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This action film would appear to be trying to follow the success of Seagal's earlier Exit Wounds with the teaming of Seagal and current rap stars. He will be joined by Ja Rule and Kurrupt in this particular outing in addition to singer Nia Peeples (you remember her from The Party Machine with Nia Peeples, right?). The charming star of Two Can Play That Game, Morris Chestnut, is the actual lead in the film. The plot has Chestnut portraying a criminal planning to infiltrate a prison in order to learn the whereabouts of $200 million in gold. Seagal plays an undercover FBI agent who becomes the fly-in-the-ointment of their would-be robbery.

Half-Past Dead has the pitch of Die Hard in a prison, but for Seagal fans, it's probably more accurate to describe this as Under Siege III: The Oz Edition. All of the scenes behind bars were filmed in an old Stasi prison in Berlin in order to enhance their realism. Half-Past Dead promises to have killer action sequences as several of the characters attempt to outwit one another in order to secure the lost treasure and escape incarceration, and looks to be a potential sleeper hit for the season. (Calvin Trager/BOP)

November 11, 2002
If you’ve seen any of the advertising for Half Past Dead, you know it’s dismal. It’s pretty clearly a movie that has no idea what it wants to be and is therefore trying to look as much like previous Steven Seagal crossover success Exit Wounds as it possibly can. It really fails on all counts. In theaters, audiences snicker at the trailer with wild abandon. If not for the presence of Morris Chestnut, this film would likely have headed straight to the video shelves, as it almost seems as though the studio is releasing it solely to fulfill a two-movie contract with Seagal.

With Exit Wounds, the poorly-aging martial arts artist was a rather insignificant portion of the marketing push. In the case of that film, it was all about DMX and a thumping soundtrack. With Half Past Dead, even though Morris Chestnut is the true star, we’re seeing way, way, way too much of Seagal and that is an absolute detriment to creating any kind of appeal. Chestnut is an appealing and charismatic actor, but he’s just not enough to overcome the many obstacles Half Past Dead faces. (Kim Hollis/BOP)

Vital statistics for Half Past Dead Main Cast Steven Seagal, Nia Peeples, Morris Chestnut, Ja Rule Supporting Cast Claudia Christian, Tony Plana, Bruce Weitz, Linda Thorson Director Don Michael Paul Screenwriter Don Michael Paul Distributor Screen Gems Talent in red has entry in The Big Picture

Comparison films for Half Past Dead
Title	Date	Opening	Adjusted Opening	Screens	PSA	Adj PSA	Total BO	Adjusted Total	Mult
Die Hard with A Vengeance	5/19/95	22.16	30.71	2525	8776.00	11701.3	100.01	138.63	4.51
Die Hard 2:Die Harder	7/6/90	21.74	31.06	2507	8672.00	11918.9	117.32	167.63	4.76
Exit Wounds	3/16/01	18.49	19.73	2830	6532.00	6705.4	51.76	55.24	2.80
Under Siege	10/9/92	14.10	20.48	2042	6905.00	9650.4	83.56	121.41	5.93
On Deadly Ground *	2/18/94	12.68	18.73	2010	6308.00	8967.3	38.59	57.03	3.04
Executive Decision	3/15/96	12.07	16.46	2232	5408.00	7096.5	56.68	77.32	4.70
Marked For Death	10/5/90	10.52	15.03	1668	6307.00	8668.4	43.22	61.75	4.11
Out for Justice	4/12/91	10.52	15.06	2010	5234.00	7210.7	39.57	56.67	3.76
Hard to Kill	2/9/90	9.21	13.16	1301	7079.00	9729.4	47.39	67.71	5.15
Glimmer Man	10/4/96	7.61	10.38	2236	3403.00	4465.5	20.40	27.83	2.68