On Deadly Ground

On Deadly Ground
On Deadly Ground
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Steven Seagal
Written by	Ed Horowitz ; Robin U. Russin
Produced by	Steven Seagal ; A. Kitman Ho ; Julius R. Nasso
Starring	Steven Seagal; Michael Caine; Joan Chen; John C. McGinley;
Cinematography	Ric Waite
Edited by	Don Brochu ; Robert A. Ferretti
Music by	Basil Poledouris
Production; company	Seagal/Nasso Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	February 18, 1994 (United States);
Running time	101 minutes
Languages	English ; Yupik
Budget	$50 million
Box office	$78.1 million

On Deadly Ground is a 1994 American environmental action adventure film directed, co-produced by, and starring Steven Seagal, and co-starring Michael Caine, Joan Chen, John C. McGinley and R. Lee Ermey. As of 2024, it is Seagal's only directorial effort and features a minor appearance by Billy Bob Thornton in one of his early roles. Seagal plays Forrest Taft, an expert firefighter who chooses to fight back against the environmental destruction caused by his ruthless former employer (Caine). On Deadly Ground was theatrically released in the United States on February 18, 1994, by Warner Bros. It garnered negative reviews from critics and grossed $78.1 million worldwide on a $50 million production budget.

Plot

Aegis Oil owns various oil refineries and rigs in Alaska, where the company faces great opposition from the public due to the increasing environmental damage done by its operations. Aegis had purchased the oil production rights from the local Tribal Council 20 years prior; however, the rights will revert to the natives if Aegis 1, the company's newest oil platform and biggest refinery, is not online within a certain deadline. In order to make the deadline in the face of multiple delays, CEO Michael Jennings forces his workers to use substandard parts.

Foreman Hugh Palmer's rig suffers a blowout due to the faulty parts. Trained firefighter Forrest Taft extinguishes the blaze. However, they have become suspicious of their company's consistently poor safety record. Taft manages to hack into the company's computer files and learn about the faulty parts. After being informed of Palmer's efforts to alert the Environmental Protection Agency and of Taft's access to restricted files, Jennings arranges for both of them to be eliminated by his Chief Security Officer, MacGruder and his assistant Otto. The two ransack Palmer's cabin and brutally torture and murder him when he refuses to cooperate. Meanwhile, Taft is ordered by Jennings to head over to another accident site, but realizes too late that the damaged building has been rigged as a booby trap. Taft narrowly survives the ensuing explosion and is rescued by Masu, the daughter of Yupik tribe chief Silook.

At the behest of Silook, Taft undergoes a vision quest in which he sees the full truth and vows to make amends for his part in Aegis's crimes. Meanwhile, the Aegis security team tracks Taft to Silook's village and when the tribe turns them down, a confrontation ensues, ending with MacGruder fatally shooting Silook. Taft returns in time to have one last talk with Silook before he succumbs to his wounds, vowing to avenge him and bring down Aegis.

Taft and Masu make their way to Palmer's cabin. While gathering supplies, they find his incriminating disk containing proof of Aegis's crimes. Otto and three Aegis security guards track the pair back to the cabin. Taft ambushes the party, quickly killing all of them. Jennings then deploys a squad of mercenaries led by an older man code-named "Stone", but Taft manages to evade the group by killing several of the members with booby traps and blowing up a shack which obliterates a helicopter, effectively finishing their pursuit.

Taft and Masu collect weapons and explosives and proceed to sneak into the refinery complex. Taft sabotages Aegis 1 by killing the main power and forcing a reboot, then releasing hydrochloric acid gas inside the refinery. He then plants a series of C-4 explosive charges onto several oil tanks and in the control room and sets them to a timer.

Jennings has already arrived at the refinery to check on it when he gets word of Taft's infiltration and orders his henchmen to find and kill him. Taft fights and eventually eliminates every opposing mercenary (including MacGruder and Stone) using firearms, a steel pipe, and even burning gasoline. He then confronts and corners Jennings, condemning him for his greed and corruption. As Jennings attempts to escape, Taft lassos one of his legs with a cable, puts it on a hook and shoots the cable, sending Jennings to his death into a pool of oil sludge below. He and Masu then escape the rig just as the hidden C-4 charges detonate, causing a chain of explosions that ravages the entire plant. They flee the exploding refinery in an Aegis truck, escaping as Aegis 1 is torn down by the fire.

Later, Taft, far from being arrested for industrial sabotage and multiple murders, delivers a speech at the Alaska State Capitol about the dangers of oil pollution and the companies that are endangering the ecosystem.^[3]

Cast

Steven Seagal as Forrest Taft, a firefighter and blowout specialist.
Michael Caine as Michael Jennings, greedy billionaire CEO of Aegis Oil.
Joan Chen as Masu, the daughter of Yupik tribe chief Silook.
John C. McGinley as MacGruder, the chief of security of Aegis Oil.
R. Lee Ermey as Stone, the leader of the mercenary group.
Shari Shattuck as Liles, Jennings' personal assistant.
Billy Bob Thornton as Homer Carlton, one of Stone's men.
Richard Hamilton as Hugh Palmer, rig foreman of Aegis Oil.
Chief Irvin Brink as Silook, chief of the Alaskan Yupik tribe.
John Trudell as Johnny Redfeather, Forrest's friend.
Mike Starr as Mike "Big Mike", an oil worker who starts a barfight with Forrest.
Sven-Ole Thorsen as Otto, Jennings' other henchman.
Bart the Bear as The Bear

Production

Former Warner Bros Vice President Bill Daly stated Seagal lost his director's salary due to going over-budget; the studio agreed to forgive his loss and pay the salary but in exchange, Seagal had to agree to play a supporting role in Executive Decision.^[4]

In addition to the credited writers, Chris Gerolmo, David Goyer, and Mitchell Kapner also did work on the screenplay.^[5]

Reception

Critical response

On Deadly Ground received negative reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 14% of 35 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.5/10.^[6] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 33 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.^[7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.^[8]

At the time of its release, Gene Siskel included the film in his "Worst of" list for 1994, singling out the melancholy tone of the film and the quality of Seagal's dialogue.^[9] On their syndicated TV show Siskel & Ebert, Siskel called the film's pyrotechnics "low rent" and stated that he "didn't think the fight sequences were anything special." He noted that Seagal's speech at the end was "more interesting than the actual fighting."

Roger Ebert, for his part, stated the movie was "limited to two basic qualities: it's violent and it's sanctimonious", and opined that while "it doesn't pay to devote close attention to the plot", "if you like to see lots of stuff blowed up real good, then this'll be a movie for you." His opinion on the ending speech was that it was "absurd", stating, "at the end after Seagal kills about 30 people and blowing up the largest oil refinery in the world, what happens? He's invited to the Alaska State Legislature to give a talk about ecology. I'm not sure, but blowing up oil refineries does not make you that popular in Alaska."^[10]

Variety film critic Leonard Klady referred to the film as "a vanity production parading as a social statement" and commented that the film seemingly borrowed heavily from the earlier film Billy Jack, but opined that Seagal lacked "acting technique and the ability behind the camera to keep the story simple and direct" that Billy Jack star Tom Laughlin exhibited. Like Siskel, Klady also singled out the speech by Seagal's character at the end of the film.^[11]^[12]

The 1996 movie guide "Seen That, Now What?", the film was given the rating of "C-", stating "This combination action/environmental rights movie is an interesting hybrid in concept, but a filmic mess in execution, including embarrassing Eskimo shaman scenes and well-meaning lecture-finale on endangered species."^[13]

Seagalogy author Vern considers On Deadly Ground to be one of Seagal's defining works, writing, "It's the corniest, most unintentionally hilarious movie of his career... But it's also Seagal's most sincere and his most ballsy," going on to claim, "You can't understand Seagal if you haven't seen On Deadly Ground."^[14] He points out that many of the most important themes and motifs that define Seagal's work are present in the film, and more overtly so than in any of his other films.^[15]

Box office

The film grossed $38.6 million in the United States and Canada^[1] and $78.1 million worldwide^[2] against its reported $50 million budget.

Accolades

The film received six Golden Raspberry Awards nominations and won in the Worst Director category. The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.^[16]

Award	Category	Subject	Result
Golden Raspberry Award	Worst Actress	Joan Chen	Nominated
	Worst Actor	Steven Seagal	Nominated
	Worst Director		Won
	Worst Picture		Nominated
		A. Kitman Ho	Nominated
		Julius R. Nasso	Nominated
	Worst Screenplay	Ed Horowitz	Nominated
	Worst Screenplay	Robin U. Russin	Nominated
	Worst Original Song ("Under the Same Sun")	Mark Hudson	Nominated
		Klaus Meine	Nominated
		Bruce Fairbairn	Nominated

Year-end lists

1st worst – Sean P. Means, The Salt Lake Tribune^[17]
2nd worst – Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News^[18]
7th worst – Dan Craft, The Pantagraph^[19]
9th worst – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone^[20]
Top 10 worst (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Mike Mayo, The Roanoke Times^[21]
Top 10 worst (not ranked) – Betsy Pickle, Knoxville News-Sentinel^[22]
Top 10 worst (not ranked) – Dan Webster, The Spokesman-Review^[23]

References

^ ^a ^b "On Deadly Ground (1994)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Top 100 grossers worldwide, '93-94". Variety. October 17, 1994. p. M-56.
^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: edstar83 (July 10, 2010). Steven Seagal On Deadly Ground. 1994 Ending Speech! (video). Retrieved December 20, 2017 – via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ Dettenmaier, Ethan. "Why Seagal was killed in Exec Decision? Former WB VP Bill Daly & I remember our days w/'The Steven'". Brigade-Radio-One. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
^ Moerk, Christian (May 20, 1993). "'Deadly' Seagal pic rolling in Alaska". Variety. Archived from the original on October 5, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
^ "On Deadly Ground". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
^ "On Deadly Ground". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
^ "CinemaScore". Archived from the original on December 20, 2018.
^ Siskel, Gene, Ebert, Robert. (1994). "Siskel and Ebert at the movies: Best and worst of 1994" [Television recording] Buena-Vista Entertainment Ltd
^ Siskel, Gene, Ebert, Robert (1994). Siskel & Ebert: Sugar Hill / On Deadly Ground / Eight Seconds (1994) (TV). Event occurs at 12:00. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
^ Klady, Leonard (February 21, 1994). "On Deadly Ground". Variety. Archived from the original on July 27, 2023. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
^ Harrington, Richard (February 19, 1994). "On Deadly Ground (R)". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2011.
^ Shaw, Andrea (1996). Seen That, Now What?: The Ultimate Guide to Finding the Video You Really Want to Watch. Simon and Schuster. p. 42. ISBN 9780684800110.
^ Vern (March 2012). Seagalogy: A Study of the Ass-Kicking Films of Steven Seagal. London: Titan Books. p. 69. ISBN 978-0857687227.
^ Vern (March 2012). Seagalogy: A Study of the Ass-Kicking Films of Steven Seagal. London: Titan Books. p. 78. ISBN 978-0857687227.
^ Wilson, John (2005). The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying the Best of Hollywood's Worst. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 0-446-69334-0.
^ P. Means, Sean (January 1, 1995). "'Pulp and Circumstance' After the Rise of Quentin Tarantino, Hollywood Would Never Be the Same". The Salt Lake Tribune (Final ed.). p. E1.
^ Strauss, Bob (December 30, 1994). "At the Movies: Quantity Over Quality". Los Angeles Daily News (Valley ed.). p. L6.
^ Craft, Dan (December 30, 1994). "Success, Failure and a Lot of In-between; Movies '94". The Pantagraph. p. B1.
^ Travers, Peter (December 29, 1994). "The Best and Worst Movies of 1994". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 20, 2020. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
^ Mayo, Mike (December 30, 1994). "The Hits and Misses at the Movies in '94". The Roanoke Times (Metro ed.). p. 1.
^ Pickle, Betsy (December 30, 1994). "Searching for the Top 10... Whenever They May Be". Knoxville News-Sentinel. p. 3.
^ Webster, Dan (January 1, 1995). "In Year of Disappointments, Some Movies Still Delivered". The Spokesman-Review (Spokane ed.). p. 2.