A busy weekend started on Wednesday night with a bro, bbq and Steven Seagal's sole directorial effort, On Deadly Ground on HBO. There's quite a few flicks from Seagal, Stallone and Eastwood on the premium outlet but only one each from Van Damme and Arnold's. It's been a while since I've seen the Alaska set, oil company man sells out then sides with the locals to fight the shady corporation eco-action-thriller and it actually holds up pretty well. Of course it's totally ridiculous with Seagal being some clean up specialist for an evil oil company, blowing up wells to shut them off when faulty equipment causes a blaze or keeping ticked off Inuit people away from billionaire scumbag Michael Caine (here with dark hair for maybe the first time I've ever seen). When roughnecks mess with the local tribal people, Seagal's Forrest Taft beats the shit out of all of them while asking "what does it take to change the essence of a man?"
The Alaskan locales are beautifully shot, there's plenty of bone breaking hand to hand combat, gunplay, giant explosions and terribly hilarious dialog like "my nuts!". At the end of the film, Seagal delivers a surprisingly effective speech on how the environment is suffering due to cars, oil drilling, pollution, etc. that seems especially true today let alone in 1994. The Aikido man was hot off the success of $150 million grossing Under Siege and Warner Brothers handed him the directorial reigns in exchange for a Siege follow up. An excellent supporting cast joins Caine (who reportedly replaced Jeremy Irons), a high strung and screaming John C. McGinley (The Rock, Scrubs), Joan Chen (The Hunted), R. Lee Emery (Full Metal Jacket), a chubby and funny Billy Bob Thornton along with Arnold buddy Sven-Ole Thorsen.
The budget pushed $50 million but On Deadly Ground would gross under $40 million, less than half of Under Siege. Seagal's box office mojo would quickly dwindle with Under Siege 2 rebounding a bit before getting killed off in 1996's Executive Decision. Three films later, Seagal went straight to video. Michael Caine would reflect kindly in his memoirs on Seagal and crew while hating the location.
True Detective Season 2 debuted Sunday night on cable programming juggernaut HBO. The business behind Fraggle Rock, Tales From the Crypt, Band of Brothers, Entourage and Game of Thrones have carved out their own niche of television that is nearly unrivaled in terms of quality, innovation, sex and fan following. Sunday saw the launch of several new series joining TD like the "Entourage with sportsball" Ballers and some show with Jack Black about the government. While I hadn't seen the first season of Detective, I've only heard good things. Season 2's cast and premise intrigued me much more with a trio of Los Angeles cops (Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch) getting involved with a murder and a gangster turning businessman (Vince Vaughn) falling somewhere in between. Basically each cop is fucked up in their own way (Farrell is crooked and drunk, McAdams has hard sex and alienates everyone around her while Kitsch can't get it up and resorts to extreme danger to feel alive).
It only took one scene to guarantee my return viewing and that included one Colin Farrell along with a set of brass knuckles. Basically, Farrell's Detective Ray Velcoro is trying to be a good dad to a kid that was the result of a seemingly unsolved rape. But his kid is his kid even if the parents are separated. When a bully messes with said kid's new shoes, Velcoro goes to bully's house, slips on some knucks and proceeds to pummel the father while making bully son watch as a lesson. It's as horrifying as it is hilarious, a real vicarious experience for anybody who's ever dealt with an asshole.
A talented and likable actor, Farrell has become a Hollywood fixture even if he's never quite been able to crack it. Early films saw him working with the likes of Joel Schumacher and Steven Spielberg opposite Tom Cruise, Al Pacino and Bruce Willis. A fun performance as Bullseye in Ben Affleck's Daredevilwas followed up by popcorn leading man vehicle S.W.A.T. but 2004's ill received Alexander and 2006's Miami Vice showed an eclectic and perhaps unfocused career path reflected by his booze and women filled Hollywood lifestyle. In Bruges showed he could still be funny yet sensitive but 2012's big budget Total Recall was pretty lame. I didn't even know he was in it but his portrayal as a day dreaming, alcoholic father in Saving Mr. Banks is arguably the most impressive. Detective debuted to mixed reviews comparing it too closely to the first season while drawing in a solid 3 million plus viewers. See you next week!
