Review of Marked for Death (1990) by Reginald C — 27 Dec 2008

BLOOD CLAAAAAAAT! This film has a simple premise : Steven Seagal beats 7 flavours of shit out of Yardie drug dealers. Just to make sure you know he ain't no racist, he has a black rastafarian cop AND a straight edge african american cop on his side.

The violence and the dialogue are both simply divine. Of the former, I can cite one memorable instance when Steve breaks a man's arm nearly off, then throws him USING THE BLOODY STUMP. Of the latter, this quote should be engraved on a platignum disc and launched into space.

After shooting dead a mafia boss and hurling a Yardie out of a window, Seagal has the following conversation with his sidekick : "One thought he could fly, the other thought he was invincible".

"What happened ?" "They were both wrong". The great thing about Seagal films is that, unlike every other martial arts movie star in the entire history of cinema, he abandons any pretext of being the underdog whatsoever.

Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li are always depicted as outsiders, triumphing (often only by the skin of their teeth) against bigger and more numerous opponents using courage and skill. Seagal on the other hand, only ever fights enemies who are visibly smaller, weaker and less competent than he is, and he does so with a real "fuck you" panache.

The enjoyment of his films therefore stems not from a false suspense over whether or not he will win his fights, but an armchair critic's appreciation of the efficiency and brutality of his technique.

It should also be mentioned that in this film there is a scene where a student smokes weed for the first time, takes a big drag and then exclaims "Cool !", as well as a scene where Basil Wallace (who played the Predator in the film PREDATOR) pronouncing the following piece of immortal wisdom : "Everybody want to go to heaven.

.. NOBODY WANT TO GET DEAD".