a less important scene accompanied with some hip-hop music playing in the background, as this continues for several times over you not only get a sense of low budget, but also amateurism as well. I was also looking forward to seeing how Goldberg would be in this role, because if done right his size could be quite affective for believability's sake, but I have to be honest and say I wasn't so impressed. In the fight scenes he uses his wrestling maneuvers that I have seen many times before including the spear take down. since he does the moves you expect him to do, they don't seem like real fights, but well choreographed ones to showcase Goldberg's name and in the meantime getting the movie "over" more with the general audience. Goldberg has been much better, even in the likes of SANTA'S SLAY. Overall there are a few decent moments in the film, but nothing to set it apart from the other film's of it's type. It tries to stay true to the characters in the original film and become a successful continuation to the story, but often feels like a rather stale knock-off, or just an attempt to cash in. |
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| GORE
METER 1.5/10 Just a few gun shot wounds and facial wounds...nothing great |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 2/10 Mostly hip-hop, I like some hip-hop, but these tracks seem to have not much to do with the film itself. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Overall. a decent action flick, that has some suspense(the reason I am reviewing it), but very little. It is a good way to kill time but expect to see things that you've already seen before, and nothing truly original. Fans of the original HALF PAST DEAD, or wrestling fans are likely to pick this up, but if neither interest you then you're really not missing anything new... This DVD will be released on May 15, 2007 |
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