Actor Matt Battaglia has always had strong ties to Niagara Falls, and now he can be seen here on the big screen.
Battaglia is starring with Steven Seagal, Morris Chestnut ("Two Can Play That Game") and Nia Peeples in the action feature "Half Past Dead" for writer/director Don Michael Paul.
The Hollywood Reporter compared "Half Past Dead" with "Die Hard."
"When the action finally kicks in, the film takes on a B-movie vitality that pulls the viewer in," critic Rick Honeycutt wrote.
Morris Chestnut plays a man who masterminds a plan to infiltrate a high-tech prison in an attempt to persuade a death row inmate to tell him the whereabouts of $200 million worth of gold stolen from an old heist that the FBI was never able to solve.
It's up to an undercover FBI man (Seagal) and his partner, played by rapper Ja Rule, to stop Chestnut and his accomplices (Battaglia and Peeples).
The film was shot last year in Berlin, Germany, and was released last week. It is currently playing here at the Regal Cinema on Niagara Falls Boulevard at the 1-190 exit.
Battaglia is the cousin of Reporter Publisher Bruce Battaglia and the nephew of Edna Battaglia of Rainbow Boulevard.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | November 19 2002 |