Beyond The Reach, film review: Michael Douglas is vicious and venal in over-baked thriller

In this over-baked thriller, Michael Douglas plays a sleazy and ruthless businessman who reacts very badly after a freak accident on a hunting trip deep in the Mojave desert. Jeremy Irvine is his young guide – and then his quarry.

The film is essentially a two-hander. Douglas stalks Irvine across rugged desert locations. Director Leonetti has an eye for landscape: the film is visually striking, full of scenes of a sunburnt Irvine desperately scurrying through the sand as Douglas pursues him. In an another entertaining, eye-rolling turn as the villain, Douglas plays his character as if he is Gordon Gekko with a rifle, vicious and venal. The Tom and Jerry-style chases become increasingly repetitive.

Beyond the Reach could have made a very atmospheric short but feels stretched at feature length.