On Deadly Ground

This fuzzily illustrated sermon is mostly an attempt to prove that the internal combustion engine is obsolete, and that oil companies everywhere are conspiring to wipe out alternative methods. Read full review

A supremely silly eco-thriller with aspirations to Dances With Wolves. [22 Feb 1994, p.D03]

As a director, Seagal isn't much on transition scenes. That would cut into the time devoted to knives slicing through heads. [21 Feb 1994, p.4D]

This movie bogs down under heavy-handed, simplistic preachings about the environment and numerous scenes of utterly gratuitous violence. [23 Feb 1994]

Martial arts maven Seagal has long been on deadly ground with critics, and this, his directorial debut, is likely to keep him there. Read full review

Seagal has been quoted as saying he isn't proud of the films he's done, that he wanted to move onto more serious fare. In that light, it's possible to see the wretched excesses of On Deadly Ground as self-punishment. To each his own, but when the audience is punished, we're standing on the wrong ground. [21 Feb 1994, p.25]

On Deadly Ground has all the thrills and suspense of a rerun of Barney and Friends. [22 Feb 1994, p.D5]

Clumsily derivative, completely predictable and leadenly directed by the star himself. [23 Feb 1994]

Certain things must be answered, like Seagal's environmental lip service that is utterly mocked by the movie's need to blow things up and destroy property. Read full review

What is there to do but laugh in self-defense at such pompous self-regard when blood gushes, fuses pop, and Seagal scowls in a series of snappy, embroidered buckskin jackets? Read full review