Fire Down Below

The hills of Jackson, Kentucky, have been poisoned with dumped toxins for too long. EPA Marshal Jack Taggert (Steven Seagal), out to avenge the murder of a colleague, is appointed to discover who exactly is raping the environment, but this proves to be no mean feat. Most of the locals have been bought off or intimidated into silence, so Taggert goes undercover, inveigling himself into local society. He discovers that local tycoon Orin Hanner (Kris Kristofferson) is far from above suspicion
Here’s a film that only a Steven Seagal fan could love. Fire Down Below 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