Hors de portée

Adapted from the book by Robb White called "Deathwatch"which upon looking at the poster itself the set up is quite long, showcasing on front of a trailer Ben(Jeremy Irving) having some money problems with girlfriend Laina (Hanna Mangan-Lawrence) before he visits sheriff (Ronny Cox) for a gig as a guide for game hunting in the desert for a customer and wealthy business man, Madec played by Michael Douglas who's also credited as one of the producers. Once reaching in the middle of the desert and on foot we learn more and more about the 2 characters as we learn that Madec does not even have a proper license to hunt around the area who then offers Ben some bribe money to look the other way. He reluctantly accepts as he realizes he still has money problems. As soon as both men spot something above the mountains after waiting long hours, trigger happy Madec shoots at it without verifying at what he was shooting at. And it was during then Madec offers Ben a much more prosperous deal involving a possible cover up. Ben then made things much worse for himself once he begins to renege on the deal he had made with Medec as soon as he caught Ben making a single attempt to call authorities who then with his rifle pointed at him to strip down to his shorts before trolling him through the desert. With Ben's desert expertise will he be able to survive this? Particularly with his bare feet through the hot desert without drinking any water? The only thing I am going to say is that without some luck. And his somewhat familiar settings about a certain someone Ben knows about who conveniently also happens to live in the desert the star may not have survived it at all. And although some of the main critics did not like this movie I was still entertained and that to me is good enough.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"Beyond the Reach" (2014) is nice little flick for some boring evening. It has nothing special, nothing original, nothing really great yet it is an enjoyable thriller, but with a bad ending, very bad ending.

Michael Douglas was the first and only reason why i saw this flick in the first place. He does not disappoint, but sadly there is almost absolutely nothing to do in here for THIS caliber actor. Jeremy Irvine is quite good in here, but the role doesn't requires much except for physical suffering.

Overall, "Beyond the Reach" was nice little flick. I enjoyed for what it was, but the ending was terrible. That wouldn't happen in real life not in a million years. Who wrote THAT bad ending?

Occasionally we all get needy. So Ben, a young hunting guide, may perhaps be forgiven for taking a large bribe from an arrogant, ridiculously wealthy and fearless client. The two descend into the Mojave Desert wilderness in order to hunt bighorn out of season. There are many red flags to this, yet Ben's girlfriend just left for college and he is left considering if solitude and poverty are in his future. Deep into the desert it is not long before an incident occurs that sets Ben and Madec, a C.E.O. with a sport utility vehicle that costs over half a million dollars, at odds with each other. It is the old-school-young versus the new-technology-old in a delicious thriller. Michael Douglas, starring as Madec, returns to his stock and trade as a depraved and greedy man who lets no one get in the way of himself and his obsessions. Douglas gives a fine performance, yet he can't carry the film on his own. It is far-fetched, shallow and disjointed at times. The film is, however, compelling and fulfilling in its story and the possibilities it presents. It gives truth to Melville's saying that "an utterly fearless companion is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward." Seen at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.

There's an allure of two men engaging in high stake wit battle. Beyond the Reach has simple premise to produce interesting suspense. The desert setting gives a specific barren and demanding background for survival of the fittest. Unfortunately, the movie loses momentum in midway point as the plot holes are mounting against them. These illogical scenes hamper any suspense the movie has built up from the first half, and unless audiences have generous suspension of disbelief, the last act is completely underwhelming.

Story follows two men as they both hunt in the desert. Ben (Jeremy Irvine) is a guide for Madec (Michael Douglas), right from the start they don't mesh together that well. When an accident happens, their interests clash and things escalate out of control. For the role of powerful ambitious man, Michael Douglas can't be a bad cast as he has repeatedly performed well as such character in many other movies. However, the script gives his character several bad decisions which are contradicting his action merely five minutes ago.

Jeremy Irvine is a good actor, he performed admirably in War Horse and also Woman in Black 2. He's a decent cast, and at first half it's easy to relate to his ordinary character as Ben. Problems arise after the two men trade trickery for their own interests. While the battle of old versus young and the gap of technology might produces a few thrilling moments, the rest of the plot suffers from irrational choices. The plot holes culminate in a bizarre last act, which nullifies any buzz it may have produced.

Visual is presentable, the desert carries the sense of desolation and helplessness adequately. The two main characters don't have the best on-screen spark, though their exchanges of verbal and genuine blows are pretty convincing. Their relationships outside their ordeal in the desert aren't well established and as the movie tries to wrap up, these mismatches and irregular plot twists make the ending hard to take it seriously.

Beyond the Reach is at its peak as men fighting each other and the element, unfortunately it doesn't translate well beyond that and it definitely doesn't end on high note.

A small scale thriller in a very wide setting. The Mojave dessert. Off course this film is predictable yet it still had it's surprises and it has a brilliant turn from Michael Douglas as the pervertedly rich and megalomanic exec out on a hunting trip. He is nicely countered by the young guide he takes along as they soon run into a whole heap of unexpected trouble.

This is mostly Jeremy Irvine's film and he does a fine job but it's Douglas who shines in his role. It's almost as if Gordon Gecko has finally made it big and is now wasting his days and money shooting big game all over the world.

The story has plenty of tense and painful moments and some glorious views of the surroundings. The ending however was pretty abrupt. Without going into detail: I was okay with the ending... until it went on. Those last minutes were just so ridiculous they almost ruined the film. It just did not fit the mood of the rest of the story.

Apparently this story has been done before, some 40 years ago, don't know which film, but I know I've seen it more recently starring Lance Henriksen and Luke Goss. The film "Bone Dry". Very comparable, at least as nice as this one and without the ridiculous ending.

So overall pretty good, great turn from Mr Douglas but just walk away at 85 min. 6/10