First I saw On Deadly Ground and then it was Under Siege. I was just watching Under Siege 2: Dark Territory. Amazing, fun, Hollywood schmultz really, with Seagal in his usual hard guy role. Is he a character actor ? Is he playing himself ? Who cares ? The point always seemed to be that he really did start off his life as a Martial Arts expert and a bodyguard, rather than being the usual actor who is trained for the part.

On Deadly Ground focuses on a corrupt, polluting oil company. Fire Down Below investigates a mining company destroying a local community and how that community fights back. The Patriot follows the story of a “local doctor and former government research immunologist Wesley McClaren, who has an interest in herbal medicine and is also a weapons and self-defense expert”. Those last two I’ve yet to see.

I had a revelation. We’ve got the plot of one of these Seagal movies playing out right under our noses. I just wish I could find the same humour in that story as I can in the Seagal movies. It must be there somewhere. The following images are from a United Kingdom Channel 4 comedy show…

“Daddy pleeeeease can I have a chocolate!”

Aw, come here then!

Unfortunately people really are dying and being abused and it’s hard to laugh along with that, unless it’s through a glass darkly. At Columbine, teenager’s driven by prescription “anti-depressants” arrived at school with guns and calmly started killing their class mates.

“Harris was prescribed the anti-depressant Zoloft by his family doctor. Shortly afterwards, Harris reported having suicidal and homicidal thoughts.^[32] Harris was then switched to a similar drug Luvox. At the time of his death, Harris had therapeutic Luvox levels in his serum. Some analysts, such as psychiatrist Peter Breggin, have argued that one or both of these medications may have contributed to Harris’ actions. It has been claimed that side-effects of these drugs include increased aggression, loss of remorse, depersonalization and mania.^{[33]” (quoted from the Wikipedia article)}

That was not an isolated incident. It’s hardly obscure or controversial either. We’ve all seen the headlines about Pharmaceuticals causing deaths and sufferring.

So with no further ado, here it is. This is my humble request to the legend that is Steven Seagal…

Begin Script Synopsis.

Copyright Barney M Holmes, 2007.

(Note: This is a skeleton script and will be fleshed out over time).

Retired Special Ops instructor xxxx played by Steven Seagal is visiting his daughter at her school where she is a teacher. He is there with friends to watch a play she has been rehearsing with the children.

The scene is interrupted by screaming and gunfire. xxxx creeps up on the gun wielding attackers. He knocks down two of them but is forced to kill another in self defence. He turns over the body and is horrified to find that he has killed a young teenager.

Although his daughter is safe, he is shaken by this incident. Pulling in some old favours he finds out that the gun wielding teenagers have all been forced to take “anti-depressants” prior to the incident. Experts assure him that there is no problem, and that “if they were on anti-depressants they must have been unstable anyway”. Still shaken from the death of the teenager that he killed he takes a holiday in Hawaii to recover. In this contrasting paradise setting, he runs across a parent who’s son was involved in a similar incident at another school in the USA. She puts him on contact with an underground organisation. Through them he discovers that the drugs are being supplied by a chemical company with Pharmaceutical interests. The drugs on the market are being fraudulently sold. the FDA is actually being supplied with false samples for testing. The company can make millions by causing extreme side effects that can be treated with more of their “medications”.

After finding that some members of the FDA have been bribed he links up with an FBI operation investigating huge Mafia run corruption and money laundering using the Pharmaceutical industry as a front.

After the FBI team examines the evidence that xxxx provides along with their own, they convince a judge that the operation has become what in the military is called “a clear and present danger”. xxxx and the FBI team are possibly in danger of being detected by that “clear and present danger”. Their only hope is to carry out a strike operation that will sweep into one of the Pharmaceutical factories to seize samples and information so they can prove to the FDA that the operation is fraudulent.

With increasing rumours that some very serious mafia interests have caught wind of their operation, military expertise is bought onto the team. xxxx begins working with some of his old Special Ops team.

The scene is set. In a remote location where the Pharmaceutical factory is, a Moller Jet car comes into land. It’s a “company exec”, supposedly on a efficiency drive visit. So why does a Humvee turn up as well ? A large, unmarked truck ? Why is the factory security so over armed ?

In the ensuing battle one of the security guard dogs … obviously mistreated in some way … turns on one of the guards when he’s got xxxx in a sticky position.

Now, with a few suspects arrested and some evidence the investigation seems sure to make some headway. In Hawaii though, the woman who xxxx spoke to was actually under FBI protection. Although this was not mentioned to xxxx for security reasons. (In the scene where they first meet, eagle eyed movie goer’s may spot some covert activity going on in the background). Her guards are attacked. Two killed, one wounded. She is then, supposedly, “diagnosed” with an aggravated condition set off by the stress of the attack and put in a local private “clinic”. The FBI team are assured she is under treatment and she will be soon released for their investigation. But the team get to hear that she’s having the very same “medications” forced upon her that they are fighting ! If action is not taken soon she could suffer irreparable memory loss and one of their prime witnesses will be lost.

The team move in. Again this clinic has a “security team” that seems massively over armed for what makes itself out as some kind of “health clinic”. The team move in and rescue the woman, and liberate a few “patients” along the way.

Now accusations are made against the FBI team on a high level. They are “murderers”, “renegades running amuck” and authorities are urged to arrest them ! Before that can be done though the Judge they originally went to, is shocked by the evidence he sees. He goes to the highest levels and a court case is arranged. Over the next few months the country is shocked by the revelations that this case reveals. In connected cases, further arrests are made. Mafia kings fall. Doctors lose their licenses. the Pharmaceutical company they attacked goes bust, and the FDA begins real trials this time, with the actual chemicals in their hands.

The final scene is of the woman from Hawaii they rescued who has somehow been matched up with the Security dog from the factory raid. The patient is seen struggling with the after effects of even the small amount of “medication” she was given. As the camera pans around xxxx is seen walking up her garden path in Hawaii, the dog running down the path to meet him.

The End.

Copyright Barney M Holmes, 2007.

DJ Barney