Fire Down Below (5 September 1997)
directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá
starring Steven Seagal, Marg Helgenberger, Stephen Lang, Brad Hunt, Kris Kristofferson, Harry Dean Stanton
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MPAA rating: Studio: Seagal-Nasso Productions Script: Jeb Stuart, Philip Morton Music: Nick Glennie-Smith Running time: 105 minutes Tags: environment; EPA; karate; Martial Arts; mines; missionaries; toxic waste Tactical strength: [2/10]
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for language and violence
The EPA knows that the owner of the local coal mine, Cotton Harry (Harry Dean Stanton), has a contract to illegally store toxic waste in some of his abandon mines. Jack Taggart (Steven Seagal) comes to a small town in Kentucky to investigate the death of a fellow EPA agent and to try to find a witness that will testify against Cotton Harry. Taggart comes to the town as a carpenter for a relief mission that offers to help repair people's homes.
In spite of Taggart's innocent-seeming cover, the locals become suspicious and carry out several unprovoked attacks where Taggart easily kicks the locals' butts.
Now let's talk about plausibility. At least in other Seagal films, such as Under Siege, you can almost believe that Seagal's character could somehow have been at the right place at the right time. But when was the last time you heard of EPA special agents, let alone kick-butt agents sent alone into a known dangerous situation.
Fire Down Below disappointed me in several ways. First, the love interest with Sarah Kellogg (Marg Helenberger) seems artificial, placed in the film to give Taggart easy access to clues that he might have actually had to work to find otherwise. Second, the film doesn't have the requisite antagonist champion whose skill almost matches Seagal's. Seagal's character never really faces much of a challenge -- in fact, I don't think Taggart even bleeds in the film. And each of the four or five fights ends in less than a minute, so you don't get much martial arts action for your dollar. And you would think that if Seagal doesn't have many fights, that you would at least be gratified by numerous gun fights and explosions. Well, don't hold your breath.
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