I don't like "On Deadly Ground" very much. I know I'm not the first person to have said so, but even as a fan of Steven Seagal, "Deadly Ground" really isn't a lot of fun. I don't know if it's because of the melodramatic story, the silly scenarios, or simply because I'm comparing the film with Seagal's previous venture - the $156 million action-powerhouse, "Under Siege" - but it just isn't as good as the stuff he did before in his early career.



The story is the first of several environmentalist-thrillers for Seagal, and goes like this:

Seagal is a specialist fireman employed by an Alaskan oil-drilling corporation run by a ruthless tycoon (Michael Caine), who openly demonstrates his disregard for the damage his work does to the land and the native inhabitants. After he expresses doubt in the company's integrity, Seagal is targeted for assassination but survives, and is nursed back to health by local Inuits, who guide him to a spiritual reawakening as a fighter for the good of the people and an enemy of "Big Oil".



While I don't mind a green message in an action film, it's hard to imagine the script being handled any more hamishly than by star/director Steven: the oil corporation is the most unabashed, politically-incorrect evildoers you'd ever want to see, with Caine freely throwing out phrases like "the godd*mn Eskimos" - Eskimos which, for the most part, seem unaware that they're living in the 20th century, and whose Seagal-awakening rituals look more Pagan than you'd expect (lots of breathless panting, and dancing, topless women).

Seeing that the issues within the film are relevant to the real world, it's disappointing that a legitimate environmentalist like Seagal would overdramatize and sensationalize them so he can appear a bigger hero.



You'd think that the movie would still be able to fall back on action to make up for the story, but "Deadly Ground" is a failure here, too: Seagal is at his blandest in knocking out bar patrons and shooting up a plantful of mercenaries, with no cool moves (besides using a soda bottle as a silencer) to highlight the step-by-step beat-`em-ups.



There's one scene in the film that really sums the whole thing up: after seeing a drunken native being abused by a white bar-goer, Seagal challenges the man to a game of hand-slap, after every try of which the man lets Seagal beat him to the ground, instead of taking flight or trying to fight back. This silly and forced-looking encounter is performed simply so Seagal can make ask a philosophical question, which really has no relevance to the rest of the movie.

Personally, I'm convinced that if Seagal had never done "Deadly Ground", he would've stayed in the big-budget market longer than he did...but those are just my thoughts.