In San Francisco, FBI agent Sasha Petrosevitch goes undercover as a Russian car thief and is brought in by criminal Nick Frazier to work for crime boss Sonny Eckvall, who apparently shot and killed Sasha’s wife. After some time, FBI Special Agent Ellen Williams and her team show up to nail Nick, but things go wrong, and Sasha gets shot.
After eight months of recovery following his brief bout of being clinically dead from the shooting, Sasha is incarcerated along with Nick in the newly reopened Alcatraz prison. Run by the charismatic warden, Juan Ruiz “El Fuego” Escarzaga, the place is known for its new state of the art death chamber where the condemned can choose from five different ways to die: lethal injection, gas chamber, hanging, firing squad, or electric chair.
Lester McKenna is the first death row prisoner brought to the new Alcatraz and also the first prisoner scheduled to be executed. An older man, he stole $200,000,000 worth of gold bricks in a heist that resulted in five deaths and hid the loot at an unknown location. Federal Bureau of Prisons head Frank Hubbard and Supreme Court Justice Jane McPherson have arrived to witness the execution, which is a result of Jane sentencing Lester.
But she’s not the only one interested in Lester. A small but well-equipped team of terrorists who call themselves the “49ers” have parachuted onto the Alcatraz island and gained control of it. Led by 49er One, a.k.a. Hubbard’s assistant Donny Johnson, and 49er Six, the team finds Lester, and they want him to give up the location of his hidden stash of gold. When Lester will not tell them, Donny shoots a nearby priest and threatens to kill others if the information is not delivered.
Donny’s plan is disrupted, however, when Sascha decides to step in and fight back. At this point, Sasha’s true identity is revealed and he used Nick to get to Sonny Eckvall, whom he seeks revenge on for the death of his wife. When Sasha rescues Lester, the 49ers strap Jane to the electric chair and threaten to kill her, all while Ellen and her team prepare a rescue plan from the mainland.
With the help of Nick and some of the other inmates such as Twitch and Little Joe, Sasha sets out to rescue Jane and bring Donny down, before Alcatraz becomes everyone’s final resting place. The conflict culminates in the 49ers taking McPherson and Lester on a helicopter and departing with Sasha in pursuit. Donny attempts to buy time by throwing MacPherson out of the helicopter, but Sasha dives after her and manages to save her, while Lester reveals that he was previously given an improvised bomb vest of grenades that he sets off, killing himself and Donny. Sasha subsequently leads the investigators to the gold, Lester having told him its location before his death.
A month later, Nick, having previously learnt of Sasha’s reasons for hunting Donny, is still recovering in prison, but is informed in a meeting with Sasha that he is being released early for his role in the hostage crisis. Don’t miss out on the thrilling action of Half Past Dead – watch the full movie now and experience the intense drama for yourself!