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Orchestrated by:
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Greig McRitchie
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Release Date:
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March 15th, 1994
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Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you are an avid Basil Poledouris collector, and enjoy
his trademark synthetic rhythms under bold and brass themes.
Avoid it... if you agree that Poledouris' action writing doesn't
receive due treatment from undersized ensembles and poor mixing.
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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| | Poledouris | |
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On Deadly Ground: (Basil Poledouris) If somebody in
the room with you starts laughing when he or she hears actor Michael
Caine's voice in real-life commercials for petroleum companies, then
that person will have watched On Deadly Ground. The wretched film
marked the directorial debut of crotch-kicking martial arts specialist
(and actor, though some wouldn't go that far) Steven Seagal, who saw the
project as an opportunity to insert his liberal ideologies into a film
in which he could also be seen doing what he enjoys in his spare time:
punching and kicking other grown men in painful places. When not
invading other peoples' personal bubble space with his fist or foot, he
delivers dialogue that only the mother of the writer could love, and
On Deadly Ground is filled to the brim with such banter. On the
political front, Seagal delivers a short docudrama against oil companies
at the end of the film that the studio forced him to cut in length
dramatically. Scenes of explosions, death, and bar fights are
interspersed between lengthy moments of religious mysticism and
discovery, something also important to Seagal personally. But that
leaves only the explosions (including a whopper at the end... miniatures
have never been so abused) and Caine's pale and bloated portrayal of an
evil oil tycoon as guilty pleasures for this late night usual on cable
TV. Caine's scene filming a pro-oil commercial with live animals, and
his vulgar, distasteful reaction to those animals, is the reason for
irony in the real-life TV counterparts. It's not entirely clear what
would attract veteran composer Basil Poledouris to Seagal's directorial
debut, or even to Seagal's sequel to Under Siege thereafter. But
Poledouris seems content with these odd assignments, and in the shadow
of the success with Free Willy comes the score for On Deadly
Ground. In the end, he easily overdelivers for the film.
In its basic construct, Poledouris' score has the same
style as his other big action scores. A deliberate theme in
straight-forward brass is accompanied by rolling timpani and tingling
electronic rhythms, with bold harmony and generous light percussion
throughout. But the depth of the components is lacking in On Deadly
Ground, with the orchestra less muscular than usual for Poledouris,
rendering his music a bit punchless. While the intent to create a broad,
epic action score is obvious, the ensemble is unable to generate
anything even remotely close to the power of the opening launch sequence
in Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, and a dull, muted recording
quality contributes to the problem. Poledouris does compensate for poor
depth with his usual array of synthesizers, but nothing on the scale to
the just previous Free Willy. The rambling rhythmic synth effects
are all familiar, however, from that score, and remain a trademark of
Poledouris' 1990's writing. Interestingly, they slowly and consistenly
increase in tempo from the first cue to the end credits. Striking
synthetic bass notes assist the "Aegis Flameout" cue in achieving the
density that the rest of the score lacks, utilizing several effects from
Wind. Because the film fights for the native peoples of Alaska,
and thus contains a fair amount of mysticism, Poledouris addresses this
need with Inuit throat singers Qaunaq Mikkigak and Timangiak
Petaulassie, who contribute to the "Journey" cue with subtle
performances. While the mysticism is a central element in the film,
Poledouris' use of these singers is so undermixed with the orchestra
that their effect on the score is sadly minimal. Likewise, for Seagal's
lecturing documentary sequence at the end of the film (birds covered in
oil, etc), Poledouris responds with a rather mundane statement of
pleasant harmony where some genuine orchestral kick could have helped.
Overall, the score is better than the film deserved, but still somewhat
flat due to a lack of depth. ***
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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• 1. Main Titles (2:19)
• 2. Aegis Flameout (1:43)
• 3. Forrest Found (1:35)
• 4. The Journey (7:57)
• 5. Forrest Decides/Horse Chase (3:54)
• 6. Jennings Goes Down (4:45)
• 7. The Warning/End Credits (7:18)
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Insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
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