Marked for Death

Plot synopsis:
Chicago DEA agent John Hatcher returns from Colombia, where drug dealers killed his partner Chico. As a result of Chico's death and years of dead end work, John retires and heads to his family's home in suburban Chicago. He visits the local school to meet his old friend and former U.S. Army buddy Max (Keith David) who works there as a football coach and physical education teacher.
As John and Max celebrate their reunion, a gunfight breaks out between local drug dealers and a Jamaican gang at the bar where they celebrate. The gang, known as the Jamaican Posse, is led by a notorious psychotic drug kingpin named Screwface (Basil Wallace) full of West African Vodun and sadism. John arrests one of Screwface's henchmen as the gunfight ends. News that Posse crimes occurring in Chicago and across the United States spread as the Posse increases their crime and members. The next day, Screwface and his henchmen do a drive-by shooting on the house where John, his sister Melissa, and Melissa's 12-year-old daughter Tracey live. Tracey is injured and hospitalized in critical condition.
John encounters a gangster named Jimmy whom he is forced to kill. A Jamaican gangster named Nesta arrives and is subdued by John, who asks about Screwface. Nesta gives information but tells him to go after Screwface alone and jumps out the window to his death. The next day, John discovers a strange symbol engraved on a carpet, and with the help of Jamaican voodoo and gang expert Leslie, a detective for the Chicago Police Department, he learns that it is an African blood symbol used to mark their crimes. John decides to come out of retirement to join Max in a battle against Screwface.
At the same night of their rendezvous, John gets a phone call from Melissa, which is cut short when Screwface and his men invade the Hatcher household, but they leave upon his arrival. The next day, John and Max encounter another batch of Screwface's henchmen which results in a car chase wherein one of the henchmen is killed. The henchmen's car crashes into a mall wherein they are subsequently killed by the duo amidst the chaos of shoppers fleeing the scene. During a meeting with Leslie, John realizes that the only way to stop the Jamaican Posse is to bring down Screwface. That evening, Screwface ambushes John under the guise of a construction crew; John escapes and survives after Screwface plants a molotov cocktail in his car.
The two team up with Charles, a Jamaican-American detective of the Chicago police, who has been trailing Screwface for five years, and trying to get to the root of the drug problem in the city. They acquire weaponry from a local weapons dealer, and, after testing the arsenal, they head for Kingston, Jamaica to find Screwface. Upon arrival, Max and Charles ask people in the streets information about Screwface's and his hideout. A Jamaican local presents them a photo of a woman who is acquainted with Screwface. John meets her in a nightclub, and she describes hanging out with Screwface, his drug business, and his hideout. The woman also informs John of a cryptic clue: the secret of Screwface's power is that he has two heads and four eyes.
By nightfall, John, Max, and Charles (disguised as members of the Posse) head for Screwface's mansion, where there is a party in progress. Secretly infiltrating the premises through a nearby plantation, John assassinates three henchmen on the balcony with a silenced sniper, plants a bomb at a nearby power station and infiltrates the inner grounds by climbing across roofs. While Max and Charles keep a lookout, John detonates the bomb, causing the party to erupt in violence and gunfire. With Max and Charles opening fire on the ambushing Posse gang, John enters the building and disposes of many henchmen. He finds a sacrificial area but is captured by Screwface and his remaining henchmen. John manages to break free and kills every henchman before decapitating Screwface in a sword fight.
Upon returning in Chicago, the trio displays Screwface's severed head to the Jamaican Posse to get them to end their crimes and leave. However, Screwface's identical twin brother, who runs the Chicago Posse crime business, arrives and kills Charles, causing the gang (as well as the audience) to think that Screwface has returned from the dead. At this point, it is revealed that the twin brother was the real mastermind of all Posse crimes in Chicago and the entire United States while the real Screwface supplies him with drugs and money. The meeting erupts in chaos, and the gang members open fire on the duo.
During the gunfight, Max holds off the henchmen despite being shot in the leg while John kills more gang members before he engages Screwface's twin brother in a sword fight. The fight moves to a nightclub owned by the twin himself wherein Hatcher gives him more fatal injuries by gouging his eyes and breaks his spine before dropping him down an elevator shaft, impaling the twin in the process. With both the Screwface brothers dead, the surviving Posse members are presumably arrested by law enforcement.
The final scene shows John carrying Charles' body with Max limping next to him before ending with Jimmy Cliff's song "John Crow" being played in the credits.

Tags: comedy, neo noir, murder, cult, violence, humor, revenge

Review:
Marked for death is one of them.This film has loads of martial arts, Yardies, drugs, black magic, Drive by shootings, people dressed like Aswad, and the big black guy from platoon who escapes from the shootout at the end by getting rotated back to America.
Hatcher and Max soon run into a bunch of ruthless Jamaican drug dealers who have moved in on the area, and their voodoo practising leader SCREWFACE...Que violence galore!!Expect bone breaking violence from this film, as Hatcher and Co. shoot, beat and tackle their way through the posse in order to save Hatcher and his family's lives-who have been "marked for death" by the gang.
I happen to be a huge fan of Seagal's early work, particularly this film, along with Out for Justice and his Under Siege flicks.Here, Seagal is ready for retirement when he accidentally pisses off some Jamaican druglords who have in turn marked him and his family for death.
He is the greatest American action star (well in his early films at least) and marked for death portrays him at his brutal bone snapping best.This is one of the fastest films i have ever watched, not only is it never boring but it is constantly entertaining.
Screw kill bill no one serves up a bit of revenge like Seagal.You know the plot.........find it elsewhere thats not important he and his family are MARKED FOR DEATH.
The ending itself is excellent, ending much more openly than the average action fest.Seagal is on top form as always, Keith David is good as his friend, Basil Wallace justly insane as Screwface and Tom Wright is likable as the Jamaican sidekick.
In 'Marked for Death,' Seagal is simply a retired undercover troubleshooter for the DEA who moves back to his home town ignoring that Jamaican drug pushers known as posses are invading his old neighborhood...
Also, its damn cool to watch bad-ass Steven Seagal getting it right completely.'Marked for Death' stars Seagal as John Hatcher, a former DEA troubleshooter.
Upon moving back to his home town, Hatcher finds it taken over by a gang of vicious Jamaican drug dealers, led by the twisted Screwface.'Marked for Death' is Power-Packed, Fast-Paced & Loud Cinema at its best.
Marked for Death has Steven Seagal playing John Hatcher a cop whose out for revenge against a gang of Jamaican drug dealers.
Be warned though, like most of Seagal's films, in the U.K Marked for Death was cut badly by the censors so nearly all of the bone breaking violence is now gone, leaving just a standard badly edited action film.
It's not all happiness and handshakes though, as the terrifying Jamaican Voodoo Posse, run by Abu Qua High Priest madman Screwface, have infiltrated Chicago and are dealing death to schoolkids.Irie, Irie.Hatcher wants nothing to do with it, and would rather just mind his own business despite the protest of best friend Max (a mostly wasted, but brilliant as always, Keith David).
After his first two impressive efforts, Above the Law (1988) and Hard to Kill (1989), this third Steven Seagal picture makes the idea clear: anyone who opposes him is meant to look like a fool; the bad guys are just there to make him look good.Seagal had been steadily building an audience that seemed a bit larger than those that follow the kick-'em-up antics of Chuck Norris or Jean Claude Van Damme.In Marked for Death, Seagal tosses aside any pretense at style and heads full throttle into exploitation.
And he deserves some real blame for this lapse in taste as a producer of "Marked for Death."Seagal plays John Hatcher, a retired DEA agent who comes home to Chicago, where his family is being attacked by a Jamaican street gang, who attack his sister's house, and the film proves that it isn't squeamish when Hatcher's niece (Danielle Harris) is shot in the crossfire.
Hatcher gets mad, and he decides to team up with his old friend, Max (Keith David), a school gym teacher, and Charles (Tom Wright), a Jamaican cop.Naturally, Hatcher declares war on the chief bad guy, a dread-locked Jamaican voodoo priest called Screwface (Basil Wallace), a nickname that apparently means "outrageous overacting." And it is almost unbelievable in the way Seagal picks off various members of the gang: he gouges one guy's eyeball, he breaks a guy's back, and he breaks numerous arms and limbs.All logic for this movie is thrown out the window- -through the glass, that is.
His sisters house is attacked and when his niece is shot, Hatcher and Max team up with Jamaican police man Charles (Tom Wright) to find Screwface and end his reign of terror.Clearly neither Screwface nor his ever-dispensable gang of cronies have ever seen a Steven Seagal film, or they would have left him the f**k alone.
Yet this derives from the unintentionally hilarious dialogue, woeful acting, some appallingly gruesome action scenes, and plot devices that simply defy logic.Possibly the funniest moment in the film has Hatcher, who has, by the way, just committed murder (he's retired from the police) and has to be the police's main suspect, taking part in a high speed chase through the city that sees one car drive along the pavement causing massive damage, only to later fly through the window of a department store.
Yes, yes, I'm missing the point, this is a dumb action film - this is hardly trying to be The Wire.Marked for Death does have the sense to show off Seagal's martial arts skills.
He finds that there are plenty of Jamaican drug dealers who sell marijuana and crack to teenagers.One day, he is at a bar with his old friend and a shootout between the jamaicans and these other guys ensue.Seagal protects one of them by beating on a Jamaican, afterwords he swears revenge.So the jamaicans start trying to kill his family by shooting at them.They also engage in voodoo rituals.The gang is led by "Screwface" who is probably the scariest villain in a Seagal film.So Seagal with the help of his friend and a Jamaican cop, go and try to kill Screwface before he can kill them.As usual, the fight scenes are great.
Steven Seagal on a string of late 1980's action hits returns as DEA agent John Hatcher who leaves the profession for a matter of minutes before getting pulled right back into it after his family is attacked by some dope crazed islanders.
This one was pretty decent,, not his best work,, but pretty good nonetheless, he is supposed to be retired just coming back from Columbia where his partner was killed, he get's mixed up with the Jamaican's and get's "Marked for Death" both him and his family, the film is mainly set in Chicago, which i always liked, then switches to Jamaica at the 3/4 pole,, there are a lot of good fighting scenes, and martial arts where Seagal just does what he does best in these films and kicks butt up and down the street,, he even has a few funny lines in the movie.
I believe this was his second film and it has all the action one could wish for in a kick-butt martial arts action movie.You are not here to see Oscar-worthy acting or sumptuous costumes and sets, you are here for an adrenaline-pumping vicarious thumping of the bad guys - in this case Jamaican drug dealers.
Marked for death , is corny , i don't care i hate this film it is a story about Jamaican drug fdealers ,, oouuggg horrible the accent and dialouge goes into a childish form , kids will love this garbage but as an action film it is a cartoon , the violence is tame and horrible because the film has no realistic fights the revenge action scenes ares simple , ohhhhh , shoot em up , no death that is good.
**SPOILERS** After a blotched up drug bust in Mexico where both his partner Chico, Richard Delmente, was killed and the women member of the Mexican drug gang who killed him was in returned shot to pieces by DEA agent John Hatcher, Steven Seagal, the very dependable and cool as a cucumber drug cop just about had it with his job as a law enforcer.
Enraged that anyone would dare lay a hand on one of his gang members posse leader Screwface, Basil Wallace, has not only Hatcher but his entire family marked for death.One of Seagal's lesser efforts not that "Marked for Death" lacks any of the usual trademark gore and violence, in fact it's one of the most violent films that Seagal ever stared in, that's so common in his movies.
The posse members end up giving Steven Seagal the hardest time I can remember him having with the bad guys in any of his movies.
Taking his friend high school football coach and former DEA agent Max, Keith David, as well as visiting Jamacian police captain Charles, Tom Wright, along with him and an arsenal of weapons Hatcher is now going to make sure that Screwface and his posse will never threaten him his family or anyone else again.
The movie opens with Seagal running full speed in pursuit of another man setting the pace and atmosphere early letting you know you are in for a full throttle ride.This time Seagal plays the part of John Hatcher, a former DEA agent, who returns home to find some peace and healing with his family.
Marked For Death is an excellent Martial Arts Thriller starring Steven Seagal, Basil Wallace, Keith David and Tom Wright.
It is a film which is about retired cop John Hatcher (played by Seagal) who has just retired from the Drug Enforcement Agency and returns to his hometown and quickly discovers that drugs have infiltrated his old neighbourhood and that Killings and deaths are happening done by a notorious, ruthless and violent Jamaican Gang led by the malicious Jamaican druglord Screwface(played by Basil Wallace).
Marked For Deaths acting by Steven Seagal, Basil Wallace, Keith David and Tom Wright is excellent.
Marked For Death is an excellent and tense Martial Arts Thriller with brutal violence and awesome action and again Seagal also looks very handsome in this film.
i might be a little biased towards this Seagal film as it's actually the first of his that i saw and one of only two i have seen in the theatre.i just finished watching it again a couple hours ago,for only the second time.compared to his two previous movies,there is less action here,but the ferocity of the action more than makes up for it.the broken bone(not to mention deaths)quotient in this one is off the charts.Seagal is starting to become wooden in his acting here,and it shows,but the movie is still a romp.the villain is great here and is played with gusto by Basil Wallace.i'd recommend it to action fans in general and certainly to Seagal fans.for me,Marked for Death is a 7/10.
Seagal plays John Hacher a narcotics cop who goes up against Screwface a sadistic Jamaican drugs baron who wants john dead.marked for death is a brilliant action packed Seagal classic bone crunching fight scenes blazing action and the acting is top notch Seagal is good as john hatcher and basil Wallace is good as the evil Screwface Kieth David is also good as Seagals side kick.
Top action makes marked for death a classic Seagal movie also good directing by dwight h little who also did rapid with brandon lee and murder at 1600 with wesley snipes pure entertainment makes this a good rental 8 out of ten.
Seagal has and (probably) always will be a stoic martial arts action star with limited acting capabilities but stellar skills in snapping limbs and breaking necks and here (dare I spoil it for everyone), his first dual-vasectomy/decapitation combo.Seagal is former DEA agent John Hatcher, who decides to retire from the job after a drug bust gone bad in Mexico that leaves his partner dead.
Little, "Marked for Death" has all the trimmings of a nice kick-'em-up that's characteristic of any Steven Seagal action flick.
His acting was as expected, but he choreographed the fight scenes (amazing one at the jewelry store), and he actually researched the voodoo scenes in the filmA movie about Seagal out to kill a Jamaican druglord and the rest of the posse after he and his family have been marked for death, it's a great plot.
Steven Seagal as John Hatcher a retired DEA Agent, returns to Chicago, only to find out it's being overrun by Jamaican Drug dealers.
Marked For Death is the story of Seagal against a band of mystic Jamaican drug dealers, and these guys have no discretions about pushing their products in broad daylight.Hatcher goes back to visit his old high school coach, Max (a minimal effort by Keith David), and right in the middle of practice there are some of these dread-locked crackheads sitting right there in the bleachers peddling crack to some bookworm-looking high school girls.Maybe I just had a sheltered experience in high school, but I didn't know crack dealers and crackheads hung out AT SCHOOL in the MIDDLE OF THE DAY.
DEA Agent John Hatcher (Steven Seagal) returns back to his home town of Chicago in order to retire from service, but this proves to be easier said than done when Hatcher inadvertently ends up in the middle of a drug war involving a bunch of Jamaicans.
Hatcher initially has a take-it-or-leave it approach to the Jamaicans and their activities, but when they start making threats towards his family, Hatcher along with his old friend Max (Keith David) go to work and decide to put an end to their reign of terror...Yep it's a Seagal action flick so I hoped that having low expectations would mean that the film would just about work as a mindless time passer, but for me Marked For Death didn't really work even on this very basic level.The storyline involving crooked drug-pushers is as old as time itself and I assume that the voodoo/witchcraft stuff that was thrown into the mix was intended to perhaps spice the film up and give it some originality, but if anything the voodoo/witchcraft aspect of the film seems to only exist to turn the drug-pushers into some kind of savage tribe (to presumably satisfy the director's bloodthirsty approach) - the knock on effect of this is that Marked For Death has lots of brutality, but not a great deal of depth.
As mentioned, director Dwight H Little doesn't hold back here and despite working from a generic script, he does at least try to make the action sequences memorable and due to some of the brutality that is on hand here he does kind of succeed in this respect.As is to be expected, the acting is nothing to right home about; I would have liked it if Seagal and David would have had more of a workable chemistry between the two of them, but unfortunately they both play their respective roles too seriously resulting in little humour being evident within the picture - given director Little's approach perhaps this was the intention, but it makes for a fairly heavy and dull picture on frequent occasions.
Steven Seagal stars as John Hatcher an Ex-DEA agent who single handedly wipes out a Jamaican drug posse, in this ridiculous and inert actioner.
And even though the plot in Marked for Death is the same as every other films that the man has made, it is still a lot of fun.Plot goes like this: Segal plays a cop, who is sick of killing people, taking drugs and sleeping with informants.
Marked For Death is with no doubt Steven Seagal`s best movie!
Marked For Death is a true action-classic, and the best movie of Steven Seagal.
Marked for Death starts as undercover DEA agent John Hatcher (producer Steven Seagal) decides he has had enough of his job after his partner Chico (Richard Delmonte) is murdered in a botched up drugs bust.
Marked for Death was Seagal's third film coming after Above the Law (1988) & Hard to Kill (1990) & before his 'masterpiece' Out for Justice (1991), back then he wasn't as fat as these days & he actually looks impressive as he kicks the crap out of everyone in some well stage & excessively violent fights.
John and Max set out to hunt Screwface down, only to discover that Screwface has gone back to Jamaica.John and Max take Charles with them to Jamaica for an all out war against Screwface and his drug empire.Back in the day when Seagal had his ponytail, he made some great movies and they were a lot of fun and action packed, but than fire down below happened and it all went downhill from there.This has got to be his most fun film to date, it's got one of the best villains ever, who is genuinely menacing and psychotic, and instead of going for the normal Gangsters AKA Italians in this movie, they opt for a Jamaican Posse, who have an eerie mysticism of their own.We know that the villain is bad, because he wears really awful jumpers, gets mad when plays dominoes, wakes up from nightmares in a really dramatic way, and spits Bacardi in Seagals sisters face.But the more evil and over dramatic the villain, the more we Want Seagal to Kick the guys butt, so Kudos to Basil Wallace.As for Seagal, he's how he normally is, Average acting, getting heavier, and starting to wear odd clothes.
John Hatcher (Seagal) is a retired DEA agent and now police "troubleshooter" who doesn't like the fact that a ruthless Jamaican gang is now selling drugs to children at the local schools and getting into violent turf wars.
Perhaps one of the all-time best Seagal action sequences is in Marked For Death - the car chase/mall fight.
Unlike "Out for Justice" and "Above the Law" its violence isn't wince inducing, and unlike those films and "Hard to Kill" it has a memorable villain who gets a fair bit of screen time.The story is something about Seagal moving back to the old neighbourhood and fighting with Jamaican drug dealers.