On Deadly Ground (18 February 1994)
directed by Steven Seagal
starring Steven Seagal, Michael Caine, Joan Chen, John C. McGinley, R. Lee Ermey, Billy Bob Thornton
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MPAA rating: Studio: Warner Brothers Script: Ed Horowitz, Robin U. Russin Music: Basil Poledouris Running time: 102 minutes Suggested retail price: $14.98 (US) Tags: Action; Alaska; environment; Eskimos; Innuit; Martial Arts; oil Tactical strength: [1/10]
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for strong violence and language
Hot off the success of Under Siege, Warner Brothers let Steven Seagal direct On Deadly Ground. What a mistake. Someone has probably made a worse movie, but I haven't seen it. Given a choice to watch On Deadly Ground or some other movie, I would watch the other movie.
Seagal plays Forrest Taft, some sort of former covert commando that now solves big problems for the Aegis Oil company, like setting off explosives to put out a fire at an oil pump. Aegis Oil, led by Michael Jennings (Michael Caine), must get its new Alaskan off-shore drilling rig in operation within a very short deadline, or the rights to the oil revert to the indigenous people of the area. In spite of using faulty equipment that will cause the drilling rig to fail, Jennings insists that the rig will pump oil by the deadline.
Taft learns about the faulty equipment and tries to confront Jennings, who responds by arranging to have Taft killed -- by having him blown up. But you cannot kill Steven Seagal. Native Americans see the fire from the explosion and recover the unconscious Taft. Taft recovers from his wounds, has a spirit vision, and sets out to stop the Aegis rig from ever pumping oil.
I watch Seagal movies because I like martial arts action movies. I like to see two or more skilled martial artists test their skills against each other. In On Deadly Ground, Seagal's character kicks a few untrained butts in a bar fight, shoots scores of people, and blows up an oil rig, but he never really faces off with a deadly opponent. With enough action you can forgive some plot problems, but this plot has so little substance, that no amount of action could save it from boring audiences. To make matters worse, after Taft (a former oil-company employee) blows up the oil rig, he gives a press conference speech that condemns the use of petroleum-based technologies and blames some vast corporate conspiracy for hiding all the really cool, earth-friendly technology. Before the eco-speech, I might have rated On Deadly Ground a three, but the speech makes this about the worst movie of the 20th Century, or at least tied for last.
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