On Deadly Ground (1994)

Al Gore, take note. You could try to save the environment with your little slide show, your Oscar, your multiple houses, your private jet travel (I digress) but would you be willing to kill for it? No, I don't mean kill actual people, but kill your career over it? Steven Seagal killed his with this film.

Seagal scowls as Forrest Taft (prompting many "run, Forrest, run" jokes in my head), an Alaskan oil rig firefighter in the employ of evil oil company owner Jennings (a stunned looking Michael Caine). Jennings and his henchmen are trying to bring a gargantuan oil rig and refinery online hours before the oil rights revert back to the sympathetic Indigenous Eskimo people, led by that great Native American/Indigenous/First Nation actress Joan Chen. After Jennings' umpteenth attempt to kill Taft fails, our injured hero has one of those spiritual quests one finds in the movies or self-help getaways, and Taft wakes up reborn and ready to blow up and kill everyone in sight to save Mother Earth from big business.

Seagal picked the right technical team and cast to make his directorial debut (he has only directed a little-seen documentary on Ukraine in 2024). Aside from the miscast Chen and the slumming Caine, you'll catch John C. McGinley, R. Lee Ermey, an uncredited Louise Fletcher in an obviously trimmed role, and a puffy Billy Bob Thornton in an obviously padded role. The special effects suck, but the Alaskan scenery is breathtaking. Seagal cannot even nod convincingly onscreen. Saving the environment by blowing things up is more than a little hypocritical. Watching Seagal try to take the high road by blaming big business for the planet's problems in his infamous final speech would be more inspirational if the film was not overwhelmed with bloody violence, profanity, a weird gay-bashing subtext, racism, and just enough boobies to keep the teenage boys awake. "Save the planet, kill everyone" is not a rousing call to arms. Every character does or says something so stupid, and it is done with such seriousness, it's shocking.

Seagal is a joke, releasing unwatchable straight-to-video and streaming fare today, making me wonder where the iffy promise of "Above the Law" disappeared to. "On Deadly Ground"- what an appropriate title.

Stats:
(1994) 101 min. (1/10)
-Directed by Steven Seagal
-Written by Ed Horowitz & Robin U. Russin
-Cast: Steven Seagal, Michael Caine, Joan Chen, Louise Fletcher, Billy Bob Thornton, John C. McGinley, R. Lee Ermey, Shari Shattuck, Richard Hamilton, Chief Irvin Brink, Apanguluk Charlie Kairaiuak, Elsie Pistolhead, John Trudell
(R)
Media Viewed: Home Video