Marked for Preachy Boredom

ON DEADLY GROUND (1994)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Steven Seagal always struck me as a charismatic presence but never much of an actor. All he had to do was frown, wrinkle his forehead, look down upon his enemy like a hunter and fight mano-a-mano. Once, twice, it may have worked but after such repetitious claptrap like "Marked For Death" and "Out for Justice," it resulted in a narrow, single-minded purpose. He is certainly not a director, despite his 1994 opus entitled "On Deadly Ground," and Seagal is merely a stiff bore in a stiff bore of a movie.

Seagal plays Forrest Taft, an oil rig worker who tries to defend the Alaskan wilderness and its inhabitants, an Inuit tribe, from the deadly forces of a greedy oil company (AEGIS) run by a generic CEO madman (Michael Caine, all apologies for being called generic).

First Problem: Any movie that begins with an obligatory bar fight isn't necessarily high on being environmentally conscious (which Seagal is aiming for). Secondly, Michael Caine is on automatic pilot here, exuding little to no menace whatsoever (compare this role to his rough London gangster role in the mean and lean "Get Carter"). We all need to do movies for a paycheck (check Caine off for mechanical efforts like "Jaws: The Revenge" and "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure") but he could be choosier than a movie with such dull impact like this Seagal snoozer.

Seagal as a director opts for a spiritual Oliver Stone-type dirge effort when dealing with the Inuit in what often looks like an extended montage for Stone's "The Doors."  Joan Chen, who had starred in Oliver Stone's "Heaven and Earth," doesn't make much of an impression here as a member of the aboriginal tribe - a shameful waste of screen time for a stellar actress. And there is a ridiculous speech at the end where Seagal comments on the deterioration of Mother Earth that seems like a heavier-handed Oliver Stone message. In the midst of all of this, there is an awful lot of bone-crunching sound effects with Seagal kicking butt as usual.

"On Deadly Ground" is rotten at every level. Someone should do a speech about making tripe like this.