On Deadly Ground

Plot synopsis:
Aegis Oil operates Aegis 1, an oil refinery and several oil rigs in Alaska. They purchased the oil rights from the local Alaskan Natives 20 years ago, but stand to lose them if the refinery isn’t on-line by a certain deadline. With 13 days to go, and billions of dollars at stake, the company cuts corners and uses faulty equipment. Hugh Palmer, a rig foreman, is aware of this; as he predicts, his rig catches fire. It takes Forrest Taft (Seagal), a specialist in dealing with oil drilling-related fires, to extinguish the fire. Taft refuses to believe Hugh’s story of faulty equipment at first, but later discovers that it’s true after accessing the company’s computer records and finding that the next shipments of new, adequate equipment have been delayed way past the deadline. Michael Jennings (Michael Caine), the ruthless CEO of Aegis, deludedly believes that Hugh's carelessness is to blame for the rig fire and, after discovering his efforts to alert the EPA about the use of substandard equipment, arranges for him to be ‘dealt with’ by his henchmen MacGruder (John C. McGinley) and Otto (Sven-Ole Thorsen).
Jennings is alerted to Taft's activities and orders that Taft be also removed. MacGruder and Otto brutally ransack Palmer's cabin for the evidence against Jennings, and torture and murder Palmer without finding it. Taft is set up for a trap by investigating a supposedly damaged pump station. He is badly wounded by an explosion, but survives and is rescued by Masu (Joan Chen), the daughter of Silook, the chief of her tribe.
MacGruder and Otto are unable to locate Taft's body, and Jennings assumes that he is still alive. Taft is being cared for by Silook's tribe. After unsuccessfully trying to leave using a dogsled, Silook has Taft undergo a vision quest in which he sees the truth. When made to choose between two women, Taft opts for the elderly, clothed grandmother, forgoing the erotically-charged nude Iñupiaq seductress. The grandmother warns Taft that time is running out for those who pollute the world. Taft realizes that his only option is to see the refinery closed. He takes off, with MacGruder and Otto hot on his trail.
At Silook's village, they demand to know where Taft is. Silook refuses to give the information and is fatally shot by MacGruder. Jennings berates MacGruder for killing Silook in front of his entire tribe. They bring in a group of New Orleans-based mercenaries led by Stone (R. Lee Ermey) to finish off Taft before he can stop Aegis 1 from going on-line. They also have an FBI Anti-Terrorist Unit at the refinery.
Accompanied by Masu, Taft (who is probably ex-CIA and an expert on sabotage and demolition), collects weapons and explosives and manages to enter the refinery complex, and begins to effectively sabotage the refinery. MacGruder (who is killed by Taft in the process of getting thrown into the helicopter's tail rotor blades for killing Hugh and Silook), Otto (who was killed earlier at Hugh's cabin) and Jennings’ ruthlessly efficient female assistant Liles (who crashes her truck into a gasoline tank in an escape attempt), are powerless to defeat him and are all killed in various gruesome ways; the FBI also pulls out, revealing in the process that Taft might be ex-CIA.
Taft and Masu confront Jennings, string him up, and drop him into a pool of oil, effectively drowning Jennings in his own wealth. They then escape as a series of explosions destroy the rest of Aegis 1.
As an epilogue, Taft, far from being arrested for sabotage and multiple murders (self defense), is asked to deliver a speech at the Alaska State Capitol about the dangers of oil pollution, and the companies that are endangering the ecosystem. During the speech they show a scene of one of the first commercial hydrogen fuel cell systems developed by Perry Energy Systems.

Tags: murder, violence, cult, good versus evil, revenge, sadist

Review:
Originally called 'Spirit Warrior' and hoping to cast loads of English baddies (among them Anthony Hopkins and Jeremy Irons) the film is a horrid example of far too much creative control given to one man too blinkered by his own agenda to bother giving us anything resembling decent storytelling.There is nothing significant or exceptional about Seagal's direction.
But what reeks about the story is that some big oil magnate called Michael Jennings (a completely hammy Michael Caine) wants to build a really shoddy oil rig in Alaska made out of dodgy parts because the rights to the land are about to revert back to the Eskimos after 30 years of non-use.
So why wait 30 years to build the bloody thing?Seagal plays Forrest Taft, an oil rig fireman who suddenly develops a conscience and is promptly eliminated from the payroll by way of being blown up.
I admit When I first saw it when it came out I didn't appreciate it but after a recent viewing,that has changed one hundred percent!The movie has got it all!A great story,great action,and one heck of a cast!Look, you have Steven Seagal,R.
McGinley,and Billy Bob Thornton!Plus Sven-Ole Thorsen and Jules Desjarlais,Mike Starr,Nils Allen Stewart,and even Irvin Kershner!Ermey's character was neat and he acted very well!Seagal's direction is good and I loved it when he showed up for his first scene in the movie.The film is really good in My opinion and at the end when Seagal's speech came up it was really deep and seeing those real clips of animals was sad.For those who have seen it before just give this film another try and for the people who didn't see the film also see this film if you like Seagal and the above mentioned cast and action movies.
It's a particularly inept action flick.Troubleshooter Forrest Taft (Steven Seagal) works for an oil company in Alaska fronted by the unpleasant Michael Jennings (Michael Caine, not in his worst ever film but certainly providing his worst ever performance).
Hired mercenaries are brought in to stop him, but Taft either evades or kills them in the Alaskan wilderness, and ruthlessly closes in on Jennings.Seagal made a major mistake in directing the film himself.
After the roasting that it received, Seagal's box office appeal took a permanent dip and Michael Caine stopped prostituting his talents in every film that was offered to him and actually started looking for scripts worthy of his ability..
if you like non stop action with a great plot and good cast watch this movie.This movie is about a greedy business who owns an oil company in Alaska.
McGinley also appears against type as one of Caine's nastier henchthugs.Finally, there's Seagal's direction which takes his film on this ecological walk through the woods which makes it all seem a little like Oliver Stone after too many days trapped in a sweatlodge.It's so ridiculous I actually found myself enjoying the whole thing quite a bit..
For half the film Seagal `dances with wolves' before he dumps all thoughts of spirituality, arms himself with a cabin full of weapons and does battle with the mercenaries as he tries to blow up the oil rig - he conveniently ignores the environmental damage done by this!The action is the usual unimaginative stuff where Seagal does moves on baddies who come at him one at a time.
John C McGinley is alright, Ermey does what he always does (but has done better) and Billy Bob Thornton is in there if you keep your eyes open!Overall it's slightly worse than most Seagal's films because of the environmental message being unsubtly rammed down the audiences throats.
On Deadly Ground is the first movie, which is directed by Steven Seagal himself.
The fight-scenes and action-scenes are as explosive and violent as ever in On Deadly Ground, but this movie gives us some important messages about the environment.
Hilariously awful movie about some spiritual guy named Forrest Taft (Steven Seagal) taking on an evil oil corporation and its head (Michael Caine!) Another example where an actor was given free reign by a studio to direct, write and star in a movie that meant so much to him.
Seagal is Forrest Taft (?), a no non-sense renegade who plays by his own set of rules for some sort of oil rigging company owned by some guy named Michael Jennings (Michael Caine playing a character who is so evil, that he has jet black hair!).
After twenty minutes, and a random bar fight, Forrest reads a fourth grade-level computer screen that pretty much spells out how economically dangerous oil rigs can really be and how his boss is making sure that silly things like the environment don't get in the way of a profit.
Rather than develop complex protagonists and antagonists, we get a clear black and white split: Big corporations and oil companies are evil and Eskimos are good-as they help Forrest become spiritually reborn as a 'man-bear' and regain his sights on kicking ass.Chances are, you weren't watching for plot anyway.
But the guilty pleasure parade just keeps on going: dialogue that'll make you smile (best line: 'You didn't find Flint, but you managed to kill an unarmed Eskimo!'), lots of explosions, horrible supporting actors, and a chance for Steven Seagal to play 'the slap game' with one of his judgmental oil workers.
Lee Ermey, Billy Bob Thornton and they both did a great job.Second of all, I love the storyline, the action, and most of all the speech at the end of the film.
Steven did a great at directing for the first time, and producing and can't believe he gets a Razzie for it.As a result, this is the best but for his upcoming films Under Siege 2, The Glimmer Man, and Fire Down Below, those were okay but On Deadly Ground is a true classic.I give this a 10/10..
After I had completed my reading of the book, "Steven Seagal, the man, the myth, the legend", I had become interested in his work outside of the laboratory, back when he was paying his way through M.I.T. by appearing in the occasional action film.
I haven't seen most of the 99 movies in the bottom 100 (thank God) but I did see "House of the Dead" which is currently #30 and "On Deadly Ground" is definitely worse than that (well, kind of like comparing pig droppings and horse leavings...
What gives the right for one man (Seagal) to go in and totally destroy a corporate plant, lawfully incorparated, albeit harming the environment...and in the process injure and kill many innocent workers (many of whom I presume have or had families), causing additional environmental damage with the destroyed facility, all in the name of getting rid of the combustion engine.The slide show at the end was too much.
You know, commenting on how bad a Steven Seagal movie is is a bit like beating a baby with a 2x4...
I believe that the most important scene in the film was at the very end where Steven gave that lengthy speech about how the world's oil companies are killing this planet at an alarming rate.
The real major downside in the movie is where Forrest Taft(Steven Seagal) got seriously hurt.
Steven Seagal Directed 'On Deadly Ground' is a Time-Pass Fare, with some Great Action-Sequences working on its advantage.'On Deadly Ground' Synopsis: Mystical martial artist/environmental agent takes on a ruthless oil corporation.'On Deadly Ground' has its moments.
4. Taft, being the martial arts psycho black ops expert that Stone explained him to be, promptly takes the shotgun away from Stone and kills him.My question is, what's the writer's excuse for this scene, what's the director's excuse for not directing it differently, and what's Segal's excuse for leaving it in (not to mention why didn't Ermey object to its idiocy since he's no fool).Anyone with half a brain in his head knows that if you corner a dangerous character like Taft is supposed to be, you don't get within arms reach, you don't betray your position.
And if the movie itself wasn't bad enough, what about that five minutes long "Save the earth with flowers, happy faces and no cars"-speech that Seagal made at the end?
"Hey, Hugh, what's cooking?" "Goddamit, Forest, this is a disaster here." To start a movie like this shows a certain lack of self-awareness, but if you think that is funny, there's more to come.Forrest Taft (Steven Seagal) is an environmental agent who works for the Aegis Oil Company in Alaska.
One thing should be made very clear about On Deadly Ground, it's a movie that is not likely to go over well with anyone who's not interested in watching an entertaining Steven Seagal flick.
Michael Cain played the bad guy well, but the spiritual journey Seagal takes & the bar fight scene come off as being cheesy (and end up hurting the film).
But after being revived by a tribe of Eskimos (including Joan Chen, who is actually Chinese) he returns to fight the oil company and give long speeches about the environment.The formula here is the same as "Hard to Kill" -- Seagal finds a powerful man doing evil, is left for dead, healed by some spiritual stuff and returns to fight with a new love interest.
On Deadly Ground has some excellent acting by Steven Seagal, Michael Caine, Joan Chen, John C.
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.
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.
There is some good humor, including Billy Bob Thornton as oil rig security with no brain.The movie is filled with wall-to-wall action scenes that don't add up to much, other than that outrageous explosion near the end (which actually feels out of place in this movie!).
Like a bad habit of fighting violence with violence, maybe?Taft then proceeds to beat up nearly everyone in the bar, which includes at least one elderly man.Unfortunately, the end of the movie comes in the form of a standard environmentalist speech, which attains a level of preachiness that no one will ever be able to miss.
Let's take a look at some of them:"Is this the slope bitch you've been banging?" Caine asks when he sees Seagal with Chen"My Nuts!!!!" a man shrieks during the bar fight after Seagal grabs him by his manhood."Gaurd this entrance like it was your sister's cherry, Tonto!" Ermey says to an Indian merc just before the final showdown at the refinery.Billy Bob Thornton also has some nice running commentary while Seagal is blowing away his fellow hired guns.Ermey also has a hilarious quote that goes on and on.
Yeah,I mean Steven Seagal is an action-packed person.No matter how many bad guys try to get him down,he does his best everytime.Just take a look at him...He walks like a real MAN.Here,On Deadly Ground,Mr.Seagal again and again demonstrates his perfect "Art of Piece".Of course,I respect Michael Caine,but I do not think he can strike somebody...once to destroy.So...if You got to be a winner in all kinds of trouble-buy this one and just try to repeat!.
Once upon a time, I thought Segal was a promising actor, having seen Under Siege, (more recent re-viewings have shown me that in fact Tommy Lee Jones was the heart and soul of that movie.) I actually paid for myself and my Girlfriend (now wife) to watch this film.Segal, as director, actor, general script revisionist and mentor to the crew, puts together an appalling mix of patronism and blatant self worship at it's very worst, throughout the entire film.The bar scene, and don't ask which, you will know when you see it, is a microcosm of the film itself, with traditional western style cardboard villans given a good thrashing by mighty Steve and his pot belly, then treated to the musings of his less than awesome mind.Michael Caine, hams it up mercilessly as the evil bad guy, and McGinley and Ermey are actually quite good if hamstrung by pathetically poor dialogue and a character arc which can at best be described as a straightjacket.The plot, and yes there is one, is that "Forrest Taft" a wonderful chap who wants to make money in an ethical way has been working for the evil Caine, but is beginning to question his ethics, he then embarks upon a forced journey of self discovery (via the local Innuit community) and begins a crusade against the greed and materialism represented by the Oil company, which involves not only the destruction of the oil plant but the death of all it's workers, though to take a Kevin Smith 'Death Star contractors' point of view, they knew exactly who they were working for and therefore knew the risks, and in all likelihood hopelessly polluting the entire area.Along the way bad guys are humiliated by Segal's 'intellect' as well as his fists, naked indians dance around in his dreams and Michael Caine gets progressively louder nastier and in the end is simply a caricature of all that is bad about Corporate America today.One thing I noticed from the TV replay is that the monotribe at the end lasted barely 3 minutes, when watching this monstrosity at the cinema it seemed to last a *lot* longer.After seeing this film I actually doubted my sanity, had I really thought Under Siege was a good film, was it a good film?
It is rumoured that this speech originally lasted 30 minutes but that Warner stepped in and cut it down (thank god).The only reason this movie did not get an even lower rating by me is because Michael Cain is doing a good job of the lousy role that he has and that there are some decent fighting scenes..
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.
Seagal's misguided attempt at blending a heavy-handed environmental message and Native-American spiritualism with action movie conventions is actually quite a bit of fun if you're in the right mood.
I like the bad guys in the movie, some good characters, R.
This is not a bad movie as much, Steven Seagal has certainly done much worse in his career, but it did very little for me.
this is typical Steven Seagal fare.it's really just an excuse for Seagal to show how good he is in beating people up.there is,naturally,a great deal of action,and lots of fight scenes.problem is,the fight scenes are nothing we haven't seen before.there are a lot of fancy camera tricks,but so what?there are two added element,one of which is an environmental storyline.the other is the casting of Michael Cane as the main bad guy.if nothing else,Caine adds some class to the proceedings.the cast also includes Joan Chen,R.Lee Emery,and Billy Bob Thornton.so at least it has some decent actors.Caine in particular impressed me.i thought he made a pretty convincing bad guy.Seagal also attempts to act here,but really most people watch a Seagal flick to see him beat up other people,sometimes more than one a at time,and come out with barley a mark on him.if you're a Seagal fan,you'll probably like this entry.it's nothing new,really.despite it's problems,though,i did find it entertaining.for me on Deadly ground is a 6/10.
And of course, a Seagal movie without suspense is a bad idea.The worst scene comes in the end where Seagal does some speech about the evil that oil companies do.
Steven Seagal stars as Forrest Taft a martial arts expert who takes on an oil rig tycoon (Michael Caine in an awful performance) to save Alaska and protect the natives of the land in this wretched action thriller which is so bad that even Seagal fans will be running for the exits.
As my friend who I watched it with on TV said, Steven Seagal would be a true Hollywood star - if only he could Direct, Produce, Write or Act!He's a 'Roughneck', putting out oil well fires - presumably like Red Adair or something.He gets all Politically Correct (doesn't he in every film?) and conscious, makes the most appallingly cheesy speech at the end about what man is doing to the environment, decides that he loves some old Eskimo man despite seemingly knowing him for about half an hour or so - much of which was in a stupid 'dream sequence'.Michael Caine was OK as the evil Oil Tycoon, and this was about the only thing that stopped you from turning it off.And even then it was a close run thing..
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.
Take an action star like Steven Seagal.
But in 1994, Seagal was given the chance to direct and star in the movie, On Deadly Ground.
Michael Caine plays the bad guy in this movie, and he hires an group of murderous henchmen to kill Seagal and his colleague, played by Joan Chen.
At the end of this movie, when Seagal finally kill all of the bad guys in the movie,(even Michael Caine), and blows up an entire oil refinery, owned by Caine, he gives an environmental speech about how cars will run on water, garbage, other liquids.
Steven Seagal can be a good action star.
Lee Emery and apparently Billy Bob Thorton(though I didn't notice him).While it's not as good as Seagal's other films and while it's a bit boring at times, this is a fairly decent and underrated movie..