alexanderdavies-99382 "On Deadly Ground" may have had good intentions, judging by the synopsis. The final results are nothing short of disastrous. Steven Seagal convincing himself that he's a director, doesn't exactly help matters. His "direction" is heavy going to say the least and can't maintain a good enough pace. Michael Caine - in yet another woeful film - tries and fails dismally to put on an authentic American accent. His hair dye job only makes it worse! One scene that invites unintentional mirth, is the one in the local bar when Seagal crosses swords with bigot Mike Starr. The reason why this is all a bit ridiculous, is when the two men test each other's hand speed. Seagal was by now piling on the pounds, so his opponent here would have to be on the stout side. Otherwise, a skinnier opponent would only make Seagal look decidedly slow....An absolute farce! This film is about loads of money being wasted on a story which wasn't developed properly. It becomes just another excuse to have good guys vs the bad guys, guns and all.

nims-1975 I just can't understand why this film was given a low score of 4.4 out of 10. This film was excellent and I also loved it. On Deadly Ground is an excellent Martial Arts Thriller about an environmental agent skilled in Martial Arts who has take on a ruthless and Malicious Oil Corporation. On Deadly Ground has some excellent acting by Steven Seagal, Michael Caine, Joan Chen, John C. McGinley and R. Lee Ermy. Michael Caines acting as the greedy and malicious villain Jennings was excellent and he really was great. The acting by the other actors was also excellent and On Deadly Ground was a tense film that I enjoyed watching. On Deadly Ground had some really tense action and also had some excellent Martial Arts fight scenes in it. This film might have been different to Above The Law and might have taken a long time for the fight scenes to come but the main thing was that they were in the film and they were also awesome.

Leofwine_draca After making a name for himself with his string of late '80s/early #90s action thrillers - mainly dealing with corrupt cops and tough city life - Seagal went on to bigger thing with UNDER SIEGE. However, after a while, something bad happened. Seagal, an environmentalist, got it into his head to include out-of-place messages to the viewers about the damage we're causing the earth, and this influence can be seen in ON DEADLY GROUND, FIRE DOWN BELOW, and even in his 1996 crime thriller, THE GLIMMER MAN. ON DEADLY GROUND is an odd film - a typical action fest, with some hugely inappropriate content seemingly tacked on in the middle and at the end of the film. The perpetrator of this crime is none other than Seagal himself, unwisely given directorial control for the first time (and probably the last, judging by the poor reception this film received at the box office). While I did enjoy moments of ON DEADLY GROUND as much as Seagal's best work, there are many problems to contend with.The first is the pacing. For an hour, the action content is kept to a minimum, with a single bar fight being the sole beating that Seagal delivers. Happily, he's up to his usual habit of breaking wrists and beating up on bad guys who are bullying an Eskimo for fun. The whispering hard man veers close to torture at one point, as he repeatedly humiliates and forces bone-breaking blows down upon his unwilling opponent. The rest of the hour's time is a literal whirlwind (no scene lasts for more than a few minutes, with the exception of one notable moment, which I'll come to in a second) of corruption and pretty scenery, and a silly moment where Seagal, injured by an explosion, is brought back to life by the Eskimos and goes on a 'spiritual journey'. What a load of rot.Now, I'm one of Seagal's biggest fans, at least of the films he made in his heyday, but this sentimental stuff is hugely out of place in a film like this. In fact, it's laughable, and ruins any fun we might have been having as it's just so darned boring. And pointless. Happily, once it's over Seagal gets down to shooting and breaking up the baddies, and this time around he has more than his fair share of enemies to combat, the body count reaching the mid 30s and being surprisingly high for a film of this kind. In the final act, he infiltrates an oil rig and blows everything up. This part feels a lot like UNDER SIEGE and follows the basic pattern of blow something up, kill some baddies, blow something up, kill some baddies. I love films like this and the deaths are all varied and quite creative, some guys burn, a guy is thrown into the rotors of a helicopter, someone dies in a car crash, other guys are beaten to a pulp. Seagal makes traps for his enemies, just like in the UNDER SIEGE films, and these are bits I love too. The best bit was where he used a plastic coke bottle as a makeshift silencer for his gun.The acting ranges from the hilariously inept to completely over the top, courtesy of Michael Caine as the stereotypical comic book-type villain, who constantly swears and rants at people. He's great. I know how people hated to see this fine actor lower himself, but over the top acting is one of my secret loves (over the top acting that is, not wooden acting). Seagal is his basic self (let's face it, he plays the same character in every film), while Joan Chen is virtually unnoticeable in a supporting role. John McGinley lends solid support as a fellow bad guy, as does R. Lee Ermey as a crew-cut mercenary. ON DEADLY GROUND is by no means a good film, and it's seriously marred by Seagal's self-righteous speech at the end about pollution. Yes, man, we agree, but not here! There is some good action and good fun to be had if you can overlook these flaws. A classic example of a so-bad-it's-funny film.

hammockbill It is a cartoon of an action movie, perfect in almost every way, and simultaneously terrible in almost every way.On Deadly Ground is Steven Seagal's magnum opus. Yes, he has made better films. Out for Justice, Above the Law, Under Siege, Marked for Death, and Hard to Kill are technically superior films. But if you wanted to sum up Seagal with a single film, then this is it. Seagal directs, produces and stars in this ill-thought-out, high-horsing, heavy-handed mess of a film. From start to finish, this is Seagal.Seagal is Forrest Taft, an ex-blows-things-up-guy turned eco-terrorist who wants to destroy an oil rig. And like all of Seagal's films, with a few tiny changes in music cues and editing, it could be re-created to make Seagal the villain. In fact, in this case, it probably wouldn't even require any tinkering. Forrest has no problem with flat out murdering people from anti-environment scumbags to innocent security and army men who are simply doing their jobs. Face stabbings, neck breaking, crotch kicks — nothing is out of bounds for Forrest.Seagal rants and raves in attempts to justify his violence. He even tells off an Alaskan native (played by non-Alaskan native Joan Chen) for trying to talk him out of rampant slaughter. Like a proper loon, he keeps a stockpile of explosives hidden away in a mountain. For a rainy day. Forrest Taft is a legit maniac. But Forrest is the hero. And so he is allowed to live out the film without being imprisoned. He even gets to deliver a heartfelt speech about pollution and evil corporations in the film's ridiculous final moments.There are many other things that are utterly insane about this film. Seagal literally beats the racism out of a man. He goes on a demented spiritual journey. He beats up an unprecedented amount of old men. The cast outside of Seagal don't fare much better. Michael Caine tries to put on an American accent for about ten minutes and then stops. Billy Bob Thornton stands around doing nothing and then gets blown up. Dr. Cox from Scrubs murders an old man while chewing scenery like it's nobody's business. It was such a delight watching scenes without Seagal, knowing he was behind the camera shaping this ludicrous masterpiece.It's amazing that this was allowed to exist. It is a mess of lofty ideals, a giant ego and angry violence. On Deadly Ground is pure Steven Seagal.