Customer Reviews

On Deadly Ground [VHS]

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

I normally do enjoy many of Steven Seagal's films and this film is a pretty decent one. Some of his earlier films are far better, but this one had some decent fight scenes and good dialogue.

The plot : environmentally sensitive macho-man versus evil oil tycoon looking to exploit the virgin wilderness of the nature loving Eskimos. It sounds like an A-Team episode. The dialouge is almost laughable - "you are the bear" the shaman says to Forest, the main character, "you have a destiny to fufill". Uggh, cliche city. The action sequences are sub-par and are made all the more boring because Forest is essentially a super-man, and from begining to end the supporting characters never waste an opportunity to tell us just how great he is. The movie is capped off with a sappy, anti-corporate speech (complete with canned images of smog-filled cities and oil-soaked seals). I watched this entire movie because I'm overseas and english-language entertainment is hard to come by. Otherwise I would have stopped watching it within 20 minutes, easy.

THIS IS A REALLY GOOD MOVIE.STEVEN ACTS LIKE HES A REAL GUY AND NOT A SUPERMAN.THIS IS ONE MOVIE YOU DONT WANT TO MISS.BUY IT NOW.

Before I watched this movie, I expected it to be really bad. But I don't think it was that bad. It was quite entertaining. Some scenes were unnecessary, for example the fight in the bar (but it's always fun to see Mike Starr). It also feels like the moviemakers made a more or less desperate attempt to give the movie some spiritual depth, which only makes it strange. I wish the movie had a better lead actor, Steven Seagal is quite bad, but Michael Caine is good in his part as the evil owner of the Oil Company. The characters are quite simple and Seagal's speech in the end of the movie doesn't really fit in, but as an action movie, I think this movie is totally okay and quite entertaining. If it is on TV and you have nothing else to do, why not watch it?

What's all about that big story or big issue's stuff? This is a Steven Seagal movie and the badguy's are getting a real tough time with him. Cinematography and music are much better than usual in an actioner. There explicit gore in it to. But if you dont like Seagal or want to talk about the background or motivation of the characters after the 100 minutes then leave it. Otherwise it's great(a bit mindles)fun.

Based on a recommendation by "Free Energy" mogul, Patrick Bailey, I watched the movie "On Deadly Ground," directed and starred by Steven Seagal. Bailey, a Ph.D. Nuclear Physicist graduate from MIT, recommended the movie to me as an illustration that there are several very wealthy and influential movie stars who are supportive of the "free energy" or "zero point energy" field, and who are likely to fund it once a feasible prototype surfaces.

In the film, Seagal plays an ex-government operative, Forrest Taft, who works as a high-tech firefighter for Aegis Oil, which in its quest to secure its next contract -- the world's largest oil rig -- cuts corners, needlessly destroying some of its own equipment and killing several workers, with no regard for the environmental impact of its accidents and policies. Taft's conscience gets to him and he turns on Aegis Oil and takes down their largest refinery (without causing an oil spill), enabling the land to go back to the Eskimos from which it had been taken. The movie concludes with a speech by Taft that includes reference to high efficiency carburetors and magnetic engines being suppressed because of big business not wanting their monopoly to be broken. It is obviously intended as a statement for our actual situation in the world. Such devices do exist; and they are being suppressed by unscrupulous means. I personally know several individuals who have been on the receiving end of brutal suppression tactics.

The overall message of the movie was indeed worth while, though too much of the violence was sensationalized, something I found ironically hypocritical to the theme of improving the planet and bringing about a time of peaceful existence.

Some reviews I read called the environmental statements and Native American spirituality "corny." I didn't think so, though I did notice that there was sensationalism in the speech that diminishes its credibility. For example, not all auto emissions are cumulative poisons. CO2 is dangerous, but it is replaced out of the body by oxygen when a person is removed from the presence of high levels of it.

I will admit that some of the portrayals in the movie were over done; but such is the nature of theatre, is it not? -- exaggerate to make a point. I especially appreciated the dignity extended to the Native American (Eskimo) spirituality; not that I view that as the solution for the planet, but I do reverence it as having its place in the body of Christ, which finds great richness in the unity of diversity.

Wanting to share with you the text of the speech at the end of the movie, I tried to find it on the internet, and could not locate it; so I transcribed it myself.

Here is an excerpt:

Closing scene: Speech given at Alaska State Capitol building in Steven Seagal movie, "On Deadly Ground."

[BEGIN QUOTE]

How many of you out there have heard of 'alternate engines' -- engines that can run on anything from alcohol to garbage or water; or carburetors that can get 100s of miles to the gallon, or electric or magnetic engines that can practically run forever? You haven't heard about them because if they were come into use, they [would] put the oil companies out of business.

The concept of the combustion engine has been obsolete for over 50 years, but because of the oil cartels and corrupt government regulations, we in the rest of the world have been forced to use gasoline for over 100 years.

[END OF QUOTE]

Conclusion

Overall, I was impressed with Seagal. This was the first movie of his that I've seen; and because I do not enjoy the glorification of violence, it will probably be my last. However, someday I imagine I'll meet Seagal and talk about how to get free energy devices out into the world.

My message to Seagal would be to learn from Mel Gibson's movies -- let us know what happened without glorifying the bloody moments that we all know exist in violent situations. Don't belabor us with the gory details.

not even michael caine could save this BLEEDING HEART(in more ways than one) about the raping of the alaskaen interior by an oil company is just so bad that you wonder how it ever got made. steven seagal walks through it in a half daze(he also directed)and kills more pepple than any accident by an oil company! the final "speach" is the only part of the movie that works(but only because it's so funny,not because it's good)! movies like this are what killed mr. seagals movie chances!!
REALLY,REALLY BAD!!!!!!!!!!

Save yourself a rental fee and pass up this movie. The martial arts are poor to non-existent, and the required bar fight scene is truly hilarious, especially when an overweight and out-of-shape Seagal leaps onto a table to fight one of the bad guys. It is a true miracle of modern carpentry that the small table doesn't collapse from Mr. Seagal's ponderous bodyweight. The "politics" behind this movie are simplistic, and hopelessly outdated, with oil company tycoons as the villains and the barely literate Seagal delivering a speech at the end of the movie that, once again, is unintentionally hilarious in its absurdity.

When people said On Deadly Ground ended with Steven Seagal giving a lecture about the environment, I thought they were talking metaphorically: I didn't realise that he actually got up on a podium and gave a slide presentation. The kind of film that gives ecology a bad name, Seagal's directorial debut may have had a similar premise to the aborted mid-90s Rambo 4 (lone hero takes on oil company despoiling the wilderness, in this case in Alaska) but is inept on a scale previously undreamt of, with heavy-handed mysticism and speachifying rubbing shoulders with staggeringly badly staged action scenes that bored even the whispering ones fans. Weirdest sight: Michael Caine's villain, not just content with polluting the environment even pollutes his comically dyed hair with oil and his over-made-up face with the most hideous display of the embalmer's art this side of the Bride of Wildenstein. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. And then some. But at least Basil Poledouris' score is pretty good.

The only good thing about this movie is the aikido moves performed by Steven. Otherwise the movie is kinda uninteresting. Steven produced it himself and tried to give a good message with this film, but the way the movie is, you quickly forget to care anythin about the story.

Buy it if you like violent movies with good choregraphed aikido scenes.