On Deadly Ground

Steven Seagal portrays Forest Taft, an employee for the Aegis Oil Company in northern Alaska. Taft cares for the environment, and tries to keep the company oil rigs as efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. However, Michael Jennings (Michael Caine), the corrupt president of Aegis doesn’t care whether or not his oil rigs are safe - his only concern is the money that will be lining his pockets. After a few accidents it becomes apparent that Jennings has been cutting corners at great risk to his staff, and the consequences could be disastrous for the surrounding peoples and environment. So in steps Taft to determine what’s troubling the rigs, however before he can establish any positive leads, Jennings attempts to have him killed. Only his cunning and the help of a local Eskimo tribe keep Taft alive. With their help Taft makes the long trek back to the Aegis Oil Company to reveal Jennings’ indiscretions to the world, and to save his beloved environment.

"You wanna know who he is? Try this: delve down into the deepest bowels of your soul. Try to imagine the ultimate f*cking nightmare. And that won't come close to that son of a bitch when he gets pissed... "

Directed by the martial arts guru himself, On Deadly Ground is just another excuse for Seagal to hit many bad guys really, really hard. If he really wants to preach about saving the environment he shouldn’t go around blowing things up himself, which directly or not is what he does in this film. If you’re in the mood for a simple film about blowing things up and punching guys in the face, then you’ll have a blast. Michael Caine seems to have lowered his standards to be in this low budget bust, but at least he brings a spot of class to an otherwise bleak film. Overall it lacks the spark that made Seagal's Under Siege the hit it became. Only watch this film if you are a die-hard Seagal fanatic.

"He's the kind of guy who would drink a gallon of gasoline so that he can piss into your campfire! You could drop this guy off at the Arctic Circle wearing a pair of bikini underwear, without his toothbrush, and tomorrow afternoon he's going to show up at your pool side with a million dollar smile and fist full of pesos."

Similar to Under Siege 2 and most other Seagal films of this era, the video quality looks far more dated than it really should. Filmed in 1994, this looks on par with a good transfer of a film that's ten years older. Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, On Deadly Ground is also widescreen enhanced.

Grain is constant and really lowers the overal clarity of the picture. The detail is acceptable, but far from being sharp. The colours are well rendered, if not just a touch on the dull side. Film artefacts are constant, but are generally just tiny black specks that don't cause too many distractions. Aliasing isn't a problem as the picture is never sharp enough. There are no compression problems and there is no layer change as this is a single layered feature.

Overall the quality is acceptable even though a quick re-mastering would have done wonders for it. The general detail is only a few notches above that of a good quality VHS, but at least we get it widescreen enhanced.

The sound is a pretty standard affair. Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound is put to reasonable use with the surrounds getting a fairly constant work out. Action films are reknowned for their great use of surround channels and loud explosions, but this film never really gets exciting. The subwoofer thumps on a few occasions, but there is certainly not the grand aural immersion that so many modern films pack into their soundtracks.

There are also French and German soundtracks, covering the same range of dynamics, but with the appropriate voice-overs of course.

There are no extras, just subtitles in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, Portuguese, English - Hearing Impaired, and Italian - Hearing Impaired. And they're not really extras as such, are they?

On Deadly Ground isn't Seagal's best flick, but it certainly isn't his worse. Being directed by, and starring Steven Seagal guarantee's only one thing... lots of bloodied noses! It lacks the intensity of Under Siege, but still packs enough punches to keep most action buffs amused. Now all I need to find are some extra features...