today you die start a honourable criminal harlan bank ( producer steven seagal ) be hire by sinister businessman max stevens ( kevin tighe ) to drive a security vehicle with $ 20 and 000 and 000 of cash in the back from point a a las vega casino to point b him and sound simple right . well what max forget to tell harlan that the money be steal and that he have just become the getaway driver in an armed robbery . bummer . thing get even bad for harlan when the local cop catch him and chuck him in prison for a long time and however harlan manage to hide the money before he be catch and with a nice $ 20 and 000 and 000 at stake and unaccounted for harlan have to watch his back a the crook want it a do government agent . harlan team up with ice kool ( . ) ( anthony teach criss ) in prison and they both manage to escape at which point harlan go look for some revenge . photograph and direct by don e. fauntleroy one have to say that the shot in eastern europe straight to video action film that steven seagal specialises in these day aren not get any good and today you die be a good case in point . this be a terrible film and simple a that really . the script by producer danny lerner and kevin moore and les weldon give seagal a new sort of character to get his none existent act skill around and that of a criminal rather than some government agent or cop or soldier or one man army cliché he usually play . in fact if you be be charitable you could say today you die be a rip off of mel gibson excellent thriller payback ( 1998 ) where he too play a really nasty piece of work to such good effect . while payback be a superb uncompromising hard edge film noir type action thriller today you die isn not and pal into insignificance by comparison . unfortunately here seagal be terrible and he have no on screen presence or menace either and the audience be never quite sure whether he be mean to be a bad guy that we hate or not . for instance initially his character be set up like a modern day robin hood a he steal from the rich drug dealer and scumbags to give to the poor ( as well a keep a tidy profit for himself ) which be just ludicrous in itself but then it have seagal turn around and murder a lot of people which contradict the likable criminal with moral that the film go to such length to set up in the first place . the story be full of hole and for instance agent knowles be contact by the on the run harlan and be then reprimand by her bent superior for meet him and it turn out that he find out by tap her phone . in that case why do not her bos use the information he have to catch harlan . the story be the usual dull predictable bland fight over lot of money with surprise surprise the investigating government agent be actually a bad guy . wow and i do not see that come i must say . director fauntleroy slow everything down to a snails pace and today you die feel like it go on forever and the action scene and set piece be also severely lack in entertainment value . the infrequent fight scene aren not great and most be either shot in shadow and very quickly cut and edit or with the camera play behind seagal character to try and disguise the fact that most of the stunt work do here be by a double . again seagal look fat and out of shape and use long baggy overcoat to try and hide it and it doesn not . there a pretty cool car chase through the street of la vega in this at the start and i think that today you die might be alright but it seem the whole sequence be steal from another action film call top of the world ( 1997 ) which be about a la vega casino robbery and as well a use footage from that film today you die also edit scene from the charlie sheen action film no code of conduct ( 1998 ) and the jean claude van damme action film the order ( 2001 ) and the wesley snip prison base action film undisputed ( 2002 ) so quite how much of today you die be original footage be anyone guess . technically the film be alright and consider it edit together from four separate film as well a it own footage it just about competent and consistent enough . all the footage of the u location be obviously lift from the film already mention with all the original footage shot on the cheap in bulgaria . the rap style music that litter today you die be awful by the way . the acting be poor and seagal just mumble his way through his line a usual . today you die be a really bad film make up from other bad action film and seagal look old and fat and the action scene be average at best and most of the story be fairly random and it doesn not come together at the end that well at all . one to avoid unless your a die hard seagal fan and if such an animal even exist .