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Beyond the Reach

Vacuous, glacially paced; a wholly unsatisfying cat and mouse game

A young hunting guide (Jeremy Irvine) takes a sneeringly rich big game hunter (Michael Douglas, in full crazy-cranky mode) out into the Mojave to bag a bighorn. When the dude mistakenly shoots a desert hobo, he decides to cover up the murder by forcing the boy to strip (great abs) and head out into the searing heat to die.

There follows a vacuous, glacially paced, and wholly unsatisfying cat-and-mouse game that offers cheap tactics (“and then I woke up” is used twice), goofy third-act plotting and an absolutely horrible ending. Shooting for No Country desert-noir, but only gets as far as Road Runner. Japanese title: Tsuigekisha (91 min)