Review of Beyond the Reach (2014) by Michael B — 22 Apr 2015

The day that I found out about this film just from visiting Douglas' RT profile is oddly enough the same day that the film came out; I had interest in its premise and thought why not? I saw it on opening day and 'Beyond The Reach' is a very well made thriller. This film had a very good build up and it actually gives time to allow our characters to develop and we know quite a bit before everything happens, the two leads have a good relationship and also have some funny lines with one another, Douglas' character asked at one point if Irvine's could see anything and I thought they would make a joke about the fact that they had the sun in their faces. If you ever wanted to see Michael Douglas do a Wall-e impression, then here you go. But even with that scene in particular, it's funny on the surface, but you learn quite a bit about how Douglas' character works just from that little bit and he actually has some very quotable lines in this film. The acting from the two leads is great, Michael Douglas can pretty much make anything watchable and this is no exception, even the way he reacts when the deal they had goes wrong was so good to the point I actually felt bad for his character and I really shouldn't have, but, hey, he did it. He's so good, in fact, that I may watch this again at some point just to see his performance again, he's that good and it's great to see him return to a villainous role once more. And his character doesn't devolve into the unbelievable or to the over the top potboiler, he's suitably crazy and it stays at that. Even though it was odd to see him use TNT even though he previously stated he wasn't actually going to do any killing, but I guess he was starting to get desperate. Jeremy Irvine also does a great job and really holds his own against Michael Douglas, he could probably win in a fist fight in the film and had a chance to actually do something but just got a jumper instead but he really had to tread carefully in this film and I was honestly on the edge of my seat at point. And it's just great to see two actors really put effort into this small project and really make it something, as opposed to just deciding to phone it in.

I was a little worried at first when the main part of the film, not saying what it is due to spoilers, happened with an hour left of film to go because I didn't really know how they'd make it work for an hour, but, hey, they did it. I was very immersed in this film and didn't really check to see how much time was left at all, and this film even made me thirsty at some points and that is very impressive. The film looks absolutely stunning and it completely sells the environment from its scorching days to its freezing nights. At some points it did seem a bit coincidental with what Irvine's character finds in the desert but it's explained in clever ways and it actually makes sense, even if you might question how he manages to keep finding everything with how delirious he must be, and no matter how desperate you must be, never destroy a structure keeping a cave open, that is a sure fire way to get killed.

The only thing that I didn't really like was the ending; the film seemingly has its ending at 1hr and 20 minutes and was a very different kind of ending but then goes on for another 10 to give us a more conventional ending. The way it ends is similar to the way it begins with the foreshadowing, even if that in itself was kind of weird and it just felt odd and it didn't seem to make much sense, it reminded me of the ending of 'Die Hard with a Vengeance'. The film already seemed to have a few little gaps in logic with just some of the things that characters said and how some characters knew a few things before they were told but it was never anything to really nitpick on but then the film keeps going for another 10 minutes. Irvine's character should have also mentioned that he had been offered 2 bribes but, then I guess he would have been in legal trouble as well. Also, the camera seemed really blurry for some reason when Douglas and Irvine's characters meet for the first time.

The trailer might ruin some things and not others and you might expect a different type of film despite what the cover looks like but I really enjoyed this film, it had a good concept and build up, we knew about both the characters and it had a solid story and stuck with it, besides the last few minutes, which is unfortunate because that is what are experience is going to be ended with. I like films with this concept and this did not disappoint, it had excellent acting from the leads and was thoroughly watchable. I knew it'd be 90 minutes and they use all of the time excellently.