With his girlfriend (Lawrence) heading off to university in Denver, Ben (Irvine) is feeling lonely in rural New Mexico, where the local sheriff (Cox) finds him work as a tracker. His new client is the billionaire John (Douglas), whom Ben takes out to the reach to hunt bighorn. But when John's casual disregard for the law becomes dangerously apparent, he starts hunting Ben instead, waiting for him to die naturally in the heat. Of course, Ben knows the desert better than John suspects, which pits John's high-tech armoury against Ben's tenacity and experience.

This is one of those films in which the tables are continually turning, even though nothing quite rings true. Plot points come on cue, including the obvious finale. But at least Irvine and Douglas create believable characters, while director Leonetti beautifully captures the spectacular landscapes and the mood of a frontier town invaded by a hot-shot city slicker. So it's rather annoying that screenwriter Susco seems more interested in brutal violence than the characters themselves.

Within this, both Douglas and Irvine are a magnetic odd couple. Both men are smart and funny, offering telling glimpses into their back-stories along with a hint of moral quandary. An orphan with a heart of gold, Ben finds his integrity threatened by a roll of cash, and Irvine gives him a strong inner life as well as a resilient physicality, spending much of the film in just his underpants while Douglas manfully swaggers around like he's indestructible. Although there's never any convincing explanation for John's increasing sadism.

There's also a whiff of subtext as multinational corporate cash menaces small-town honesty. John has never lost at anything, gleefully stacking the odds in his favour, which makes Ben more sympathetic. It also helps obscure the far-fetched plot points (even John's whizzy jeep couldn't follow the fleet-footed Ben through mountains and ravines) and the filmmakers' fascination with pointlessly shooting things up. So as the thin story twists its way to a climactic showdown, it's riveting and strongly well-made, but eye-rollingly silly.

themes, violence, grisliness

16.Jul.15