A Law Of His Own
Nathan Hatcher was always one to get the job done when it came to undercover work for the DEA. He realized though, after killing a woman (who just shot his partner), that he had become as ruthless as the men he despised. He decides to retire, much to the dismay of the Chicago police chief who needs Hatcher to continue the war on drugs. But Nathan is burnt out and has decided that no matter how hard you fight, drug dealers are just a reality in society.
He heads back to his home town, away from the big city, and soon realizes after meeting up with Max (Keith David), that drugs are rapidly spreading there, too. Max is up in arms about these new Jamaican drug dealers selling crack to his high school football team, but at first Nathan isn’t convinced to do anything. After getting involved in a shootout in a local bar between two drug dealing factions, Nathan is marked for death by Jamaican posse run by a mysterious, voodoo-practicing man named Screwface.
It’s only when his niece is shot in a drive-by that Nathan realizes its time to take the fight to the drug dealers. Dispensing his own personal kind of justice, with the help of Max, he begins to turn the tide against the Jamaicans. The last hour of the movie is all action, while the first thirty minutes sets the stage — a typical formula for action films.
Seagal’s films are known for his nearly untouchable characters, who rapidly dispense justice with martial arts and weaponry. Marked For Death is no different as Seagal shows off his Aikido abilities and swordsmanship. There are several firefight and car chase scenes, too. I think the story plays out pretty well, but there are some goofy quirks in it that will make you question the actions that some of the characters take. For example, why Hatcher didn’t immediately move his family out of their house and into a hidden location when trouble first started? Why did he wait so long to jump out of the car when the truck and bulldozer were blocking him in? You know, those kinds of things, but that shouldn’t keep you from enjoying what is ultimately a textbook action film from the 80-90s era.
Marked For Your Blu-ray Collection?
The Blu-ray version unfortunately received the same lightweight treatment as most action movies from the era do when they are brought to HD. That said, the image quality is actually pretty darn good — I was literally impressed with several of the brightly lit outdoor scenes that were crisp and detailed. Even in the dark scenes there was minimal or no grain. Frankly, the image quality is great and I was surprised this much effort was put into making it look good. The DTS Surround didn’t disappoint either.
Where I was sorely disappointed was in the menu and the extra features. The menu reminded me of the very basic menu that was done for the Rocky Collection on Blu-ray. That same, terrible looking font is used here. Beyond the cosmetics though, and more importantly, there are zero extra features here. The choices are literally limited to English or Spanish subtitles, scene selection, and Play. This release would have been so much better if a new interview with the main cast and crew, or even just Steven Seagal, could have been setup. Unfortunately, it’s a bare bones release which makes it hard to recommend for purchase to anyone but collectors and passionate Seagal fans.
To the summary…