On Deadly Ground

On Deadly Ground (1994) is a Steven Seagal action picture you can watch online on iFILM. It's also the only film Seagal ever directed — he headlines and calls the shots behind the camera both.

Forrest Taft puts out oil-rig fires in Alaska for a company called Aegis Oil. For a while he looks the other way, but the line gets crossed once he sees how far CEO Michael Jennings will go: poisoning the Arctic wilderness and cheating the local Native communities, all to keep the money flowing while faulty equipment sits ready to spill. Taft picks the side of the land and the people on it, and goes after the corporation alone. Michael Caine plays the oily Jennings, with Joan Chen, R. Lee Ermey and a young Billy Bob Thornton along for the ride.

This is pure mid-nineties action — explosions, fistfights and Seagal's trademark aikido, capped by a surprisingly earnest environmental sermon at the end. Critics roasted the heavy-handed message, but as rowdy throwback action it moves. One for Seagal die-hards and anyone with a soft spot for retro shoot-'em-ups. Stream On Deadly Ground (1994) online on iFILM.