Review of Fire Down Below (1997) by Alun A — 13 Sep 2014

This is the film that made me gain respect for the Eugene Weekly film critic at the time, who had the gumption to give a film that most of the Weekly's reading would likely never see, a good review.

This film isn't Steven Seagal's best film, but it's pretty darn good and has one of his best supporting casts. Kris Kristofferson plays an evil Ted Turner-like folksy millionaire who wants to mine the heck out of a small rural town.

Marg Helgenberger plays a local beekeeper opposed to the mining and various baddies and townsfolk are played by Jeb Stuart Stephen Lang, Richard Masur, John Diehl, Randy Travis and Harry Dean Stanton plays a local halfwit (who also gets to sing a song over the end credits).

Seagal gets to again deliver his message about caring for the natural environment and he get to do it with Billy Jack-like ironic violence. The action isn't as good as "Under Siege" and the marital arts isn't as good as "Above the Law" but it's a better script than most of his film and a far better cast than I think are in any of Seagl's other films.