Beyond the Reach (2014)

Directed by: Jean-Baptiste Leonetti
Country: USA

Movie Revciew: “Beyond the Reach” goes beyond the reality, failing to pass the exam due to its far-fetched situations and rushed solutions in its closing scenes. The French Jean-Baptiste Leonetti directs from a script by Stephen Susco (“The Grudge”) based on the 1972 well-regarded novel “Deathwatch” from Robb White. After a modest debut in 2011 with “Carré Blanc”, the filmmaker gives a giant step towards Hollywood, directing two celebrated actors, one from the old school, Michael Douglas (“Basic Instinct”, “The Game”, “Traffic”), and one showing much potentiality, Jeremy Irvine (“War Horse”, “The Railway Man”). The film is frustratingly trivial and never comes to something original, playing the traditional cat-and-mouse game with the same old clichés and a shameful lack of coherence and lucidity, essential conditions for it to become plausible and enjoyable. Douglas confidently plays the malicious Madec, giving life to a boastful, prosperous man who goes on a hunting trip across the blazing Mojave Desert in August. For the purpose, he hires Ben (Irvine), most likely the best guide in the state, who is fated to play simultaneously the victim and the hero. Equipped with a stylish Mercedes, a modern rifle, explosives, and all the communication needed to close his millionaire deals, the contemptuous Madec manifests an uncontrollable sadistic side after shooting accidentally a man whom he has mistaken for an animal. The best way he finds to deal with the circumstance is by incriminating the reddish Ben, who will fight to survive with no clothes nor water under the torrid sun. Invoking Peckinpah and J. Pakula, “Beyond the Reach” carries out an extremely risible defeat of a villain (a slingshot, really?), as well as the most ridiculous escape from a prison ever (anybody heard a helicopter?).