Jack (Josh Duhamel) is living a ruggedly handsome life deep in the woods, or as his former boss, current enemy Ranish (Greg Kinnear) puts it “Jack is a Red Bull, dirt bike, prepper type; deep in the Bayou, one of those shit dirt towns where nobody vists and everyone minds their own business.” Of course he has that exactly right, and it doesn’t take too long for the corporate-hired bad guys to find him.
However, Jack being an off the grid, prepper type means that he is always looking over his shoulder expecting them to eventually find him and he has a host of traps of defense mechanisms set up ready to fight them off. I’m not sure if Off the Grid would rather be an action movie or a thriller, but the lack of detail in the plot means it can’t be the latter and can only be the former, so most of the movie ends up being Jack running away from bad guys, usually getting one or two of them killed off, until Ranish eventually has to square off with him himself.
It’s really nicely photographed – in Italy of all places, not the Bayou – but it makes great use of the small dirt town and dense forest with a dirt bike racing through on the edges. The characters are also very enjoyable, if very one note and predictable. Jack helps out a young, smart teenage boy who works at the convenience store, but when Jack teaches him physics, he senses Jack is in trouble and finds ways to help him. Meanwhile Jack has also developed a flirtatious romance with a woman managing the local bar, don’t know how he already has a girl hopping on his dirt bike when he keeps to himself and doesn’t even share his name, but that’s just what the movie does.
Greg Kinnear offers up the few good lines. But that’s all this movie is – a few good moments in between a whole lot of random action scenes since ultimately, it’s about nothing.
|
