Very Cool!!!

Simply A Masterpiece

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

"On Deadly Ground" may have had good intentions, judging by the synopsis. The final results are nothing short of disastrous. Steven Seagal convincing himself that he's a director, doesn't exactly help matters. His "direction" is heavy going to say the least and can't maintain a good enough pace. Michael Caine - in yet another woeful film - tries and fails dismally to put on an authentic American accent. His hair dye job only makes it worse! One scene that invites unintentional mirth, is the one in the local bar when Seagal crosses swords with bigot Mike Starr. The reason why this is all a bit ridiculous, is when the two men test each other's hand speed. Seagal was by now piling on the pounds, so his opponent here would have to be on the stout side. Otherwise, a skinnier opponent would only make Seagal look decidedly slow....An absolute farce! This film is about loads of money being wasted on a story which wasn't developed properly. It becomes just another excuse to have good guys vs the bad guys, guns and all.

It is a cartoon of an action movie, perfect in almost every way, and simultaneously terrible in almost every way.On Deadly Ground is Steven Seagal's magnum opus. Yes, he has made better films. Out for Justice, Above the Law, Under Siege, Marked for Death, and Hard to Kill are technically superior films. But if you wanted to sum up Seagal with a single film, then this is it. Seagal directs, produces and stars in this ill-thought-out, high-horsing, heavy-handed mess of a film. From start to finish, this is Seagal.Seagal is Forrest Taft, an ex-blows-things-up-guy turned eco-terrorist who wants to destroy an oil rig. And like all of Seagal's films, with a few tiny changes in music cues and editing, it could be re-created to make Seagal the villain. In fact, in this case, it probably wouldn't even require any tinkering. Forrest has no problem with flat out murdering people from anti-environment scumbags to innocent security and army men who are simply doing their jobs. Face stabbings, neck breaking, crotch kicks — nothing is out of bounds for Forrest.Seagal rants and raves in attempts to justify his violence. He even tells off an Alaskan native (played by non-Alaskan native Joan Chen) for trying to talk him out of rampant slaughter. Like a proper loon, he keeps a stockpile of explosives hidden away in a mountain. For a rainy day. Forrest Taft is a legit maniac. But Forrest is the hero. And so he is allowed to live out the film without being imprisoned. He even gets to deliver a heartfelt speech about pollution and evil corporations in the film's ridiculous final moments.There are many other things that are utterly insane about this film. Seagal literally beats the racism out of a man. He goes on a demented spiritual journey. He beats up an unprecedented amount of old men. The cast outside of Seagal don't fare much better. Michael Caine tries to put on an American accent for about ten minutes and then stops. Billy Bob Thornton stands around doing nothing and then gets blown up. Dr. Cox from Scrubs murders an old man while chewing scenery like it's nobody's business. It was such a delight watching scenes without Seagal, knowing he was behind the camera shaping this ludicrous masterpiece.It's amazing that this was allowed to exist. It is a mess of lofty ideals, a giant ego and angry violence. On Deadly Ground is pure Steven Seagal.

Steven Segal saves the Alaskan wild from Michael Caine's evil oil rig owner in this preachy enviro-actioner packed with fighting and explosions.Segal stars as Forrest Taft (awesomely stupid name), an oil rig fire fighter who learns of unethical shenanigans in the running of Aegis Oil , an evil global conglomerate who purchased land in Alaska almost twenty years ago, and now has just two weeks to start drilling or they will lose their mining rights on the land. They cut some corners and make an unsafe rig. Taft is informed about the faulty equipment by rig foreman Hugh, and becomes the target of the evil Aegis CEO Michael Jennings (Michael Caine). Jennings gets his henchmen, led by MacGruder (John. C. McGinley), to kill Hugh and set up an explosion to take care of Taft. Taft survives the explosion and ends up being nursed back to health in an Eskimo Village by (Masu) Joan Chen.After Taft and Masu leave, Jennings sends his men to destroy the Eskimo Village. Taft has had enough and he is going to break into the oil refinery and blow this sucker sky high! This movie really aggravated people living in Alaskan communities as it portrayed Alaskan oil rigs in a negative light and depicted Alaskan people to be either racist whites or Eskimos, with nothing in between. Segal actually lived briefly in the area while being trained in oil rig fighting and presumably location filming.There is some nice scenery to watch here along with some good fighting sequences and the big explosion at the end is worth the lengthy set-up. But the environmental stuff is so preachy, and the two main baddies, McGinley and Caine are not fighters, so there is no big show down to enjoy. Segal and Caine bring what they always bring to their movies, and the presence of names like Chen, McGinley and Billy Bob Thornton, adds some gravitas to proceedings, but not enough.If you like Segal films, this has everything you would expect in one, and is well made, but the film indulges in simplistic stereotypes and contains endless preaching about the "evil that lurks in the hearts of men" and oil drilling, including a powerpoint presentation right before the end credits, and for many this will kill it.

Even if all of the explosions, action and martial arts sequences had been done well, they would be hopelessly drowning in one of the most blatant and over-the-top environmental message you will have ever seen. "On Deadly Ground" is a preachy mess of a film. The antagonists are one second away from growing curly mustaches and twirling them while clubbing baby seals and the protagonist is kind of a bully that prefers solving his problems with violence rather than common sense. There are also plenty of ridiculous over-the-top sequences that feel completely out of place with the pro-environment message that it's trying to shove down the audience's throat. There's ham-fisted and then there's "On Deadly Ground" who take the ham off of your plate, shows you the pig's family before it was slaughtered, beat you to death with it the chunk of meat, tosses your ravaged body out of the window and onto on gas-guzzler that explodes due to the impact and reduces the nearby winter coat store to a pile of cinders. (On VHS, January 2012)