SYNOPSICS
On Deadly Ground (1994) is a English,Inuktitut movie. Steven Seagal has directed this movie. Steven Seagal,Michael Caine,Joan Chen,John C. McGinley are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1994. On Deadly Ground (1994) is considered one of the best Action,Adventure,Thriller movie in India and around the world.
Forrest Taft (Steven Seagal) is an environmental Agent who works for the Aegis Oil Company in Alaska. Aegis Oil's corrupt C.E.O., Michael Jennings (Sir Michael Caine), 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. He even makes commercials that make him look like he cares about the environment. Jennings is almost finished with building his new state-of-the art oil rig: AEGIS-1. The problem is that if he doesn't finish building the rig in thirteen days, the land rights will be returned to the Eskimos and the Alaskan Government. When Jennings finds out that Taft's best friend Hugh Palmer (Richard Hamilton) has a computer disk that contains information about defective equipment on AEGIS-1, he sends out his goons to murder Palmer. When Taft tries to interfere, Jennings tries to kill Taft. But an Eskimo woman named Masu (Joan Chen), who introduces Taft to her father Silook (Chief Irvin Brink), ...
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On Deadly Ground (1994) Reviews
Grossly over-indulgent vanity piece
At the height of his fame Seagal was allowed to direct this monstrosity about evil Texas oil Aegis company polluting Alaska. With no prior experience in directing Steve stampeded his way into this movie with as much subtlety as a brick in the face. Originally called 'Spirit Warrior' and hoping to cast loads of English baddies (among them Anthony Hopkins and Jeremy Irons) the film is a horrid example of far too much creative control given to one man too blinkered by his own agenda to bother giving us anything resembling decent storytelling. There is nothing significant or exceptional about Seagal's direction. Nor is the action very well done. It's cut too lazily and not shot for maximum viewing clarity. But what reeks about the story is that some big oil magnate called Michael Jennings (a completely hammy Michael Caine) wants to build a really shoddy oil rig in Alaska made out of dodgy parts because the rights to the land are about to revert back to the Eskimos after 30 years of non-use. So why wait 30 years to build the bloody thing? Seagal plays Forrest Taft, an oil rig fireman who suddenly develops a conscience and is promptly eliminated from the payroll by way of being blown up. Only he is rescue by the Eskimos and, this is where the film just goes insane, goes on a spiritual journey in which he wrestles bears and turns into eagles and stuff. I mean, what the hell is all that about??? Don't even get me started on the scene where he makes a fully-grown hard-ass redneck cry in a bar full of similar stereotypes when the philosophy touches his soul. Then he gets his old self back together and sets about righting all the wrongs of Aegis Oil and saving the environment by littering it with dead bad guys. Jennings hires a bunch of mercenaries (including R. Lee Ermey and Billy Bob Thornton) to take out Taft but of course they all prove to be useless since Taft is revealed to be an ex-CIA Agent (oh dear God..)Nothing much really happens apart from shooting and dying and Seagal beating up nameless extras. We've seen all of this before and it's no different this time round. I do appreciate his environmentally friendly attitude but it could have made it a little less obvious and campy. Seagal's tacked on speech at the end originally ran for 30 minutes (Jeezuz sufferin') but Warner finally stepped in and said a big no-no. We could have had an Oliver Stone or Insider amount of paranoia and conspiracy but this just ends up as the worst of Seagal's Hollywood movies.
Very misunderstood Steven Seagal film:(
I really don't know what is so horrible about this film.As of this writing On Deadly Ground is on the IMDb bottom 100: #99 and that is just sad.On Deadly Ground is a very decent film. I admit When I first saw it when it came out I didn't appreciate it but after a recent viewing,that has changed one hundred percent!The movie has got it all!A great story,great action,and one heck of a cast!Look, you have Steven Seagal,R. Lee Ermey,Michael Caine,Joan Chen,John C. McGinley,and Billy Bob Thornton!Plus Sven-Ole Thorsen and Jules Desjarlais,Mike Starr,Nils Allen Stewart,and even Irvin Kershner!Ermey's character was neat and he acted very well!Seagal's direction is good and I loved it when he showed up for his first scene in the movie.The film is really good in My opinion and at the end when Seagal's speech came up it was really deep and seeing those real clips of animals was sad.For those who have seen it before just give this film another try and for the people who didn't see the film also see this film if you like Seagal and the above mentioned cast and action movies. I am sure you will disagree with the others and like the film like I do. I recommend it!
What's with the bad reviews ?? I Loved It !!
I hate to see bad reviews written by people who do not like the type of Steven Seagal movies to begin with. Than just Do Not Watch Them.. For fans of good action movies, this is a rather underrated movie which gets better the more times you see it. It didn't have the box-office of Seagal's most successful movie "Under Siege", but it is one of his better ones. The story is interesting because of the environment message and the fact that Taft(Seagal) initially works for bad guy Michael Jennings(Caine). Alaska is an amazing country which is shown in beautiful images. The cast is way better than your average action flick: One of the best performances from Seagal. Joan Chen is gorgeous and her character is well written. Michael Caine really enjoys his over the top bad character with his crooked laugh. John C. McGinley (Point Break, Set It Off, The Animal) has some amusing dialog and quotes. R. Lee Emrey is amazing as ever(Full Metal Jacket, Se7en, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003 and 2005) and very fun to watch as Stone, head of the mercenary team assigned to take out Seagal. At one point Stone(Emrey)asks Jennings(Caine): "How do you want him delivered ?" The look of Caine at that moment is unforgettable and hilarious. Just like the scene where John C. McGinley has a "chat" with the Hugh Palmer character. (There is no I in Team "!!) The fight sequences are short but very effective with some extreme hard action. The explosions were a thrill. There was a big budget available for this movie which really shows on screen (just like Under Siege 1 and 2). I already saw this 20 times or so but it gets better every time. For those who never saw this one, give it a try, you won't regret it.
Better than its critics suggest
Well, as the IMdB reviews show, not everyone is a fan of this film. It's true that the philosophising and Eskimo mystique in the mid-section of the film do slow it down. It is also true that the closing environmental speech may be a tad heavy-handed. Yet I find it refreshing to see a large-budget action movie that actually tries to be about something. To his credit, Seagal's films have generally struck an anti-Establishment tone, in contrast to the complacent Republicanism of Schwarzenegger. Of course, having said all this, the tactics of Seagal's hero Forrest Taft, in blowing up large quantities of Alaska, are not perhaps what Greenpeace would recommend! As to the qualities of the film, there are some strong, savage action scenes, a stylish if over-the-top villain in Michael Caine, and wonderful photography. After all those "Die Hard"/"Under Siege" efforts, with characters running around claustrophobic buildings in semi-darkness, the panoramic views of Alaska make a nice change. Another good score by Basil Poledouris.
Nice to see an action movie with a new locale and a few new angles, but a shame that on the whole the film is pretty inept.
What drew me to On Deadly Ground was that it had a few new ideas in its locker that I hadn't come across in many other action movies. The setting was Alaska, which sounded intriguing. The action was backed up by an environmental message, which also sounded intriguing. The hero was played by a wooden martial arts "actor", while the villain was played by a prolific, Oscar-winning superstar, which sounded like an irresistible pairing (just for the novelty value of seeing them on screen together). Add to that the fact that the music was by Basil Poledouris (whose scores for Conan the Barbarian and The Hunt For Red October are all-time great pieces of film music). On Deadly Ground seemed to have the promise and the potential to be something pretty interesting. Alas, the film fulfils very little of its potential. It's a particularly inept action flick. Troubleshooter Forrest Taft (Steven Seagal) works for an oil company in Alaska fronted by the unpleasant Michael Jennings (Michael Caine, not in his worst ever film but certainly providing his worst ever performance). Taft gradually begins to realize that the company he works for is responsible for appalling environmental damage, but he can't get them to approach their business with a more environmentally-friendly outlook.... so he does the next best thing - he kicks some butt! Taft goes on a worthy crusade against his callous, single-minded bosses. Hired mercenaries are brought in to stop him, but Taft either evades or kills them in the Alaskan wilderness, and ruthlessly closes in on Jennings. Seagal made a major mistake in directing the film himself. He lacks fluency as a director and has little grasp of how to link scenes correctly. Nor does he seem capable of coaxing decent performances from his surprisingly good cast. The film stumbles with near-random carelessness from one badly-acted scene to the next, diverting occasionally for the odd expensive-but-totally-soulless set piece. There are flashes of pretty cinematography, and in parts the action is crisply and competently choreographed, but generally the film is a disappointment. After the roasting that it received, Seagal's box office appeal took a permanent dip and Michael Caine stopped prostituting his talents in every film that was offered to him and actually started looking for scripts worthy of his ability.