Beyond the Reach

Director: Jean-Baptiste Léonetti
Screenplay: Stephen Susco (based on the novel Deathwatch by Robb White)
Stars: Michael Douglas (Madec), Jeremy Irvine (Ben), Hanna Mangan Lawrence (Laina), Ronny Cox (The Sheriff), Martin Palmer (Charlie), Patricia Bethune (Secretary), David Garver (Ben’s father)
MPAA Rating: R
Year of Release: 2015
Country: U.S.
Beyond the Reach
Beyond the ReachBeyond the Reach is a stylish, narratively stripped-down thriller that works quite well, right up until it stumbles and falls into a terrible ending that feels both utterly contrived and morally ridiculous. The film is based on the 1972 novel by prolific novelist and screenwriter Robb White (several of whose screenplays were for schlocky William Castle films), which had previously been adapted as a now forgotten made-for-TV movie in 1974 called Savages (How forgotten? You can’t even find clips on YouTube!). Like the novel, the film is essentially a chess match of life and death played between two characters on opposing sides of the socioeconomic spectrum (had it been made a few years ago, it probably would have been touted as searing allegory for the financial collapse and subsequent Occupy Wall Street movement). Even without any deep allegorical implications, it isn’t hard to see the film as a clear indictment of the moneyed classes and their assumptions of privilege and expectations of playing by a different set of rules, both moral and legal. The title refers to a rock formation deep in the desert, but it also suggests the idea that some are able to live beyond the reach of traditional law and order.

The screenplay by Stephen Susco (The Grudge) follows White’s novel fairly closely, at least until the aforementioned ending. A billionaire named Madec (Michael Douglas) arrives in a small New Mexico town with a special hunting permit. He wants to go deep into the unforgiving Mojave Desert to hunt bighorn sheep, and he needs a guide. The local sherriff (Ronny Cox) calls in Ben (Jeremy Irvine), a young local who has lived there his whole life and knows how to track and survive in the desert. Having just separated from his girlfriend (Hanna Mangan Lawrence) who was accepted to college in Colorado and in desperate need of the money, Ben takes the job and leads Madec into the desert.

With the exception of Madec’s constant condescension, all is well until Madec mistakes an old prospector named Charlie for game and shoots him with his high-powered rifle. There is no question that it was an honest mistake, but Madec is concerned about the effect the accident would have on his public persona and a multi-billion-dollar deal he is trying to seal with a Chinese conglomerate (perhaps he remembers all the hubbub when Dick Cheney accidentally shot a hunting partner in the face). He tries to convince Ben to cover up the incident, but Ben refuses, partly out of simple moral obligation and partly because he knew Charlie and doesn’t want to see his tragic death erased. When Madec realizes he can’t convince Ben to go along with his plan, he turns vicious, forcing Ben to strip off all his clothes and supplies and walk through the desert alone, expecting that he will eventually succumb to the elements.

That is the essential set-up, with the middle section of the film following Ben as he attempts to survive the blistering heat and scorched earth in a nearly futile effort to survive the unrelenting environment. Just to make sure all is going according to plan, Madec tracks Ben in his $500,000 custom Mercedes off-road vehicle, watching him through his scope and deterring any of Ben’s attempts to procure water, supplies, or shelter. French director Jean-Baptiste Léonetti, who is making his English-language debut, keeps the tension racheted up by using every stylistic device in his arsenal to constantly remind us of the unremitting dangers of the desert, particularly the heat (it helps that he’s working with veteran cinematographer Russell Carpenter, who won an Oscar for his work on James Cameron’s Titanic). He gives us enough visual variety to keep the scenario interesting, and even his more attention-grabbing compositions, such as showing us Madec’s reflection in an extreme close-up of Ben’s eye, don’t feel out of place. Jeremy Irvine, who played the lead so well in Steven Spielberg’s War Horse (2011), is quite good as the desperate hunted man, even though his character doesn’t have much depth (the backstory involving his girlfriend was added to the story, perhaps to flesh him out more). And at this point we’ve seen Michael Douglas play wealthy sociopaths so many times (see Wall Street and its sequel, A Perfect Murder, and to some extent The Game) that the role fits him like a well-worn glove, even though it robs the film of any surprise or revelation (the against-the-grain casting of lovable Andy Griffith in Savages was probably more interesting).

But, then there’s that ending, which isn’t uniquely bad, but is rather bad simply because it feels so trite in its attempt to set everything straight and allow Ben (and the audience) righteous vengeance while still maintaining his otherwise unsullied moral character. The ending is also stylistically different from the rest of the film, which makes it feel tacked on, as if the filmmakers came up with it after a few bad test screenings. Some may find it fulfilling, but my experience was one of severe letdown, especially after the rest of the film had worked so well, far exceeding expectations in making a relatively simply narrative set-up both emotionally and morally engrossing.

Copyright ©2015 James Kendrick

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Overall Rating: (2.5)




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