History YMMV / OnDeadlyGround

** Arguably Forrest himself when killing many {{Designated Villain}}s (e.g., Liles) who just happen to work for Jennings' company.

* DesignatedHero: '''Forrest Taft''', so very much. All throughout the film, he comes off as a complete psychopath. What Jennings is trying to do is wrong, but Forrest commits [[EcoTerrorist eco-terrorism]] on a grand scale, murdering several people in the facility, including people who are unarmed and unable to defend themselves. When told they have enough evidence to go to the police and stop the oil rig from beginning operation legally, Forrest blows off this option and simply blows the rig up. Which, [[FridgeLogic when you think about it]], would also have some pretty devastating effects on the environment Forrest was sworn to protect.

* HarsherInHindsight: This film's main theme about oil-well disasters caused by using faulty blowout-preventers turned out to be an ominous foreshadowing of the infamous real-life "Deepwater Horizon" oil-spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, where a non-operative preventer caused that horrific accident, as well.

** [[spoiler:Jennings. Even though he's the film's big bad, he's smart enough to know he's no challenge to Taft at all and attempts to merely insult him and walk away. Taft still executes him.]]
** [[spoiler:Also, [=MacGruder=] who attempts to flee in a helicopter and gets stopped by Taft. He pulls a gun and is quickly disarmed, blubbers for his life, and when Taft makes it clear he's going to kill him, he attempts literally one punch on Taft before getting a face full of the helicopter's rear rotor.]]
** [[spoiler:Finally, Stone. He lives long enough to gloat over catching Taft off guard whilst holding him at gunpoint with a shotgun, then of course during his gloating monologue he gets close enough for Taft to spin the shotgun in his hands and blow him away.]]
* {{Anvilicious}}: The movie's environmental message. The oil tycoon villain is so mean, he can't even stand the smell of caribou to film one commercial.
* AudienceAlienatingPremise: One of the many reasons behind why the film was verbally eviscerated by both critics and audiences alike stems from it being a hybrid of action mixed in with an extremely {{Anvilicious}} GreenAesop. Action fans (and really, most audiences in general) are likely to be turned off by how heavy-handed the environmentalist message is, and [[DontShootTheMessage environmentalists themselves]] will most likely be put off by the [[{{Gorn}} gratuitous violence]] and the BrokenAesop, such as the destruction of the oil rig that would end up causing more harm.

* DracoInLeatherPants: While Liles probably deserves some sympathy for her RasputinianDeath, regardless of exactly how involved she is in Jennings' criminal activities, she's still an objectively unpleasant person, something her actress even admits. She has lines of dialogue like "It seems to me like the long-term benefits for the surviving spouses were unnecessarily generous" (referring to the widows of firefighters who died saving one of Jennings' oil rigs) and "Alaska is a Third World country. It's just one we happen to own." Despite this, some fans talk about her as if she's a blameless PunchClockVillain, which may have something to do with her being played by former ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'' model Creator/ShariShattuck.
* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: At the end, Taft and Masu head home after defeating Jennings as the rig starts to blow up.... only for an explosion to happen the way the're goiung and go the other way.

* KarmicOverkill: Liles. At worst, she (1) works as the BigBad's secretary and (2) has a bit of an ego. Yet the movie's logic = her deserving probably the most CruelAndUnusualDeath here. To be fair, she is [[AmbiguouslyEvil possibly]] involved in her boss' actions (she's the one who tells him that the EPA has been receiving tips about him), but her final fate can still feel too extreme and excessive to some viewers.

* NightmareFuel: Hugh's torture scene stands out for being disturbingly graphic in a movie that is mostly impossible to take seriously. The poor guy is bound to a chair and has his fingers broken with a whale bone, then later has a pipe cutter is used on him. Part of this scene is cut from the UK release.

** Creator/RLeeErmey plays a tough mercenary leader that could've provided a formidable challenge to Taft, but is easily taken out due to his BondVillainStupidity. Furthermore, his lines sound [[{{Narm}} nonsensical]] due to the fact that Seagal refused to allow Ermey to improvise his own lines, something that even the famously controlling Creator/StanleyKubrick allowed and made ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' better for it.

* NightmareFuel: Hugh's torture scene. An old man is bound to a chair and his fingers broken with a whale bone and later a pipe cutter is used on him. Part of this scene is cut from the UK release.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: One of the many reasons behind why the film was verbally eviscerated by both critics and audiences alike stems from it being a hybrid of action mixed in with an extremely {{Anvilicious}} GreenAesop. Action fans (and really, most audiences in general) are likely to be turned off by how heavy-handed the environmentalist message is, and [[DontShootTheMessage environmentalists themselves]] will most likely be put off by the [[{{Gorn}} gratuitous]] levels of violence and BrokenAesop, such as the destruction of the oil rig that would end up causing more harm.