IMDb > Beyond Justice (1992) > IMDb user reviews

IMDb user comments for
Beyond Justice (1992) More at IMDbPro »

Filter: Hide Spoilers:
Page 1 of 2:[1] [2] [Next]
Index 14 reviews in total 

6 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Beyond Justice should be seen !, 5 January 2002
Author: olddiscs from Fords, NJ

I never heard of this Italian made film...I caught on Long Islands ch.55 late night movie.. I was amazed.. its a fascinating adventure, beautifully photographed and well acted.. Sustained my interest even at this 2am viewing! It is somewhat cliched, and stereotypic, but an exciting tale well told.. In view of our present world conflict, it gives some insight into the tribal nomadic existences of the various cults that still exist !!, and the mores and values which still persist. Worth seeing...

Was the above comment useful to you?

4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Beyond redemption. Even Rutger Hauer fans may be frustrated., 19 September 2001
Author: jamil-5 from Montclair, N.J.

A rich, bossy executive's son is kidnapped by her ex-husband, an arab who has been warned to return to his people or face the consequences, which could include her death. When he and the boy arrive at the settlement of his father, the Emir (Omar Sharif), he is informed that, because he has been a bad boy who transgressed against his society's precepts, he will be bypassed and his son, now thirteen, will eventually rule the Emir's people. Meanwhile, the frantic mother (Carol Alt, looking quite elegant) has been put in touch with a specialist in "dirty" operations (Rutger Hauer), who agrees, for a price, to rescue the boy from the Emir's clutches. At this point, the movie begins to slow down as Hauer and his associates penetrate the Emir's lair. There's a lack of imagination and flair to the filming. They just crunch it out. One gets tired of seeing people diving off camels or rolling down sand dunes after they get shot. The film score sounds as if it were written for some other, equally pedestrian movie. And just when you think everything is about to be tied up in a neat package, there's a twenty-minute coda of more gunplay. When you run out of dialogue or plot twists, get out those AK-47s. Does the father pay for his "crime"? Does the kid get saved? Does the Emir say "It is written....?" Does Hauer end up with Alt? Have you ever seen a movie?

Was the above comment useful to you?

6 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Adventure Returns to Casablanca, 12 March 2004
6/10
Author: Pepper Anne from Orlando, Florida

The synopsis on the video box hardly do any sort of justice to this movie, depicting it as more of a regular kidnapping story where a mother hires a rather unorthodox agent to trail her strange husband. But this movie has none of that. Filmed in Morroco, it is more like a modern tale of adventure in the deserts of Morroco complete with sword fights and camel rides.

A rich woman's husband, son of a Morrocan Prince, takes their son to Morroco with plans to live in grandfather's palace. While the grandfather declares the grandson heir to the throne and prepares him for living in the Holy Land and ridding himself of the life he once knew, the woman hires a few men (including Rutger Hauer) to get her grandson back. And it turns out to be a very dangerous mission.

This is a fantastic adventure film, though a pretty violent one, since it's a deadly mission and one that, although the main premise involves a kidnapping, continues on to involve all sorts of wild intrigue including that of a feuding Morrocan tribe. It seems so unusual because it is an ancient tale told in a modern setting when the family is taken away from their modern conveniences into a highly hostile desert scenery with completely different customs and culture.

These Italian filmmakers have given us something that I would less consider an action movie and more of an adventure tale. I would definitely recommend this movie if you're in the mood for something really different.

Was the above comment useful to you?

4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
One of the best movies I've seen, 11 March 2005
10/10
Author: cbabbot from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The first time I saw this movie I was on a bus in Mexico. It was a sweltering 110 degrees, the air conditioner was broken, and I was battling amoebic dysentery. When this movie came on, my world changed. Elliot Gould, Omar Sharif, and others give breathtaking performances as the kidnapped American child is reclaimed by an unorthodox hero. 15,000 dead Morroccans later, the child is rescued and brought swiftly back to his mother. For those two hours, I forgot about my perils in a foreign land and simply enjoyed the show. This film take you to the edge of your seat, doing the wave with your friends, and sharing the beauty of one of the most wondrous creations to grace the silver screen. Bravo.

Was the above comment useful to you?

2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
There Certainly Is a Lot of Sand, 8 December 2006
4/10
Author: Hitchcoc from United States

Other than the enjoyment of looking at Carol Alt in her business suits, this is a pretty good cast wasted. To start with, I couldn't care less about her rich girl persona and her snot son. The kid looks like a refugee from Leave It to Beaver. He is so happy all the time. Even when he punches out the big kid in the principals office. Rutger Hauer is hired to go retrieve the boy from his Arab father who is an aspiring Emir in a desert colony. Boy, it's hard to watch what the likes of Omar Sharif became. Anyway, they blast their way in and attempt the rescue. She comes along, of course, because she is an Alpha female, rich, corporate executive, which qualifies her to fight against Arabs with machine guns. Mostly she hides; but she is there. I'm sure a fair amount of money was spent on this. There is some nice desert cinematography. It's just too many deaths, done easily, to get back that little jerk kid, who, in actuality, couldn't fight his way out of a grocery sack. Too much shooting and not enough plot.

Was the above comment useful to you?

2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Most pathetic excuse for a desert action/drama ever!, 28 December 2005
1/10
Author: (Vomitron_G) from the Doomed Megalopolis of Blasphemous Technoids

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I must admit I haven't seen all movies starring Rutger Hauer yet, so I'm not sure, but my guess is that BEYOND JUSTICE (aka THE LAW OF THE DESERT) has got to be the worst Hauer-movie out there. It excels in being bad. Now I know that, for instance, PRECIOUS FIND was a poor attempt at sci-fi/action, but at least it had Brion James in it and it wasn't an ambitious international co-production. And, yes, I know that TURBULENCE 3: HEAVY METAL was a trashy crapfest, but that one was at least so 'over the top' it was hilarious. So nobody can convince me that those movies were worse or, at least, less fun than this one.

I'm gonna be brief about the plot. There's a divorced couple, an American wife and an Arabian husband, living in America. The Arabian dude kidnaps their son and transports him to Arabia to live with his grandfather (Omar Sharif). The son is supposedly to inherit his legacy, and thus living the Arabian way of life for the rest of his days. He doesn't seem to mind, by the way. Maybe it's because those Arabians don't do anything throughout this movie except sitting in a castle and riding horses (yes, indeed: Boring!). The ex-wife (Carol Alt) and her legal adviser (Elliot Gould) bring in Tom Burton (Rutger Hauer) to go and save the kid.

The acting: Rutger Hauer, though undoubtedly the best actor of the cast, seems hopelessly lost in this movie. At the time of shooting this movie he clearly hadn't developed his method-acting-skills yet. So with the absence of any guidance from the director, you could consider him a loose cannon throughout this film. I love the way his character is introduced. He is on this mission to save some political prisoner, so you see him running around randomly shooting and throwing grenades. Quite pointless, if you ask me, while stealth moves would've been more appropriate. Carol Alt has not much to do except looking beautiful. Omar Sharif, well, the only good thing the man did - in my book - was his role in TOP SECRET. And after seeing him in that one you just cannot take his whole 'respect my Arabian authority'-thing in DESERT LAW serious. As for Elliot Gould (TV's FRIENDS), the man's acting range is limited to two aspects: whining and looking sad. I must also mention the young (non)actor who plays the kid's Arabian slave/friend. Not only he just can't act, he also looks like a moron with his tongue cut out who smiles all the time (in fact, his tongue was cut out, if I remember correctly... Oooh, those savage Arabians!)

The cinematography: This movie was shot in 1989, re-released in 1992, but looks like something from the late 70's. It seems like the camera-operator just discovered the zoom-button and is very enthusiastic about it. He just can't stop touching the damn thing.

The editing: Atrocious. Sometimes the editor cuts too soon to the other over-shoulder-view in a conversation, making you here the last word of one person's line without seeing his jaw move. At one time, after a dialogue is finished, the camera stays focused extreeeeemely long on a guy's face instead of cutting away to the next scene.

The plot: Now, the premise is OK. The clash between traditional Arabian and modern day American lifestyle could have invoked interesting moral discussions resulting in a violent confrontation during a climactic ending. Because you feel like it builds up to that (it takes almost two hours to get there), but in the end it just does not deliver. The conversations in the drama department are boring blahblahblah's, the trip through the desert is boring with just one lame and badly choreographed shoot-out scene. The rescue near the end is rushed followed by one of the most stupid happy-endings I've ever seen: Omar Sharif handing over the kid, admitting he was wrong and HUGGING Hauer! And what's worse: after that, in some sort of epilogue, we find out that sissy-boy Elliot Gould was a traitor. Normally you discover something like that just before the climax, so you could have some kind of showdown between Hauer and Gould, or heck, Hauer just shooting the bastard. No, instead this goes on and on and then we get to see Gould make a confession while a fly is walking around on his face.

The directing: I think there was no director present at the time of shooting.

The music: I just can't believe they got Ennio Morricone to do the soundtrack. Even he f#@ks it up. One time he cooks up this really dumb funky porn-movie tune. And most of the time he mixes his score with so much cheesy sweetness that by the time this movie ends, you'll have to be taken to a hospital suffering from a sugar-overdose.

I think you all get my point, no? This movie was abominable. Rutger Hauer, what the hell were you thinking? I guess you thought it was fun to come back to Europe and do a picture while being here, no? Well, at least I hope you got paid alright, 'cause this movie turns BLIND FURY into Oscar-material. Normally I would recommend this kind of movie to make fun of, but it's actually a torment to sit through and you'll feel insulted in the end. Therefore I will add that Rutger Hauer even gets the girl in the end! So, there you have it. Now you have absolutely no reason to watch this tripe. And now, please excuse me, I'm gonna go watch TACTICAL ASSAULT (starring Hauer and Robert"T2"Patrick). I heard it's so bad, it's fun.

Was the above comment useful to you?

Interesting Film, 10 November 2008
7/10
Author: whpratt1 from United States

If you like to see camels grunting and crying in the desert and plenty of Arabs with swords clashing in the bright sun along with Omar Sharif, (Emir Beni-Zair), you will enjoy this film. The film deals with a very pretty and sexy gal with beautiful eyes named Christine Sanders, (Carol Alt) whose son has been taken away from her by her ex-husband who is the son of an Arab Chieftain back to Morocco. Christine is a very successful business woman in New York City and is also very wealthy and she hires a man named Tom Burton,(Rutger Hauer) to hunt down her son and bring him back home. However, Christine wants to go along with Tom and she eventually convinces him to let her go along and I think she bit off more than she can chew on this dangerous adventure in the desert. During some very action scenes, Christine and Tom do find time to passionately embrace each other and their kisses were very very long. Omar Sharif, Elliott Gould gave great supporting roles to this film which is very entertaining and different. Enjoy.

Was the above comment useful to you?

Spoiled brat kid and his "my child can do no wrong" rich mom, 14 July 2008
1/10
Author: Brcanson from NY State

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

How you can make a movie about such totally unsympathetic and insufferable people is beyond me. Beyond that, the movie makes no sense and the plot has no credibility. Father kidnaps son from mother and then helps mother re-kidnap him from primitive Arab tribe who have managed to place elaborate warning boxes into the, one assumes, well guarded mansions of the two parents in America. Two hired mercenaries somehow manage to obtain crates-full of sophisticated weapons and a caravan of other Arabs to transport them. Mother in business suit insists on joining commandos when her presence at any point could betray and undermine the entire mission. OK, that's enough, I got my ten lines in but will mention that I am a big fan of Rutgar Hauer.

Was the above comment useful to you?

Not the best Rutger Hauer movie but watchable, 9 March 2008
8/10
Author: Rautus from United Kingdom

I'm a fan of Rutger Hauer, The Hitcher was one of his best action thrillers and Blind Fury is a fun 80's action flick. I found Beyond Justice under the title of Desert Law, this film isn't one of Rutger Hauer's best action movies but it is entertaining in parts. The film does have some nice shots of the desert, Beyond Justice (Desert Law) has some great mindless action. The main characters just keep shooting these characters and hardly get shot themselves, the acting in Beyond Justice is okay Rutger Hauer does a great performance. One problem with Beyond Justice is that the film does tend to drag at parts, the film did have some annoying characters like the son. He seems to be overly happy in parts, the wife can sometimes be irritating since she goes with them on the mission and doesn't really help them.

Beyond Justice (Desert Law) isn't the greatest action movie but it is entertaining in some parts and watchable, fans of Rutger Hauer and mindless action flicks may want to check this one out.

Was the above comment useful to you?

2 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
For fanatics only., 26 June 2000
3/10
Author: (ollio@jippii.fi)

If you are a big fan of Rutger Hauer you might even *enjoy* this movie, otherwise, don't spend your time on this one. The music is awful and so are the action scenes, if you want to see Rutger's action film i recommend seeing rather split second or arctic blue.

Was the above comment useful to you?
Page 1 of 2:[1] [2] [Next]

Add another review

Related Links

Plot summary Ratings External reviews
Plot keywords Main details Your user reviews
Your vote history