Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,007
Written 3/25/97, Revised 1/4/19
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Buy it... on the 2018 expanded product if you are an avid Basil
Poledouris collector and enjoy his trademark synthetic rhythms under raw
brass themes.
Avoid it... if you agree that Poledouris' action writing style
doesn't receive due treatment from undersized ensembles and poor mixing,
both of which plague this score.
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| Poledouris |
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 environmental ideologies
into a film in which he could also be seen doing what he enjoys most 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, sweaty, 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 ("Fuck!
These animals stink!"), is a highlight of the man's career. 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 seemed content with these odd
assignments, and in the shadow of his 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
espouses the same style as his other big action scores. Tonal melodies,
all relying on similar three-note phrases, exist on sparse but striking
brass tones while evolving into woodwind variants for the native Alaskan
setting and peoples. Electronics are never far in the mix, either,
producing a typical Poledouris environment with a hint of Native
American mysticism in this case. The greatest weakness of the score is
its lack of orchestrated depth, a request reportedly made by Seagal
himself.
Poledouris delivers two themes for
On Deadly
Ground, the primary identity for Seagal's character and the Aegis
Oil plot a deliberate melody of repeated notes in straight-forward brass
accompanied by rolling timpani and tingling electronic rhythms, with
bold tonality and generous light percussion throughout. Heard
prominently in "Main Titles," this theme continues in "Forrest Found"
and in action variants thereafter. Its opening trios of notes make it
easily recognizable. The more fluid secondary theme is introduced in
"Aegis Flameout," evolves in subsequent cues, and delivers by "The
Journey," representing the native peoples and Seagal's connection to
them. 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 a broad, epic action stance
is needed in several scenes, 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 contributed to the problem in film and on the initial album
release. 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 from
that score, however, and they remain a trademark of Poledouris' 1990's
writing. Interestingly, they slowly and consistently increase in tempo
from the first cue to the end credits, a nice technique. 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" with subtle performances.
While such tone 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, "The Warning," Poledouris responds with
a rather mundane statement of pleasant tonality where some genuine
orchestral empathy could have helped. A greatly expanded, limited 2018
album from Varèse Sarabande is a treat for Poledouris
enthusiasts, especially those who love his synthetic rhythms in improved
sound. Still, while the score is better than what the film deserved, it
remains strangely detached and under-orchestrated for much of its
length.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
Bias Check:
For Basil Poledouris reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.54
(in 35 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.3
(in 36,800 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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