Marked for Death

Directed by Dwight H. Little, Marked for Death follows DEA agent John Hatcher (Steven Seagal) as embarks on a campaign of revenge against a vicious Jamaican drug lord named Screwface (Basil Wallace). It’s an exceedingly promising setup that’s employed to woefully erratic effect by Little, as the filmmaker, working from a script by Michael Grais and Mark Victor, delivers a hit-and-miss narrative that spends far too much time on the various villains’ tedious exploits – with Seagal’s character, in the end, appearing on screen for just a little more than half of the picture’s padded-out running time. It’s clear, then, that Marked for Death is at its best when focused on the comings and goings of the take-no-prisoners protagonist, and there’s little doubt, as well, that Little does an effective job of breaking up the occasionally tedious atmosphere with impressively stirring action sequences – with the best example of this an absolutely captivating mid-movie car chase that segues into a jewelry-store-set fight scene. The picture’s somewhat watchable atmosphere is heightened by Seagal’s surprisingly decent work in the central role, while the eclectic periphery cast, which includes Kevin Dunn, Keith David, and Joanna Pacula, provides able support around the picture’s margins – which, when coupled with a fairly engrossing climax (and almost shockingly brutal bad-guy demise), cements Marked for Death‘s place as a just-good-enough entry within Seagal’s decidedly rocky filmography.

**1/2 out of ****

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