VividSimon Simply Perfect

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Tweekums This action movie sees Steven Seagal playing Forrest Taft, a trouble-shooter for Aegis Oil. In the opening scene he puts out a fire at one of their wells; here he is told that the fire happened because company boss Michael Jennings insisted on using substandard parts to save money. Taft starts looking into this and soon Jennings and his henchmen are trying to kill him... Aegis has to open its new well in thirteen days or it loses the drilling rights; Jennings will do anything to make sure nobody interferes with his timetable. After the first attempt on his life Taft is rescued by the local Nanive American tribe. They nurse him back to health then he sets off with Masu, daughter of the chief and environmental activist, to stop Jennings bringing the new well into operation; something Taft knows would lead to an environmental disaster. It won't be easy though; as well as Aegis's own security people Jennings has called in a team of mercenaries.Things get off to a good start with shots of pristine Alaskan wilderness before we see the burning well. Little time is wasted introducing our hero and main villain... then things start to get far too obvious. We see Seagal beating up racist oil workers who abuse Natives at a bar juxtaposed with a scene where Jennings, played by Michael Caine, gives a speech about the company's environmental concerns when it is clear he couldn't care less. As one might expect from a Steven Seagal film there is lots of action; this includes fighting, shooting, many explosions and a man being pushed into a helicopter's tail rotor; this action is pretty good although not as gritty as his earlier films. The scenery is impressive although it seemed odd that one moment they were in barren areas covered in snow the next they were in forests with no snow to be scene! The cast are okay, but all of the actors I recognised have been better in other films; at least Michael Caine's somewhat over the top villain is rather fun and R. Lee Ermey is solid as the head mercenary. The biggest problem with the film is its lack of subtlety with its environmental message; it might as well have been called 'Green Peace: The Movie'. There are numerous heavy handed comments throughout the film but none were as bad as Seagal's speech at the end. The silly thing is the massage could have been got across without these moments which detracted from the action and ultimately came across as annoying, conspiratorial rants from eco-activists. Overall this isn't terrible; it delivers well enough on the action but expects you to be lectured too in the process.

Rocky Relationship Forget "road House" in the cheese stakes, this hot mess of a movie beats it hands down.1994 was the year two Forrests, Gump and Taft, duked it out for box office supremacy, and the better retard won handily. but don't let that dissuade you from enjoying this supreme example of Steven Segal's monumental hubris. The man who professed to be so attuned to the plight of the Aleut cast Japanese women because actual Aleut women were deemed too ugly, at least in a romantic lead role. It gets better. Modern Aleut are depicted living in skin huts and travelling on dog sleds, until Segal arrives to save their primitive asses, whereby they reveal the Skidoo they have concealed in anticipation of the great day when a Caucasian Saviour will show up to employ this incomprehensible technology on their behalf. This is aggressively stupid and over-the-top racist even for Steven Segal, which is saying a lot. Anyone who has seen "On Deadly Ground" must have struck by the utter ludicrousness of protecting a sensitive eco-system by blowing up an oil well right in the middle of it; anyone, that is, except Steven Segal.Oh to live in a Segalian universe where no problem is so big or small that it can't be solved by beating the sh*t out of it. Strong work from Michael Caine whose unapologetic scenery-chewing constitutes an even bigger environmental threat than the aforementioned oil rig.

videorama-759-859391 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.

Prismark10 Steven Seagal had a meteoric rise as a martial arts action star, quickly graduating from straight to video to box office number one movies. His success with Under Siege gave him enough clout to direct and star in On Deadly Ground and have a serious message on the dangers of capitalism and respecting the environment.Michael Caine who has is hair dyed dark for the film hams it up as the villain of the film. He plays big bad oil magnate who wants drill for oil in Alaska and in Eskimo land. Caine has a group of bad assed henchmen who are willing to get their hands dirty for kicks it seems.Seagal is one of them who plays Forrest Taft, a specialist oil rig fireman. However he turns on the corporate suits when he asks Caine, 'how much is enough?' Caine ends up trying to get rid of him unsuccessfully. Thankfully for Taft he is rescued by the Alaskan Eskimos and goes on a spiritual and environmental rebirth where he realises the importance and respect for animals, the land and tribal people.Thankfully he also wants revenge on the oil company and Caine hires some big guns to deal with him which includes R Lee Ermey and Billy Bob Thornton but Seagal is a man with hidden talents as he seems to be ex CIA and an expert on combat as well as putting out fires. I would not be surprised if he could cook as well and Ermey's mercenary soon regrets the threat he made to Taft.Obviously by 1994 Seagal was on a roll. His recent films had bigger budgets, better scripts, better production values and some big stars. However this is an ego trip too much. The directing is nothing much than a vanity exercise. Warner Brothers should had got a more experienced director to re-cut the film as the pacing is poor and for an action film, after a bright start (with some good explosions) it becomes plodding and boring. Somewhere in this mess is a decent action film with some humour, fight scenes, action and political points that someone like Andrew Davis (who made Under Siege) could had directed better.The bad guys are suitably one note which is nasty. Caine just turned up for the pay cheque and have a look around Alaska but then you have that speech at the end, the film which really takes the biscuit.Now I do not mind after going through countless right wing action stars to have one with leftist leanings. But do I want an elongated social statement at the end of an action film on the evils of capitalism, corrupt politicians and green issues? I have no doubt that Seagal is sincere in his beliefs, but while a few barbs here and there would had been sufficient, the rant at the end sunk a poor action film down even further.