Movies - On Deadly Ground

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	Movies - On Deadly Ground

On Deadly Ground is a 1994 action-adventure film directed by and starring Steven Seagal, and co-starring, Michael Caine, Joan Chen, and John C. McGinley. It was produced by A Kitman Ho, Julius R, Nasso, and Seagal and distributed by Warner Bros. Studios.

Synopsis

Seagal plays Forrest Taft, a specialist in dealing with oil drilling-related fires. Taft discovers that Aegis Oil, his employer, is using faulty equipment on a new refinery in Alaska and is covering up the fact. He later discovers that the reason is so that the land doesn't revert back to the Eskimo tribes, which would cost Aegis Oil countless millions in revenue. Aegis' CEO, the arrogant Michael Jennings (Caine) is, like Taft, a former member of an elite military unit. Jennings puts on a facade of caring for the environment and the Eskimo people, but, in reality could care less about them.

Aegis engineer named Hugh Palmer (Richard Hamilton) has also come to the same conclusion and confides to Taft, suggesting he go public with the startling information. When Jennings learns of this he hires a group of mercenaries led by Stone (Ermey) who torture and murder Palmer. To get Taft out the way they set a trap for him. Although he is wounded, Taft survives and is rescued by Masu (Chen) who's the daughter of Silook, the chief of her tribe.

Silook has Taft undergo a vision quest in which he sees the truth. Silook refers to Taft as a bear (obviously in a positive way) but Taft, out of shame for what he's been part of, however unwittingly, says: "No. I'm a mouse." Silook responds: "That's what the bear would say."

Taft, with Masu's help, assures that the refinery does not go on line, using Seagal's trademark blend of Aikido and Asymmetric warfare.

Criticisms

Departing from the usual action movie protocol, Forrest Taft does not have a traditional sidekick; rather Segal's only foil is Masu, with whom he develops a romantic friendship, the norm for Steven Seagal's films.

On Deadly Ground was also criticized for being a heavy-handed environmentalist film masquerading as an action-adventure movie. The final scene, with Seagal giving a speech about the obsolescence of the internal combustion engine and the need for cleaner alternative fuels, was viewed as preachy by many fans and critics alike.

Male anatomy takes center stage, but is strangely showcased without any (intentional) humor: Overdubbed sound portions of the first fight scene are notable for Taft's victims calling out the injured portions of their bodies ("my nuts!" and "my balls!"), as Taft puts them in their place. These voice tracks do not match the film, as the victims are either dazed or grimacing, and not visibly vocalizing. During this fight scene, the antagonist also vigorously refers to his own testicles as part of his display of confidence and fortitude.

Reviewer Michael Dequina of called it "a vanity project in the strongest sense of the term, this film has it all: bad acting, bad writing, bad direction, bad action sequences."

Upon release, On Deadly Ground met with generally poor critical reviews, largely because of perceived stereotyping of Native Americans and their spiritual beliefs. It earned just under $38.6M during its theatrical run.

Portions of On Deadly Ground are arguably similar to those of the 1971 cult film, Billy Jack
.

Trivia

Seagal agreed to appear in Under Siege 2
if Warner Bros let him direct this film.

Jeremy Irons
was originally intended to play the villain.

Originally called Rainbow Warrior, the title was changed shortly before release.

It is rumored that the original cut of the film featured an 11-minute speech at the end by Seagal about pollution. Test audiences reportedly walked out during the closing speech and thus, the film was re-edited.

Michael Caine
has been quoted about On Deadly Ground: "I have not seen the film, but I hear it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it paid for, and it is superb".

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for On Deadly Ground ]

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