Out of Reach (2004)

Billy Ray Lansing, a former covert agent turned survivalist, discovers that the foster program he is using to help a young girl is actually a human trafficking network. Lancing heads overseas to find the girl and shut down the operation.

Director:

Po-Chih Leong

Writer:

Trevor Miller

Stars:

Steven Seagal, Ida Nowakowska, Agnieszka Wagner

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steven Seagal	...	William Lansing
Ida Nowakowska	...	Irena Morawska
Agnieszka Wagner	...	Kasia Lato
Matt Schulze	...	Faisal
Krzysztof Pieczynski	...	Ibo
Robbie Gee	...	Lewis Morton
Murat Yilmaz	...	Azimi
Nick Brimble	...	Mister Elgin
Jan Plazalski	...	Nikki
Shawn Lawrence	...	Agent Shepherd
Hanna Dunowska	...	Rosie
Frank Hildebrandt	...	Postmaster (as Frank Hildebrand)
Klaudia Jakacka	...	Petra
Jan Janga-Tomaszewski	...	Uncle Pawel
Maria Maj	...	Mrs. Donata

Storyline

Vietnam veteran Billy Ray Lancing, a former CSA agent who now works on a wildlife refuge in Northern Alaska, has been exchanging letters in a pen-pal relationship with Irina Morawska, a 13-year-old orphaned girl in Poland that he's helping out financially. When the letters suddenly stop coming, Billy heads to Poland to figure out why -- only to discover that the orphanage that Irena was staying in, which is financed by honest -- and unsuspecting -- good-intentioned Samaritans, is a cover for a human trafficking network. Run by a man named Faisal, the operation is worth billions -- girls are sold and traded to the highest bidders from all over the world. Through Billy's letters to Irina, Billy has taught Irina how to use secret codes, which she uses to keep Billy updated on where Faisal is taking her to. That's how Billy stays on Faisal's trail as Billy teams up with local cop Kasia Lato to rescue Irina and the other girls, and bring down Faisal's human trafficking network.

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Plot Keywords:

murder of a child | offscreen murder | betrayal by a friend | human trafficking | letter | 

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Taglines:

It's a split second between hit or miss.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and some language

Details

Country:

USA Poland

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 November 2004 (Romania)

Also Known As:

The Rescue

Filming Locations:

Old Town, Sródmiescie, Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Franchise Pictures,Epsilon Motion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

For large portions of the movie, Seagal was dubbed over by a voice over artist. So at certain times during the movie he speaks with his own voice, but then at other times with a dubbed voice which can be detected very easily as being dubbed. The reasoning for the dubbing of Seagal and other actors in the film was that changes were made in the storyline after most of the film was already shot.

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Goofs

In the climax of the film, Billy Ray does a forward roll before opening handgun fire on the bad guys. The slow-motion used for this highlights the fact that a stuntman or double was used for the roll.

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Quotes

Azimi: [about Lansing] He doesn't exist!
Faisal: So, why are all of your friends dead?

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Connections

Featured in Bad Movie Beatdown: Out of Reach (2011)

User Reviews

not up to its potential

Steven Seagal picks good topics and he takes good positions on them, but this film is like most of his others in failing on the level of craft. I don't know why this keeps happening to someone whose martial arts experience obviously taught him about the importance of precise execution and continuous refinement, but in any case this film is sloppy. Sometimes it's as simple as parallel action whose locations aren't clear, or too-familiar action scenes, or very slow staging of the obvious, like the initial seizure of the children. More importantly, it's careless or shallow thinking about the characters and their relationship to each other: the villains are pure psychopaths, the kids are pure innocence, the trafficking is simple kidnapping from a crooked orphanage - nothing beyond the matinée B-movie level of white/black hats is made concrete. There's something stubborn and unnecessary about Seagal staying on this mediocre level.