Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15960 in DVD
• Released on: 1998-01-07
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 105 minutes

Amazon.com
Here's a movie that only a Steven Seagal fan could love. It's not nearly as good as Under Siege (the movie destined to remain Seagal's high-water mark), but not any worse than Above the Law. This time ol' Steve is an agent of the Environmental Protection Agency who's busting heads in Kentucky. He's on good terms with the local yokels (including Marg Helgenberger and Harry Dean Stanton), but locks horns with a slimy mogul (Kris Kristofferson) who's using abandoned mines to dump toxic waste. Along with an ecological message, Seagal serves up several broken limbs, cracked skulls, and bloody noses, and he even finds time to do some guitar picking with country boys such as Travis Tritt and Randy Travis. Once you've heard Seagal crooning a country tune, you'll be eager to see him go back to whuppin' the bad guys. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Kind of like an Eastern version of "Pale Rider" in modern Appalachia
1997's "Fire Down Below" stars Steven Seagal as an E.P.A. agent who goes undercover in SE Kentucky to investigate the evil deeds of corporate mogul Kris Kristofferson & his minions, which includes dumping toxic waste in abandoned mines and murder. Seagal masquerades as a do-gooder helping people with his carpentry skills and living at a local church, but Kristofferson's gang are on to him and try to chase him away.

The plot kinda reminds me of Clint Eastwood's 1985 "Pale Rider" (which borrowed heavily from "Shane"). A lone stranger comes into town and befriends the common folks, saving them from the evil tycoon and his motley crew. The difference is that "Fire Down Below" is an Eastern rather than a Western, and it takes place in modern times. Seagal may not have the supernatural overtones of Clint in "Pale Rider" but his heroics are so fantastical that he comes off a bit supernatural just the same.

Seagal, of course, is a highly likable protagonist. He's ultra-confident, cool and soft-spoken at all times; and he knows how to kick some serious arse. Numerous times throughout the film he takes on multiple attackers and wins without even breaking a sweat. Unbelievable? Yes, but Seagal makes it believable. He is, after all, 6'4", dressed in cool black threads and a master of all kinds of martial arts.

Some say Seagal's a bad actor, but this isn't true. If someone is giving a bad acting performance you can tell because there's an awkward air to their delivery and you don't buy them in the role. This is not the case with Steven. Never for a second does the viewer question Seagal as the protagonist. It may be the only character Seagal can play, but he does it well.

Plus Seagal has numerous great one-liners throughout the film. For instance, late in the film he confronts his E.P.A. colleague who has sold out to Kristofferson and says, "You're a piece of s*** and I'm ashamed of you." The line is perfect and perfectly delivered, not to mention so true-to-life. Hasn't anyone ever betrayed you, abused you or disappointed you to the point where you finally give up with the realization that they're just a shameless and shameful piece of s***?

One of the best highlights for me is the gorgeous Appalachian locations and cinematography. The picture was filmed on location in SE Kentucky -- Hazzard, Mt. Vernon and points between, to be exact. I feel Appalachia is largely under-utilized in filmmaking and greatly enjoy it when films take advantage of this magnificent area of the USA.

Seagal's romantic interest in the film is played by Marge Halgenberger, who became popular a few years after this film starring in TV's "CSI." She's very believable as the local infamous woman who has a strange relationship with her brother, played by Stephen Lang.

Another highlight is the blues/country music heard throughout the picture. It turns out that Seagal wrote or co-wrote many of the songs featured and even performs one on camera. I never even knew he was a musician! How about that?! There's even a country-ish Jimi Hendrix song. Plus a couple Country stars make cameos, like Marty Stuart and Travis Tritt.

FINAl ANALYSIS: "Fire Down Below" falters a bit in the final act but, other than that, I love this film. It has everything you'd expect in a film that takes place in hillbilly country -- good family folks, rednecks, poverty, coal mines, brawls, alcohol, pot farms, backcountry churches, incest and country music. The best feature for me is the genuine Appalachian locations and photography. Add likable Steven Seagal to the mix and you have a winner!

As another reviewer has stated, Seagal has a totally winning personality -- a hero with a heart of purest gold. He's certainly someone worth emulating in my book. In fact, in this film he represents all (or most) of the qualities of authentic manhood missing in our current society that celebrates effeminized and weak men (another good example would be Clint Walker in "Night of the Grizzly," which has unfortunately only been released on VHS).

Lastly, I should warn action fans that this is hardly an action film. Yes, there are action pieces interspersed throughout, but they flash by with a blink of an eye. For the most part, "Fire Down Below" is a drama wherein the story plays out fairly leisurely. If you don't like movies of this ilk, stay away.

Although "Under Seige" is technically a better film and arguably Seagal's all-time best picture, I personally favor "Fire Down Below" for the reasons cited above. In other words, I'll likely be rewatching this one more often in coming years.

Hillbillies fight back against big corporations!
Wow, the left will have a hard time with this one. The rednecks in the mountains are led by Steven Seagal to fight back against a big moneybags dude that is dumping toxic chemicals in the mountains. Yeah peoples a good movie with a great chase scene involving a Mack truck! Well Seagal cannot act but he can kick some booty when necessary. Marg Helgenberger or however you spell her name, well she is hot, oh so hot and she is great in this! Then there are like 20 cameo appearances from a bunch of Country singers, I recognized Randy Travis and Kris Kristofferson but I could not place the fella playing the guitar on stage. Maybe it is Marty Stuart I don't recall and it does not really matter. Lots of action but really this story is just so much better than most of the junk action stuff Seagal did in the years following this movie. Whatever, he is over the hill now but hey there peoples, for nine dollars it is not a bad DVD to have. Yeeeeee haaaaaawww!

The Last Hurrah of Steven Seagal
This movie was Steven's last really good flick. It really isn't his best , but after "On Deadly Ground" it sure is better , and much better than his later movies. How many EPA workers carry guns , break bones , know kung-fu , and play guitar, I don't know but in this movie a least one does. It's the same thing as in all his other movies but at least he is still fit here.