On Deadly Ground

Seagal has made a name for himself knocking the stuffing out of low life scumbags - here, in his directorial debut, his victims are rich, ecologically unsound scumbags. Caine's snaked-eyed, snakeskin-booted oil magnate knows he must get his rig on-line, or drilling rights will revert to the 'Eskimos'. Following the death of the rig foreman and an oil spill, trouble-shooter Forest Taft (Seagal) is set up as the fall guy for an alleged sabotage plot. Through contact with the Inuits, Taft learns he is a spirit warrior who must teach the oil men to 'fear the bear'. When the crud hits the fan, however, Taft eschews cosmic dream energy in favour of 'cold, hard reality' - i.e. a familiar arsenal of weapons. In contrast to his short, sharp fighting style, Seagal's presentation of the human conflicts and underlying issues consists of vague, sweeping gestures.