By Geno McGahee
In 1988, the world was introduced to Steven Seagal with his debut film: ABOVE THE LAW. It was gritty and action-packed. We realized that a new action star was born when he struck gold again in HARD TO KILL, a step up from his first. In 1990, MARKED FOR DEATH was released and it delved into the darker side of action, bringing this atmosphere that is usually reserved for horror films.
John Hatcher (Seagal) is a DEA agent that plays by his own rules and fears nothing. In the very first scene he is chasing down Hector (Danny Trejo). It was pretty cool to see Trejo in this early role and even cooler to watch Seagal kick the hell out of him. Hatcher and his partner hit up a drug lord in a sting operation but they would be exposed and the partner would die because of it. Hatcher could never forgive himself and quits the force.
Hatcher goes and meets up with his sister, Kate (Bette Ford) and her daughter, Tracey (Danielle Harris), and it’s a happy reunion. Harris was another familiar face. She was Jamie from HALLOWEEN 4 and 5, and she was probably wondering where her uncle Seagal was when Michael Myers was harassing her. Call me crazy, but I think the 1990 version of Seagal could kick the shit out of Michael Myers.
As Hatcher gets settled in, a Jamaican drug posse is making their presence known. They are getting kids hooked on drugs and killing people in public in dramatic ways. Hatcher’s old friend, Max (Keith David), has had enough but Hatcher tells him to stand down. He believes it’s an unwinnable war, but it gets personal when the posse, led by Screwface (Basil Wallace), marks Hatcher’s entire family for death and nearly kill Tracey.
Hatcher and Max team up to take down Screwface and his posse. I would not mess with a guy named “Screwface” because it implies what he will do to you after he knocks you to the ground. Wallace plays the role very well. He is pretty creepy and menacing and is a different sort of villain for Seagal to contend with and the war gets personal and deadly, leading to a big showdown in Jamaica.
MARKED FOR DEATH is a good film, but seems to run out of steam in the last act. It’s a very unique film in the Seagal collection and it blends some horror elements into this action flick. I did find it funny that Seagal raided Stallone’s closet for the black jacket with the tiger on the back. It was also amusing the usage of dummies in the action scenes, especially the final fight where Seagal beats up a visible mannequin. I blame the editor.
I wouldn’t classify this as one of Seagal’s best, but it absolutely stands out. The action scenes are well done, the villains are fun and the cast is very good. Had they wrapped this film up a little better, it would have gotten a lot better of a rating, but it just died at the end and I struggled to make it to the finale. I do recommend this film, but it seems like a lost opportunity.
Rating: 6.5/10
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