Chicago DEA agent John Hatcher has just returned from Colombia, where his partner was killed in the line of duty by a drug dealer who has since been taken down.

As a result of his partner's death, John has decided to retire, but his retirement may not be permanent. On the next day, after reuniting with his sister Melissa and Melissa's daughter Tracy, John gets into a shootout against a Jamaican drug kingpin known as Screwface, taking down some of Screwface's men.

John brings himself out of retirement when Screwface retaliates by attempting to kill Melissa and Tracy. After the shooting, John is reunited with two old friends - a local high school football coach named Max, and a Jamaican Chicago cop named Charles.

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. But his fighting skills in this are some of the best he has ever done, and the set pieces are awe-inspiring, even if they do get a bit over the top toward the end.

It's more fun than Above the Law and Hard to kill, and on a par with Under Siege.

A great film to start with Seagal.

When it comes to action films, a kind of reverse psychology works on me. When I hear actors getting slated for their lack of expressions and general all-round bad acting, it just draws me closer to them and makes me like them even more. This has happened with Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Van Damme and now, Seagal. I love their films all the same. MARKED FOR DEATH is an early venture for Seagal, before he found relative fame with the UNDER SIEGE series. It's a pretty good, typical excursion into the genre, with maybe a little more gore then we're used to seeing and the inclusion of a voodoo sub-plot (an interesting idea for an action film, but woefully used).

There's a lot of mumbo jumbo and native chants and signs, but basically the voodoo is only included as a plot device so that Seagal has no qualms about mutilating the baddies. The baddie in this film is wearing scary contact lenses which is cool, while Seagal is his usual self (bland, expressionless, violent, just as we love him). Keith David, star of THE THING, pops up in a supporting role too and has a ball with it.

There's a lot of violence to please the action fan and also a lot of gore to please those interested in the horror genre. Legs, arms and necks are broken and there's a total gore fest at the end when Seagal breaks apart the gang leader's body in a graphic way, even gouging out his eyes a la THE EVIL DEAD. I was surprised to see so much gore on a terrestrial channel, of course it was a pleasant surprise though. MARKED FOR DEATH is a highly entertaining, gory romp and worth seeing for action fans. It gets my 'mark' of approval.

DEA agent John Hatcher (Steven Seagal) returns from Colombia after the death of his partner. He goes home to his sister's family in Chicago. He and army buddy Max (Keith David) have a drink and he reluctantly gets in the middle of a shootout with the drug gang Jamaican Posse. The leader of the gang is Screwface (Basil Wallace). John arrests one of Screwface's man and his sister's house is shot up. His niece Tracey (Danielle Harris) is left in critical condition.

It's one of Seagal's better efforts for what that's worth. He kicks some bad guys and shoots up a storm. The bad guys use Jamaican voodoo but that adds to the atmosphere. None of it should be taken seriously. It's straight forward and without any apologies.