Review of On Deadly Ground (1994) by Anthony T — 17 Mar 2009

I know, I know - every time you watch a Seagal movie, God kills a kitten. This is Seagal's follow-up to "Under Siege" (you know, his one good movie), he directed it even as a condition to star in "Under Siege 2" (which was everything "Under Siege" wasn't).

This time around, we get Seagal's environmental movie, where he plays an oil company roughneck that develops a conscience within SECONDS of the opening credits and decides that perhaps his employer is really not a good guy after all.

Granted, the oil company is run by Michael Caine, chewing scenery LIKE A MADMAN in a terrible hairpiece (he does provide some good laughs though in his hamminess), you would think he would have picked up on that sooner.

Set up as a saboteur, Seagal finds himself taken in by the local Indian population (including Joan Chen; "Joan Chen in a Seagal movie" is second only to "the rain of blood" for signs of the Apocalypse), protecting the environment with a blend of native mysticism and (furry) boots to the head, but degenerates into a "First Blood" rip-off.

And who knows, maybe Inuit women really do practice their ceremonies topless and spirit journeys include naked, writhing maidens. Steve's certainly do. And I love how an entire team of commandoes can't take Seagal out.

..but a team of sled dogs can. There are quite a few "name" actors in this film, most of whom have done MUCH better work elsewhere. John C Fricking McGinley is in this film (at least he seems to realize it's crap)! Billy Bob Thornton! R Lee Ermey! Sven-Ole Thorsen! What the hell! This film is one of the reasons that Hollywood during the 90's, in general, sucked.

Seagal's career took a nosedive with this film that it never recovered. Woodchuck sez, "Enjoyably bad.".