Beyond the Reach

Thought Gordon Gecko was a bastard? He’s got nothing on John Madec, the latest big-shot businessman to inhabit the body of Michael Douglas. As well as being a cut-throat money man, Madec has a taste for hunting big game, and hires an emotionally immature young tracking prodigy, Ben (Jeremy Irvine), to take him on an illicit expedition in the Mojave desert.

What starts off looking like a mismatched buddy comedy soon turns into a tale of blackmail and self-preservation, after Madec accidentally bumps off a gentle-faced old mountain man. Ben wants to fess up and take it to the feds. Madec, with his mind on a pending deal with the Chinese, wants to cover the whole thing up, and sets out to silence Ben.

The cat-and-mouse chase across the desert that follows is entertaining to begin with but unnecessarily drawn out, leaving far too much room for Douglas to plug with cartoonish quips and daft machismo.