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On Deadly Ground

On Deadly Ground (1994)

February. 18,1994
|
4.6
|
R
| Action

Forrest Taft is an environmental agent who works for the Aegis Oil Company in Alaska. Aegis Oil's corrupt CEO is the kind of person who doesn't care whether or not oil spills into the ocean or onto the land—just as long as it's making money for him.

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bh_tafe3
1994/02/18

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.

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videorama-759-859391
1994/02/19

I'll be frank. This isn't a favorite SS film with me. We can see this is a very passionate effort, and we long for the moment, Seagal breaks a few chops, and crack some skulls. Having to compete again in the acting stakes with heavy weights including Caine as a evil, greedy, and ruthless developer, and some great character actors as his henchmen, he plays EPA agent Forest Taft, with of course, a mysterious background and deadly and handy martial arts skills who takes on this group. Caine who really shines believably in bad guy roles, wants to blow half of Alaska: the environment, so he can do his thing. We all know that attempts on Seagal's life always fail, with most of his killers ending up on the morgue. He's one tough guy you can't kill, and we know what happens when someone draws first blood, before Seagal asks them ever so nicely nicely. Joan Chen, wasted, also an environmentalist, teams up with him, where the scene is set for explosive action, and a body count. What I got off the movie, was the simple message, had bogged it down, or too it may of got lost in what all of it inferred. It was the bogged part I definitely got off of it. Check out even the end credits. Fire Down Below, ran similar paths, but the points were more clearly explained here. I don't hate the movie. I might of just been expecting more action or a more brutal display of violence. This one, I just didn't favor as much as his early or after cinematic ones. It's great though to see Caine and Seagal square off, but in respect for Seagal, it's good to see him express his voice in his directional debut, for which he feels very passionately about, as I said earlier. I hope he's proud of this project and I mean that genuinely. Fun too, with this movie was watching John Mcginley's character and Thornton's as some of Caine's bad asses.

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dalldorfw
1994/02/20

Seagal's misguided attempt at blending a heavy-handed environmental message and Native-American spiritualism with action movie conventions is actually quite a bit of fun if you're in the right mood. This time Steven is an environmental agent (and aikido expert, naturally) who battles an evil oil corporation for the preservation of Alaska. Of course, he blows up half of it in the process, but it's the thought that counts, right? Due to poor box-office, this is the first and, so far, only picture that Steven Seagal has ever directed, but the movie is more enjoyable (albeit, in a cheesy way) than it's reputation would suggest. Also, the action scenes are actually well shot and choreographed which is more than you can say for most current Seagal movies.

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Maziun
1994/02/21

This movie was made after the success of "Under siege" – Seagal's best movie to date. The producers allowed Seagal to make a movie based on his screenplay and even gave him the directors seat . Seagal is also the main producer of this movie. If there is one good thing about this movie is the big budget. When it comes to Seagal's movies only "Under siege" , "Under siege 2" , " Exit wounds " and "On deadly ground" really feel like a professional movies . Others , even "Nico : Above the law " , did feel like a low budget made-for-TV movies. The money here allowed for many explosions , nice costumes and views , and for casting Michael Caine ("Get Carter") ,Joan Chen ("The Last emperor") , Billy Bob Thornton ("Sling blade") and R. Lee Ermey ("Full metal jacket").The movie tries to send a message about protecting environment and one could appreciate Seagal for that . Still , I doubt that this movie will convince anyone on the subject . I find it incredibly ridiculous that in this movie Seagal fights for environment blowing everything up . I'm pretty sure that blowing oil refinery won't cause any damage to the environment. There is also one incredibly preachy speech at the end of the movie . Funny thing – in the original version of the movie the speech was supposed to be 30 minutes long ! "On deadly ground" also wants to teach us respect towards Eskimos . Once again – not bad idea , but poor execution . The scene in the bar is quite rightfully among the worst movie scenes EVER made . "What is the essence of man " ? . LOL . Hilarious . So deep… And why does Seagal's character is called Forrest Taft ? Because Gino Fellino ("Out for justice" ) wasn't dumb enough name ?One could wonder what Michael Caine is doing here . I guess the paycheck really was big … Anyway, Caine here gives a rather hammy performance and it's definitely not one of the best moments in his career. Joan Chen is actually OK. Thornton and Ermey are forgettable . Seagal is , well , Seagal . One thing that is noticeable here is the birth of Seagal's huge ego . It's one of his first movies when from time to time movie characters tell the viewers how INCREDIBLY AWESOME Seagal's character is . It was supposed to make him cool , but it ends annoying and pathetic.Seagal shows that he isn't able to direct decent action scene and it's a nail to the coffin for the movie.Even some of Seagal's most loyal fans didn't liked this movie . It's not hard to understand why. I give it 1/10.

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