Movies-TV

Predictable, Routine, Humdrum

Once again, our Stevie wheels-out his formulaic hokum. He's a very secret agent (yawn), he can do anything (double yawn), There's a bunch of ruthless bad-guys (where's me slippers) and they're led by an even more ruthless king-pin (now for me cocoa).His movies are so much alike that I keep getting them mixed-up. There's one about another large, unscrupulous corporation burying toxic waste, in which he plays another very secret agent masquerading as a handyman; isn't that called 'Fire Down Below'? I'll look it up. This time it's an oil company messing with the environment. Fortunately - like all good paranoid survivalists - Mr S. has got a shack full of explosives and weapons conveniently hidden up the nearest mountain. So he can command all of the firepower that his polystyrene plots, pyrotechnic excess, and slo-mo takes require. He would seem to have these stashes dotted all over the country like some sort of anarchist squirrel.The rest is pretty much what you'd expect, if you're still awake. A friendly nice guy gets hurt/killed and that's the cue for him to turn homicidal vigilante.There's some momentary glimpses of pleasant scenery whilst he's out in the mountains,. a preposterous canyon so badly matted-in that it might have been spliced from a 1950's adventure movie, and there's a side-dish of Eskimo hokum, because our hero is always sympathetic towards the indigenous schmucks.It's Segal kicking and chopping his way into middle-age, but before he really began to pile on the pounds. He's still got his soppy pony-tail, and someone really ought to tell him about that jacket - even at the risk of a broken nose.An attempt is made to give it some seat-cred by bribing Micheal Caine to play the bad guy. The man was either desperate or a fool. But then again; he's never really had a decent turn since selling-out to Hollywood. Mr Caine doesn't just play parts; he can act. That's something Mr Segal doesn't even understand. Strictly for the fans.

Maoist Internationalist Movement movie review

Segal is a mercenary for an oil company paid to set fire to evidence of the company's negligence in maintaining its rigs. He turns against the company and decides to destroys its newest facility so that they will have to evacuate the First Nation land. A step forward since Segal doesn't just play a cop, but actually serves a progressive political purpose. Also shows Segal fighting reactionary white chauvinist labor aristocrat workers who benefit from the colonization of First Nations. A good movie for the relationship between capitalism and indigenous exploitation, and the importance of self-defense and martial arts, despite bad gender politics and focoist implications

One man fights against greedy corporate types to save the environment!

Martial arts expert Steven Seagal stars and directs in this familiar looking action film that also has a dollop of environmental subtext thrown in. Seagal is a fireman working to put out oil fires on Michael Caine's Alaskan oil rigs. Seagal is tipped off that Caine is causing the accidents on purpose because he wants to open up a new rig on an Eskimo site. When Caine realises Seagal has found out he tries to have him killed in an explosion. A weird mystical self spiritual 5 minutes follow as Seagal is taken in by the group of Eskimos. Once he is fit and ready it's time to kick butt as he just happens to have a secret haul of firearms and explosives ready to put and stop to Caine's ruthless plans. Seagal plays his calm assured usual self while Caine is all snarls and ends up rather hammy.

I laughed :-)

Of course the premise was kind of silly, but not unlike the native American modern folklore story we've seen in the X-files. I think Seagal has a wicked sense of humour on the go there. with the ability to basicly take the p**s out of the hardman image, for laughs, while getting to eulogize about issues that I get the impression have penetrated Seagals' testosterone-only image. What a breakthrough ! A film with an un-abashed conspiracy 'find out for yourself' message, /and/ a kind of investigation in how to 'play' with the set-piece violent ballet that seagul seems to specialize in, in a way that un-ashamedly tries to take stock 'roller coaster ride violence' more into the /safe/ play that it is. Theres always some nut who will miss the point and take the violence seriously, but it would'nt be a good enough reason to pass over this film. Wow. Still chuckling! :-)barney

Love it or hate it, this film is a classic with much to learn from!!!

I'm a Steven Seagal fan. Having said that, I'm also a very objective fan, I can see why people both love and hate him and his films. On Deadly Ground is, in my opinion, a very good movie that had the potential to be great. So much of this film was well done for it's kind. Most action movies don't take the time to show off a beautiful, exciting locale (in this case, Alaska) or even try to get a message through. The mere fact that this movie was actually trying to say something is what turned most people off, I think. It's true that Steven Seagal's character Forest Taft was a bit overdrawn and far too exaggerated, but so many other things were spot on. The cast is amazing, and they give very good performances to fit in with an action film. The photography and cinematography are top notch for the time period. I wish more movies today had the look and style of the older actioners. The first fight scene is way cool, of course. Then we hit a long, dull rough patch that is my only real complaint about this film. Other than that, who cannot enjoy the half-hour assault on Aegis One at the end? This is the second film that Seagal played an ex-CIA agent. Even now I'm only a little tired of it. I don't worry about background and character development so much, but I like style. And this film has some major style if you care to see it.

Captain Planet: The Movie

I used to love watching 'Captain Planet' when I was in primary school. I learned so much about the environment, and I partially blame it for my development into a left-wing pinko. I knew Steven Seagal was eco-minded, but imagine my surprise when 'On Deadly Ground' ended up being a feature-length of 'Captain Planet', just with more violence and less interesting bad guys.Seagal plays Forrest Taft, an invincible version of Captain Planet. He works for the AEGIS oil-company, fixing up their mistakes, and by that I mean blowing up oil-rigs that are on fire. Somehow, I don't think that would be the most intelligent idea, but hey, I'm not an environmental engineer. AEGIS CEO Michael Jennings (Michael Caine) - the movie's version 'Captain Planet' villain Looten Plunder - is corrupt and trying to get the AEGIS-1 oil-rig online before the land rights revert back to the native Inuit, and to do so is taking very dangerous shortcuts. Taft ends up in an Inuit village where Silook (Chief Irvin Brink) - village chief and playing the role of Gaia, Spirt of the Earth - believes that Seagal is the man-bear who will stop the AEGIS company, so Taft runs off with Masu (Joan Chen) - Silook's daughter filling in the role of the Planeteer Gi - to take AEGIS and their goons.But wait! The similarities to 'Captain Planet' don't end there. The movie's plot plays out like any given episode of 'Captain Planet'. The bad guys put a dastardly plan into motion. The Planeteers try to stop them (in this case, the Planeteers are are the villagers and protesters). When the Planeteers can't do it alone, they summon Captain Planet, who defeats the bad guys and then teaches all an important lesson about the environment. The only things missing in 'On Deadly Ground' were a quality theme song, Captain Planet's green mullet, and a scene in which Steven Seagal is summoned by the Planeteers and shouts "By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!".Unfortunately, 'On Deadly Ground' features long periods of Seagal not being Seagal. Aside from some brief scenes at the start, Seagal doesn't do anything cool until halfway into the movie. This can also be chalked up to the influence of 'Captain Planet, as the Planeteers always waited until the episode had reached the halfway point (at least) before summoning Captain Planet. However, the episode always become cooler when Captain Planet was summoned to kick the bad-guy's arse and deliver some action-hero quips. No surprise here that 'On Deadly Ground' becomes much more enjoyable when Taft is called into eco-action, and treats us to some action scenes that are enjoyable, but nothing special.What makes 'Captain Planet' better than 'On Deadly Ground'? Well, the bad guys in 'Captain Planet' were cooler, 'Captain Planet' was more exciting, and he generally paid more attention to the environment. Blowing up oil-rigs just doesn't seem that... smart.'On Deadly Ground' may be a worth a watch for Seagal fans, and maybe even Planeteers, just prepare yourself for some very direct preaching, just like the real Captain Planet - 5/10

Seagal's directing's on deadly ground

Seagal put together this laughable, nearly comedic hero-action flick to satisfy his ego and preach environmentalism with a ten minute lecture-film at the end. Joan Chen's and Michael Caine's talents are wasted, and the intelligence of Alaskan Native Americans is insulted. Cinematography of beautiful Alaska must be applauded.

He can direct but can he act?

I used to have a real thing about watching Steven Seagal movies, but there's really nothing wrong with them. They're easy to watch, and I have actually enjoyed a couple. He's never going to be the best actor, as he plays the same character, with the same facial expression in every movie. But hey, he has the moves.

There's not much storyline considering. A severely black haired Michael Caine, playing Michael Jennings, (who does actually look like he covered his head with oil), is the bad guy of the movie, who wants to build an oil rig, complete with dodgy parts, in Alaska, before the ground reverts back to the Eskimos. Pretty blah. Forrest (Seagal) interferes, and promptly gets blown up. But the story isn't over. He gets rescued by the Eskimos, and goes on a one-man rampage against Jennings.

From here the film descends into spiritual and environmental nonsense - I'm all for attempting to save the planet, but this is nonsense. Most of the dialogue sounds hokey, and Billy Bob Thornton is nowhere to be seen in this movie. (Seriously, his name is in the credits, but I cannot see him!) There's a big bar brawl, where Forrest makes a big man cry (the bad guy from Beethoven 2), and an old guy features quite a bit, in a painful sequence. He's hiding a very important disc don't you know.

There's nothing we haven't seen in any other Seagal movie. Unfortunately, this also has Seagal's name as director, and that's a big mistake. Occasionally (notice I said occasionally) actors think they can direct. Sometimes they can. In Seagal's case, he has no idea how to link scenes together, and apparently, his god awful speech at the end was supposed to last forever. And then some! No thank you.


On Deadly Ground is a little bit too much on the environmental side, with not enough ideas gone into the script or the actors. Michael Caine? Well wrong in this role. So wrong. Steven Seagal? He's not bad as an actor, he's never going to be great, but his head exploded and he thought he could direct, and get the world to change what they started years before. Stick to the beating up. Do what you do best.

Seagal's First Directorial Debut..And Hopefully His Last

After Under Siege's worldwide success Warner Bros decided that they needed to make a sequel to the movie quickly. Seagal didn't have any plans in making one. He was asked to come back once more for a sequel. In many occasions he refused. He later changed his mind when he asked for demands. this demand was that he wanted Warner Bros to produce a movie for him. And let Seagal himself direct the project. This project became to be known as "On Deadly Ground".


In On Deadly Ground Seagal Plays Forest Taft (I would Pay 20 buck to see who has that name in real life), an expert at taking out oil rig related fires. Taft is hired by Michael Jennings (Michael Caine) while taking down one of these fires, Taft notices that there is faulty equipment and that they are not reporting any of it. Because if they did it would cost the Aegis Oil Company millions in revenue, and the land would be given back to the Eskimos. Taft digs in too deep, and Jennings wants him out of the way. Taft Now will do what it takes to defeat the greedy Oil dude and save the Eskimo tribe whoopee (Sarcasm)


The big issue with the movie, aside from its somewhat original and good intentional idea, it doesn't pass from being a dull action movie. Besides it uses the same idea from Under Siege, bad guys don't know that the cook is an Ex Navy Seal, here in On Deadly Ground They don't know that the guy who takes out the oil fires is a possible ex C.I.A Agent; Give me a break

it was believable the first time in Under Siege, but it wont be if it is constantly being used over and over again. Interestingly the movie is most likely remembered for the "Essence Of A Man" scene. In that scene Seagal defends a stereotypical Native American from a cocky guy. After brutally beating him up, Seagal asks this cocky dude "What does it take to change the essence of a man?" the cocky guy replies, with a bloody nose "I need time" what the rubber ducky is that? If you simply view this scene you will know what I am referring to. The scene is so ludicrous and pointless. Aside from its stupidity, bad depiction of a Eskimos, Seagal knocking out opponents via the groin area to often and even having a fight with a grizzly bear; aside all this The movie has really good cinematography; the scenery of the wild is well photographed. Seagal is not bad with the camera, just bad with storyline. the ending which Seagal tried to bring a message to the public about climate change and toxic waste feels preachy (even after the studio cut 11 min out of the ending due to poor screen test) I guess if you are a Seagal fan it's ok to own it, and thinking about it, this movie is not as bad as his future DTV releases. Rent it if you're not a Seagal fan

MY PERSONAL RATING: 3 OUT OF 5

Best Seagul movie & is misunderstood

This is my all time favorite Seagul movie.I don't really understand the bad ratings this movies awesome.I mean who can't dig the hand slap game I love it.Seagul Direted this film I always felt this is the movie Seaguls always wanted to do.I'm a American Indian & love the land & love the story of this movie.Micheal Caine is obviously not a good fighting bad guy but he's still a decent bad guy. The fact that he gets killed in the stuff he's destroying the earth with is awesome I love it. The running as the building blows up behind them is totally 90's I love it. I completely recommend this film & if you like this film then go get another Seagul movie called Fire down below.

Apparently Segal Dislikes the Oil Industry Or Something.

Ecological preservation must be pretty important to Steven Segal. Important enough to blow up an oil rig, important enough to kill about 20 people in the process.


This has got to be one of the funniest films ever witnessed. Films that weren't intended to be comical but end up as laughing stalks just because of the sheer impossibility of the action are always the best. There's such great sardonic value in bombastity but what makes Segal's films especially laughable is that he takes himself so seriously. I mean, as if this film weren't ridiculous enough Segal had to have a 15-minute one-on-one with the audience at the end of the film to badger them into environmental preservation. You're just sitting there with your mouth open the whole time, practically in a state of terminal shock at the prospect that this was done with the greatest seriousness and sincerity.

Some of the highlights of the film were Segal showcasing his patented groin attacks on a room full of people, choke slamming a 70-year old man through a bar table, and playing handsies with a bully shortly before convincing him to reevaluate his opinion of Native Americans.


Perhaps more than anything though it's the demonization of folks (ANY folks) associated with the oil industry that really sends this film off into galaxies never previously before phathomed. The lense through which Segal seas the oil industry is quite astonishing really; it's almost as if he sees them as an ideologically cohesive unit, akin maybe to the Bolsheviks or the Jacobins, than he sees it as just another segment of the economy. Oil workers willingly give their lives for the company in this film, they keep a third world country's supply of ammunition at the refinery, and they even have their own battle cry ("We're Oil Workers!") which is echoed each time they futilely try to fend off Segal.


This is just hours of an Inuit running roughshot on the white man, blowing up oil rigs, the emasculation of big burly males, and enacting blood-soaked revenge on corporate, capitalist America. In sum this is everything that socialist Hollywood dreams about. If this film had been made in 2007 it probably would've gotten an Oscar nod. If it had been released independently it would be hailed as the greatest thing since the Manifesto.

I'm as much for conservation and protection of our forests as anyone but seriously Steven, this is just unbounded environmentalist crackpotry. Still probably the funniest film ever.

Most important lesson to take from this film: Don't ever get into a helicopter if Steven is nearby.

Rub noses with me, "Eskimo" maiden

In this Alaskan film, Joan Chen plays what is quite probably the last word in Sino-Eskimo snow bunnies.Eskimo Joan represents the same sort of Hollywood confusion about racial boundary lines which saw Larry Fishburne play the Moor of Venice, and Jackie Chan cast to play the King of Pop in an upcoming TV movie. (I'm kidding about one of these.) Not to mention generations of Italian and Jewish Indians, and more white actors in blackface than there are seeds in a watermelon.Joan is teamed here with Steven Seagal, quite probably the last word in inarticulate and extremely violent tree-hugging Buddhists. Sort of the Billy Jack of the Barents Sea. His jacket has more fringe on it than you'd see at a reunion concert by the Buffalo Springfield.Together, they try to build a world where an interracial couple can be happy in an oomiak built for two.A number of years ago, I spent nearly 8 seconds at a book-signing in the presence of Michael Caine. For each of those seconds, he was extremely personable. So it's a bit of a revelation for me seeing him playing his two-faced vicious Hun of a smooth oil company CEO. Old favourite John C. McGinley also appears against type as one of Caine's nastier henchthugs.Finally, there's Seagal's direction which takes his film on this ecological walk through the woods which makes it all seem a little like Oliver Stone after too many days trapped in a sweatlodge.It's so ridiculous I actually found myself enjoying the whole thing quite a bit.

entertaining,though typical Seagal fare

this is typical Steven Seagal fare.it's really just an excuse for Seagal to show how good he is in beating people up.there is,naturally,a great deal of action,and lots of fight scenes.problem is,the fight scenes are nothing we haven't seen before.there are a lot of fancy camera tricks,but so what?there are two added element, one of which is an environmental storyline.the other is the casting of Michael Cane as the main bad guy.if nothing else,Caine adds some class to the proceedings.the cast also includes Joan Chen,R.Lee Emery,and Billy Bob Thornton.so at least it has some decent actors.Caine in particular impressed me.it thought he made a pretty convincing bad guy.Seagal also attempts to act here,but really most people watch a Seagal flick to see him beat up other people,sometimes more than one a at time,and come out with barley a mark on him.if you're a Seagal fan,you'll probably like this entry.it's nothing new,really.despite it's problems,though,i did find it entertaining.for me on Deadly ground is a 6/10

Even for Seagal this was bad

Hilariously awful movie about some spiritual guy named Forrest Taft (Steven Seagal) taking on an evil oil corporation and its head (Michael Caine!) Another example where an actor was given free reign by a studio to direct, write and star in a movie that meant so much to him. There's nothing wrong with doing a movie for environmental protection (I'm all for it myself) but this movie is just so monumentally stupid! Everything is painted in black and white--Seagal is the good, spiritually pure guy who beats up and kills people but hey! He's protecting the environment so that makes it OK (?????). Caine (at an all time career low) plays a completely evil person so completely over the top it's actually pretty laughable. My guess is Caine signed on before he read the script. When he realized what an abomination he was doing he decided to overplay it as much as possible in an attempt to save the movie. Sadly, it doesn't work.I had the "pleasure" of seeing this in a theatre back in 1994. It was just so incredibly TERRIBLE. I wanted to leave but I just couldn't stop watching! People were walking out in great numbers after the first hour and the few that were left by the end made a bolt to the exits when Seagal started giving an environmental speech at the end! Seagal has made one good movie ("Under Siege") and a large number of mediocre and bad ones but none of them are quite as terrible as this. A truly jaw-dropping picture.

Director Seagal treads on thin ice.

On Deadly Ground tries to deliver a message about the environment in between the moments that people pay to see Steven Seagal movies for, him busting noses and snapping limbs. But director/star Seagal does not present the message strongly enough, the violent bloodshed drowning out his good intentions. The movie does deliver a great deal of action, though it lays the spiritual mumbo jumbo down a bit thick in the middle. Also the story gives no logical reason for Forrest Taft's violent backlash in the second half of the movie. He is a private citizen, not a government or police agent, so his actions, no matter how 'justified' in the film's philosophy, or nothing more than terrorism. On Deadly Ground is a fairly entertaining action movie, but a complete artistic failure.

Seagals´ Worst Movie?

I don´t know why I even bother writing this comment, but here goes. As it is required, on the IMDb, I have to write more than 4 lines to submit it, shouldn´t be too hard.All I can say is that don´t waste your money on this film, it´s truly awful, I mean it, it sucks ass, take my word for it. The story itself is very much under average, kill a bunch of people and that´s it, oh and he also has to save the environment in this one, Jesus Christ!. Also the acting is very poor. I think that his movies are very much a like, very violent, no serious story, like "Hard to Kill", "Out of Justice", "Above the Law".If you´re a fan of Seagal, try Under Siege, where he plays a former SEAL, this is also a movie where he has to "save the day", one of the better though.My rating of "On Deadly Ground":2 out of 10 stars

On of Seagal's Less Good Action Films

Steven Seagal is now an employee of Aegis Oil where he is some sort of hired muscle and a former member of the CIA (his exact job seems unclear). After stumbling upon a sinister plot from his boss (played by an angry Michael Caine), he is marked for death by his employer and nearly killed. But after being revived by a tribe of Eskimos (including Joan Chen, who is actually Chinese) he returns to fight the oil company and give long speeches about the environment.The formula here is the same as "Hard to Kill" -- Seagal finds a powerful man doing evil, is left for dead, healed by some spiritual stuff and returns to fight with a new love interest. So if you're looking for something new from Seagal, you're looking in the wrong place. The only new thing here is his directing and increased monologues.This film's strength is in its co-stars. Joan Chen ("Twin Peaks"), Michael Caine, John C. McGinley, Bart the Bear, R. Lee Ermey and Billy Bob Thornton. An incredible line-up. Unfortunately, as good as they all are (especially McGinley, as the feminine assassin) they are stuck in a poorly written film with re-hashed plot and action sequences that are old and revolve around characters who yell "ow, my balls" a lot. I also think the emphasis on the Eskimo spirits was too intense. I appreciate what Seagal was trying to do by promoting the native people and their culture, but it was boring and took away heavily from the flow of the film.Of the Seagal films I've seen, this was by far the least enjoyable. I found it a bit of a challenge to finish. See "Hard to Kill" or "Under Siege" if you like some Seagal action... this one is a bit of a bland flavor. Only for Seagal completists.

A Little Preachy, but still Entertaining.

"On Deadly Ground" (like Van Damme's "Nowhere to Run") is the kind of Seagal film that Seagal Fan's Mother's like better than they do. It's Rare, but it happens. It happens because theses films try to make a Point, and Action Fans don't want films with Points, they want films with Action.

We do get a Fair Share of Action in this film, (mostly, toward the Climax) but we get a lot more in Seagal's Previous films. We also get Michael Caine as a Deliciously Evil Villain who is Bound to be taught a lesson. Another good point is that the Film gets Better as it goes along, which is Rare in the Action genre these days.

Steven acts with his Fists and is as good as ever, Michael acts with his Accent and is as good as ever and the rest of the cast is fairly ordinary. The Only Standout is John C McGinley as one of Michaels Henchman, his "Love to Hate" performance had me Swearing at the Screen and he makes the film Twice the Fun as we just can't wait until Steven opens up a can of Whoop... on him.

I thought long and hard - WORST MOVIE EVER

Some movies are bad in a charming way or are bad with a
redeeming aspect or two but this movie has NOTHING. I laughed and laughed but I was never meant to. Somebody actually financed this thing...blows my mind.

This movie is much worse than it's ratings suggest

At the moment this shining Jewel of Seagal's career (if "shining jewel" is a euphimism for "noxious eye-cancer causing crime against humanity") ranks as #100 on the bottom 100 list. Steve must be sneaking into the IMDB under psuedonyms and propping this gargantuan waste of celluloid up to keep it from descending to the depths where it belongs. A truly bad movie needs three things: a decent budget (anyone can make a cheap piece of garbage, it takes true talent to do so with tens of millions available); a bad story; and bad acting. This one wins in spades. I haven't seen most of the 99 movies in the bottom 100 (thank God) but I did see "House of the Dead" which is currently #30 and "On Deadly Ground" is definitely worse than that (well, kind of like comparing pig droppings and horse leavings... they both stink but one is bigger). When I think "action movie" the first thing that comes to mind is "ecologically-minded"... well, at least this is what came to Seagal's mind. If it is any consolation it is that this is the movie which sent Steve on his path South, making his movie profits dwindle while his girth spiralled up to challenge that of the protagonist of "Free Willy." I saw Steve a few months back on a popular tv show here in Japan, comedian Sanma's "Koi no karasawagi," and I swear to God he was wearing a muumuu.
Rest in Peace Segal's career. Please vote #1 for this so as to ensure it reaches the ranking it so richly deserves...