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

During pre-production, this film was originally known as "The Rescue" and "The Package".

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Goofs

Just immediately after William step out of Kasia's car (after the evening in bar, he offered her to drive car for her), he walks on the right side and Morawska on the left. But if it would be in Poland, he should drive the car on the left position, so after he parked the car, he would step off on the left side.

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Quotes

William Lancing: [about Irena] This little girl means a lot to me.

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Connections

Referenced in Bad Movie Beatdown: The Marksman (2012)

User Reviews

An impressive achievement considering recent years, Worst Seagal film ever!!

The second piece of Seagal action to come out this year, the second dire straight to video offering from him as well. While Belly Of The Beast had some enjoyment laughing at the over the top action this film is so painfully bad that it is almost upsetting. Now I have never been the biggest Seagal fan. Having said that I have enjoyed watching his earlier films. They were pure dumb and ultra violent films with an enjoyably pretentious moralistic attitude. Seagal had that kind of Italian American, Brooklyn tough guy thing going on, his kind of De Niro and Brando impersonation. Since Under Siege though, he has become the eco-Zen- Warrior with absolutely no personality. He was in decent shape as well, never the ripped muscle man like Arnie, Sly and Van Damme but a real man kind of size and he was very quick. The action scenes in those films were brutal and slick and we would see in full glory the aikido from Seagal. Nowadays Seagal, after one two many pies, is looking very withered and old and overweight. In modern Seagal fights the are film extremely tightly with the odd wide shot featuring his stunt double and is edited in such a way to hide the fact that he is just not quick enough anymore. Seagal looks tragically bloated and sweaty and almost repugnant. I cannot see how even the most ardent Seagal fan could be anything but devastated seeing him do films like this and looking the way he does. Somehow he still sells a movie but at this rate it won't be for long.

Out Of Reach is the worst Seagal film ever, and considering Ticker, Foreigner and Out For A Kill, that takes some doing. This is a film that even z grade action men like Lorenzo Lamas and Don Wilson would want scratched off their CV. The plot has Seagal as a former government agent who runs a animal shelter (oh my god, when will he realize he's not captain planet.). He then finds out that a young girl who he is pen pals with (isn't that a horrible picture, an old sweaty git having correspondence with a little girl) is kidnapped and sold as a slave, Seagal has to come out of retirement and stop the bad guys who are lead by Matt Schulze. The film despite being a reasonable 20 million dollar budget looks painfully cheap. The film is so lazily put to together and Seagal is so bad it beggars belief. There are so many signs that he can't be bothered and is past it, form constant doubling, lazy use of a stand in and several moments when he is clearly dubbed, probably because he whispers through the while film and you can't hear him. The only times you hear what Seagal is saying is when he is being dubbed. He really doesn't want to be their and being the big name of such a crappy little picture no-one would have told him to pull his finger out. Someone needs to slap him and tell him that for the money he his paid and that they plough into his movies his fans expect a lot more. He is currently the top earner and audience grabber of the straight to video action market but if he continues like this he will be overtaken by Van Damme and Lundgren and others below them. There are rumours his next film, Into The Sun is to be distributed to theaters by his beloved Warner Brothers but I really don't see it. It is tragic and says a lot about the industry that they could make the biggest pile of poo known to man and sell it simply by plastering his ugly mug on the front.

I watched this simply out of curiosity and merely because it was a Seagal film, these DTV stars release these films and although they are generally bad there has to be a certain minimal standard of enjoyment. Van Damme, Lundgren are keeping this up with their recent efforts, but Seagal who has the highest expectations must up his game or retire. He certainly is not convincing as a tough guy any more. *