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April 16, 2015
Review: Beyond the Reach

TheReach6Michael Douglas and Jeremy Irvine play a most dangerous game in the desert in director Jean-Baptiste Leonetti's first American film Beyond the Reach. Based on the novel Deathwatch by Robb White, who as a screenwriter often collaborated with the legendary William Castle, Beyond the Reach is a serviceable if highly predictable thriller that is not without its charms.

Irvine plays Ben, a poverty-stricken hunting guide, pining for his away-at-college girlfriend (Hanna Mangan Lawrence), and Douglas plays Madec, one of his trademark corporate sleazebags, a man who wields his money like a club to batter all those around him into submission. But when Madec accidentally kills an old prospector, and Ben rejects his temptingly lucrative devil's bargain to sweep the killing under the rug, the object of the hunt changes from bighorn sheep to Ben himself. Initially, however, Madec simply follows Ben around the desert in his espresso machine-equipped SUV, waiting for Ben to die of dehydration and exposure. The film suffers due to this, sagging in the middle and picking up steam only in the second half of act two, when Ben finally manages the wherewithal to fight back.

A David vs. Goliath-style contest ensues, with Madec's reliance on technology and imported weaponry (not to mention a found cache of dynamite) pitted against Ben's slingshot and sheer will to survive. The ending veers sharply into slasher-movie territory (only the hockey mask is missing), and is so uncomfortably similar to Fatal Attraction that Douglas may have to sue himself. There are very few surprises in Beyond the Reach, but there is a lot to like here as well. The cinematography by Russell Carpenter nicely showcases the stark beauty of the American southwest in a way that would make John Ford proud, and the acting is solid, even given Douglas' over-the-top performance. Lawrence, as the absentee girlfriend, brings a “real girl” quality to her role, and she exhibits such a subdued yet steamy erotic intensity in the flashbacks of her and Ben's private moments together that we can understand and sympathize with his angst over their separation.

Unfortunately, we're never made quite certain of exactly why Ben is remaining behind. Even if he can't afford to attend university with his girlfriend, couldn't he get a job? Wouldn't a college town offer more employment opportunities than the one-horse desert outpost that Ben seems to inhabit? One is forced to conclude that Ben's staying behind has more to do with narrative convenience and lazy screenwriting than anything that makes sense. In the final analysis, however, Ben's lack of motivation for remaining doesn't significantly harm the film. Predictability is the film's downfall: there is nothing here we haven't seen before.

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Written by: Christopher Nuzzi
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