Beyond the Reach 2014

     This film is based on a 1972 novel titled Deathwatch written by Robb White.  John Madec is an international and unscrupulous entrepreneur.  He hires Ben, he is a skilled young tracker able to guide him through the fearful and barren Mojave Desert during a hunting trip.  Things take a turn for the worse!!  Prideful Madec unintentionally shoots the wrong target!!  He cynically attempts to wash his hands of this irrevocable deed??  He tries to bribe himself out of this predicament by offering Ben a hefty compensation in exchange for his silence.  This goes against Ben’s principles!!  In a short time, Ben will run for his life under the fierce and merciless sun.  The desert is limitless but also is the desire to survive!!

     This film is a cat-and-mouse thriller set in the Mojave Desert.  There are guns, shootings and a body with bloody wounds.  A character becomes very badly sunburned with painfully wounded feet.  A family is shown dying from the desert heat.  There is some language.  The bad guy sips from a bottle looking like whisky and he drinks a martini.  Tracker Ben probably would not have taken this job but his girlfriend left for college and he is distraught over her absence.  Character motivations are given in a straightforward, dead-eyed manner.  John Madec only cares about himself, his reputation and his finances!!  I don't know how they would be able to sneak up on any animals because of the loudness of this vehicle?  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

91 min, Thriller directed by Jean-Baptiste Leonetti and written by Stephen Susco with Michael Douglas, Jeremy Irvine, Martin Palmer, Hanna Mangan Lawrence, Ronny Cox, Patricia Bethune, Madelyn Dawn Wilkins, Eddy Glenn Patterson.

Note:  Imdb 5.6 out of 10 with 9,144 views, Roger Ebert 3*, Rotten Tomatoes 37% with 68 critics 20% with 921 user ratings, The Guardian 3* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, Metacritic 34 out of 100 with 19 critics 4.6 out of 10 with 23 ratings, Slant Magazine 1* out of 4* Ed Gonzalez, Common Sense Media Jeffrey M. Anderson, age 16+, 4* violence, 2* sex, 3* language, 2* consumerism, 1* drinking, drugs & smoking, Amazon 3.5* out of 5* with 3,597 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Farminton, Aztec, Shiprock, Navajo Indian Reservation, Rattlesnake, Sanostee, Little Water, Ford Butte, Huerfano, New Mexico.  This film is a remake of a 1974 ABC Movie of the Week titled Savages of 1974.  Sam Bottoms and Andy Griffith portrayed the Jeremy Irvine and Michael Douglas roles.  The $500,000 Mercedes SUV G63 6X6 appears both in this film and in Jurassic World 2015.  A Mercedes designer flew in from Germany and lived with the crew for six weeks.  He was there to make sure the truck was surviving each scene.  The license plates are German and from the city of Stuttgart where the Mercedes headquarters is located.  Michael Douglas carries a Steyr Scout .308” rifle.  The character Sheriff Robb is named after author Robb White.  He wrote Deathwatch 1973, this film and previous film adaptations are based on that film.