NateWatchesCoolMovies I tend to actively avoid Steven Seagal films like the plague, and realize intermittently that I do in fact enjoy certain ones from back in the day. He's made a ton of trash, no doubt, but the clouds part every now and again, for select occasions like Under Siege, The Glimmer Man, Above The Law, Fire Down Below and the snowbound On Deadly Ground. The main marvel in this one is an incredibly hammy Michael Caine as the mustache twirling villain, a Big Oil maniac who has his amoral sights set on sacred land belonging to Inuit tribesman. Seagal plays yet another martial arts trained badass who takes it upon himself to bring down Caine, his nefarious capitalist plans and the violent mercenaries he has hired to wipe the land of indigenous natives. It's as silly as silly can be, right down to him falling in love with a beautiful Inuit girl (Joan Chen, actually Chinese), but enjoyable on its own terms when you look at the solid choreography, stunts and impressive location work. Also, the roster of villains is too good to pass up, starting with Caine's outright, wanton psychopath. We're also treated to the Sergeant himself, R. Lee Ermey as a merc with a particularly salty attitude, John C. McGinley over-playing one of his patented schoolyard bullies, and even Billy Bob Thornton shows up, adding to the sleaze factor. Watch for cameos from Mike Starr, Michael Jai White and an unbilled Louise Fletcher as well. Seagal directed this himself, so it's essentially one big vanity piece where he gets to play Dances With Wolves for a couple hours, but the trick is to see the unintentional comedy in that and enjoy it. Seagal is one of those goofs who I am not a ashamed to say I am laughing at, not with. Caine is the real prize here, and his merry band of assholes. An action flick is only as good as it's antagonist, and this guy is bad to the bone in hilariously over the top ways. A big dumb flick, nothing more, nothing le- well maybe a little less in places, but fun in other spots nonetheless.

plasma-798-259757 Action Hero, you bet. Dedicated to removing the toxic, noxious earth-spoilers and destroyers. Yeah! Using ones power to protect this precious planet. YES! Stephen is always impressive (to me); big, fast, powerful with great skill and ...conscience. Too often we see mealy-mouth apologetic gestures dealing with true evil on our savaged planet -- evildoers who find excuses for us to keep them around. I don't think we need to turn any more cheeks, here, folks: they've had they way for a very long time, corrupting, poisoning and stealing the ground out from under us.That's what's so attractive about the character Stephen plays in "Dangerous Ground": it strikes just the right note. Like a Bond extravaganza, the megalomaniac(s) and their henchmen without a speck of conscience -- are spectacularly consumed by their own greed, along the mechanical beast (massive oil platform set up in the fragile Arctic) they unleashed to devour the earth.The environmental note is a sub-theme as "our hero" sets out to right a terrible wrong affecting the lives and lands of Native Alaskans and Native Americans. Justice and "right action" is strongly underlined in this movie; perhaps that's why some "reviewers" write disparagingly about this movie. I beg to differ.The villains are as they are in "real life" -- conscienceless, brutal, selfish, etc. Stephen's character is motivated by personal loss, true, but the target(s are those crying out for an Action Hero to save the day! His police side-kick, so to speak, helps lighten the load without succumbing to idiocy. Bravo! Bravo! Summarizing: Fierce integrity; duty and service to a Higher Cause. Amen.

Adam Foidart Even if all of the explosions, action and martial arts sequences had been done well, they would be hopelessly drowning in one of the most blatant and over-the-top environmental message you will have ever seen. "On Deadly Ground" is a preachy mess of a film. The antagonists are one second away from growing curly mustaches and twirling them while clubbing baby seals and the protagonist is kind of a bully that prefers solving his problems with violence rather than common sense. There are also plenty of ridiculous over-the-top sequences that feel completely out of place with the pro-environment message that it's trying to shove down the audience's throat. There's ham-fisted and then there's "On Deadly Ground" who take the ham off of your plate, shows you the pig's family before it was slaughtered, beat you to death with it the chunk of meat, tosses your ravaged body out of the window and onto on gas-guzzler that explodes due to the impact and reduces the nearby winter coat store to a pile of cinders. (On VHS, January 2012)

SnoopyStyle Michael Jennings (Michael Caine) is the callous CEO of Aegis Oil. They are desperate to finish the latest job or else the drilling rights revert back to the "Eskimos". He cut corners and use defective parts. Forrest Taft (Steven Seagal) is the safety officer who must fight for what's right.Steven Seagal is a weak director. He lacks the vision or the skills. This plays more as a TV movie with an oversized budget. It could still have been watchable but Seagal keeps strutting around like a douchie peacock. This is a terrible vanity project. He wants to be an environmental native superhero. It's all too much.Even Michael Caine is annoyingly 2 dimensional. He sleeks back his hair and act like a super criminal. There isn't much nuance. This is standoff between two giant peacocks as the movie starts with a giant explosion, and the two men standing upright posing while everybody else cowers. It sets the sour tone right from the beginning.