Beyond the Reach (2014)

• Year: 2014
• Released: 17 Apr 2015
• Country: United States
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2911668/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/beyond_the_reach
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/beyond-the-reach
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Thriller
• Runtime: 91 min
• Writer: Stephen Susco, Robb White
• Director: Jean-Baptiste Léonetti
• Cast: Michael Douglas, Jeremy Irvine, Martin Palmer
• Keywords: desert, hunting,

	5.6/10
	34/100
	37% – Critics
	20% – Audience

Beyond the Reach Storyline

Madec, an unscrupulous international entrepreneur, hires the skilled young tracker, Ben, to guide him through the barren Mojave Desert during a hunting trip. Unfortunately, things will take a turn for the unexpected, when prideful Madec shoots the wrong target unintentionally, and in a cynical attempt to wash his hands of the irrevocable deed, tries to bribe himself out of this predicament by offering Ben a hefty compensation in exchange for his silence. Now, it’s Ben’s turn to run for his life under the fierce and merciless sun. However, even though the unforgiving desert is limitless, on the other hand, so is the prey’s desire to survive. Who shall live and who shall die in this deadly cat-and-mouse game?

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Beyond the Reach Movie Reviews

The Most Dangerous Game

Michael Douglas is a very rich man. He is hunting bear in high country, and hires Jeremy Irvine as his guide. But things go wrong; Douglas shoots the wrong target, and Irvine won’t keep quiet. Douglas can’t afford to let it get out. He also can’t simply shoot Irvine, since his very expensive and unique hunting rifle will show him to be a murderer. So he drives Irvine off, planning to let the blazing sun finish him, while Douglas sips the finest martinis. He plans to tell the authorities that Irvine made the shot…. but Irvine half naked in the blazing sun, won’t die.

It’s a variation of The Most Dangerous Game, with Douglas playing the cool, calm, collected, sociopathic master of the universe he does in this sort of role. DP Russell Carpenter shoots the high country, the sort that John Ford’s cameramen turned into beautiful sets, with a burnt-out look that renders them ugly and foreboding.

Too close

Sometimes something is not out of reach. Sometimes you wonder how it’s possible for someone not to be able to hit something when earlier in the movie that didn’t seem to be a problem. And still while the movie tries to break predictability towards the end (which I kind of would have dug, going a different route), in the end it turns out it just used a different way to get to the result everyone should expect.

Michael Douglas is mesmerizing even when “being” evil (if you can call it that), though it feels comical at times. Not in the best way possible. It’s almost like a theater piece with two men having to survive against many odds … does it work? Occasionally and there is tension and it is interesting to some degree …

Good Movie, But One Ending Too Much

I read the book Deathwatch by Robb White back in middle school. I always thought it was a good story that deserved a movie. It wasn’t until I saw the trailer for this that I learned this was actually the second adaptation of the book.

Beyond the Reach follows Ben, a down-on-his-luck young man who wants to go to college with his girlfriend but can’t afford it. He is hired by ruthless businessman Madec who weaseled his way into a bighorn hunting permit. When Madec accidentally shoots a drifter he attempts to cover it up and begins hunting Ben through the desert.

The movie is largely faithful to the book. Of course, the book focuses on the inner dialogue of Ben as he struggles to stay alive which is hard to translate to film. The movie at least maintains the psychological part of the story with a few brief moments of “action,” wisely keeping it a thriller.

Michael Douglas does a terrific job playing the villain. There isn’t really much for him to do in the story but he makes every moment he’s in much more interesting. Jeremy Irvine also does a great job given that he spends most of the time alone in the desert running around.

My only real problem is the ending. (Only paragraph with SPOILERS) The book ends with Ben taking Madec back to town and both are arrested. Both are questioned and the authorities believe Madec’s story since Ben’s sounds crazier. But then they examine the dead body and find Ben’s story is true. The movie tacks on a jail escape scene, that makes little sense, and a scene with Madec breaking into Ben’s girlfriend’s home ending in a big shootout. The whole movie before then was a psychological thriller and this scene goes against that. Keeping the original ending would have maintained the battle of wits between these two characters.

For the most part, I enjoyed the movie. I liked how the book was adapted. I just wish it ended about five minutes earlier than it did.