ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Iseerphia All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

swedzin And here's another one. Another of those Steven Seagal's straight to DVD films… boring, with no acting, no interesting characters… not even interesting fighting scenes. Seagal is in his usual appearance, big, fat quietly voiced guy, who goes around and does nothing… just nothing. This is one of those rare films where Seagal ends up in the jail and he hangs pretty good there, as most of his characters, he is untouchable. He escapes to find guys who put him in there, on the way out he joins forces with Ice Cool (Anthony Criss) and that's it… a thief who seeks vengeance, like in the most Seagal films… nothing new. It's interesting to see appearances of Kevin Tighe and Nick Mancuso here… but don't expect that they saved this film. So, if you want to put yourself to sleep, here's another one of those films

Paul Andrews Today You Die starts as honourable criminal Harlan banks (producer Steven Seagal) is hired by sinister businessman Max Stevens (Kevin Tighe) to drive a security vehicle with $20,000,000 of cash in the back from point 'A' a Las Vegas casino to point 'B' him, sounds simple right? Well what Max forgot to tell Harlan that the money is stolen & that he has just become the getaway driver in an armed robbery. Bummer. Things get even worse for Harlan when the local cops catch him & chuck him in prison for a long time, however Harlan managed to hide the money before he was caught & with a nice $20,000,000 at stake & unaccounted for Harlan has to watch his back as the crooks want it as do Government agents. Harlan teams up with Ice Kool (!)(Anthony 'Teach' Criss) in prison & they both manage to escape at which point Harlan goes looking for some revenge...Photographed & directed by Don E. FauntLeRoy one has to say that the shot in Eastern Europe straight-to-video action films that Steven Seagal specialises in these days aren't getting any better & Today You Die is a good case in point. This is a terrible film, simple as that really. The script by producer Danny Lerner, Kevin Moore & Les Weldon gives Seagal a new sort of character to get his none existent acting skills around, that of a criminal rather than some Government agent/cop/soldier/one man army cliché he usually plays. In fact if you were being charitable you could say Today You Die is a rip-off of Mel Gibson's excellent thriller Payback (1998) where he too played a really nasty piece of work to such good effect. While Payback was a superb uncompromising hard edged film noir type action thriller Today You Die isn't & pales into insignificance by comparison. Unfortunately here Seagal is terrible, he has no on screen presence or menace either & the audience is never quite sure whether he is meant to be a bad guy that we hate or not. For instance initially his character's is set up like a modern day Robin Hood as he steals from the rich drug dealers & scumbags to give to the poor (as well as keeping a tidy profit for himself) which is just ludicrous in itself but then it has Seagal turn around & murder a lot of people which contradicts the likable criminal with morals that the film went to such lengths to set up in the first place. The story is full of holes, for instance Agent Knowles is contacted by the on the run Harlan & is then reprimanded by her bent superior for meeting him & it turns out that he found out by tapped her phone. In that case why didn't her boss use the information he had to catch Harlan? The story is the usual dull predictable bland fight over lots of money with surprise surprise the investigating Government agent is actually a bad guy! Wow, I didn't see that coming I must say...Director FauntLeRoy slows everything down to a snails pace & Today You Die feels like it goes on forever, the action scenes & set-pieces are also severely lacking in entertainment value. The infrequent fight scenes aren't great, most are either shot in shadow, very quickly cut & edited or with the camera played behind Seagal's character to try & disguise the fact that most of the stunt work done here is by a double. Again Seagal looks fat & out of shape & uses long baggy overcoats to try & hide it, it doesn't. There's a pretty cool car chase through the streets of Las Vegas in this at the start & I thought that Today You Die might be alright but it seems the whole sequence was stolen from another action film called Top of the World (1997) which is about a Las Vegas casino robbery, as well as using footage from that film Today You Die also edits scenes from the Charlie Sheen action film No Code of Conduct (1998), the Jean-Claude Van Damme action film The Order (2001) & the Wesley Snipes prison based action film Undisputed (2002) so quite how much of Today You Die is original footage is anyone's guess.Technically the film is alright, considering it's edited together from four separate films as well as it's own footage it's just about competent & consistent enough. All the footage of the US locations are obviously lifted from the films already mentioned with all the original footage shot on the cheap in Bulgaria. The rap style music that litter Today You Die is awful by the way. The acting is poor & Seagal just mumbles his way through his lines as usual.Today You Die is a really bad film made up from other bad action films, Seagal looks old & fat, the action scenes are average at best & most of the story is fairly random & it doesn't come together at the end that well at all. One to avoid unless your a die hard Seagal fan, if such an animal even exists...

Andrei Pavlov There is too much trash-talk about Mr Steven Seagal on IMDb nowadays. He is being accused of being fat, unfit, slow, etc. His fans are being upset by his latest movies, movies like these. Jackie Chan fans are giving him names, while being triggered by Steven Seagal fans. I am no fan at all and I don't have rotating blades instead of my limbs, so I watched this film with an open mind. And I can say that I enjoyed it. Can I back my "enjoyment factor"? Get this, IMDb fault-finders.No.1 The Steven Seagal character is a whispering jacket-clad easy-going rogue with incredible stamina and a charming smile.No.2 The film is full of surprises.Surprise One Instead of fighting some crazy flipping bad guy (who is simply ridiculous with his unnecessary acrobatic moves before the real brawl) our hero just shoots him with a shotgun. I was 100% sure there would be an aikido fight.Surprise Two When coming to jail and meeting black men who have a usual "criminal ghetto quality" our hero starts talking rap (!) in his signature low voice. Can you name any other action movie with such a linguistic twist? Amazing. Our actors also did a great job, making Mr Steven Seagal sound like "Coolio". I almost fell from my sofa when hearing that black-men-rap jargon - grown-up people talking like 13-years delinquents...Surprise Three The existence of some magical circles, "prophecy" playing cards, intricate Indian ornaments, nightmarish dreams of the female character, and other extravaganza rubbish. I expected it would result in some apocalyptic ending but there is no such thing.Surprise Four The hero's haircut is strange and his choice of clothes is not run-of-the-mill. I have never seen a man of action in such a heavy leather coat. It must be damn heavy.Surprise Five In modern action movies it is almost a must for every director to insert some indecent "sexual" scene. This film is devoid of that stupid tendency. This point alone is a boost on my scale.No.3 The plot of the movie is quite hectic but is not very difficult to follow. The hero finds a job. He becomes a driver working for some old grinning man. Then the hero gets into a bloody mess and very soon is zooming through the streets of the city in a money-van. He crashes, loses consciousness, goes to jail, meets some black hoodlums, fulfils a grand escape, shoots the hell out of a few bad boys, wins a big amount of money, and helps an orphanage. During all this a black woman, who loves him, is loading his ears with her strange talks about her nightmares.Mr Steven Seagal puts some strange type of an action hero on the screen, who doesn't have to jump high, run fast, flip and high-kick. And I think that it is quite all right if he is an aikido master. Isn't it all about inertia and control of the incoming aggression? Then it doesn't matter if he's fat or not. Sumo fighters even must have weight, must they not? And I think a sumo master is yet to come onto the screen and embody a new type of action star.He can follow the flow of the fight, he can make one quick move instead of some freaky quick succession of dynamite hits, he can keep calm in all situations, and he can go to sleep without pulling off his big pyjama jacket. I think it is enough for a unique on-screen hero. He is no Jackie Chan and he should not be. I was very glad to see something different from a usual kung-fu/karate flick with explosive over-the-top fighting or a usual modern CGI "XXX" action.Stop fronting on this film - it is not bad at all. If I should compare, "Matrix: Reloaded" is pure "expansion-remake-of-the-original" manure if compared to this action film, though the IMDb rating suggests the opposite, in my humble opinion of course.I am sure that there's no need to mention the bad sides of this movie, which are popping out now and then. Many people say that he is doubled in his latest movies. If he is doubled in this one, it is the worst side of the film I suppose. I did not notice though. As to the corny acting - I've got no problem with that, while the film is corny itself.It would have been marvellous if Mr Steven Seagal and Mr Jackie Chan had made a movie together, playing two rivals with dozens of wicked henchmen at their disposal. I can even imagine the final showdown as Mr Jackie Chan in his Chinese outfit is doing his best with his whirling moves and helicopter kicks while Steven character in a big pyjama jacket is backing off being as calm as ever and makes brisk counterattacks hurting Jackie character badly while whispering one-liners. With good choreography this would have been of the same calibre as the notorious "Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris" fight. Unfortunately this movie is non-existent.Fair job, Mr Steven Seagal, not perfect of course, but pretty fair: 6 out of 10 (the lingual twist alone deserves respect), just do what you can and make more zany action, keep off stupid bed scenes (like in this action flick) and don't be afraid to show yourself even if you are not in a top-notch muscular condition! And don't hit the gym because it is very harmful to one's health. Thanks for attention.

scottfilm that keep using those blasted stunt doubles to try and make him into a "flying dragon". Seagal doesn't need to do all the "airborn" stunts to convince me he can kick some teeth. Movies like Glimmerman are great examples of good choreography with lots of objects being abused with human bodies slamming against them. ;) Give us back the good old Steven we loved in the 90's. This film tried to get back there somewhat. Ashame Asian director's are so fascinated with matrix style choreography and can't just "keep it real". I'm sick of Asian films trying to sell us on stunts alone. Crouching Tiger was one of those films where it's crazy how long you can draw out a story about some sword that I "suppose" is the salvation of the people or whatever. Jet Li's new "Fearless" however is one that am definitely looking forward to. Let's keep Steven doing what he does best, breaking bones and giving pilot lessons. ;)