There is no excuse for “Off the Grid.” Writer-director James Agnew’s hackneyed action-thriller is woefully short on action and thrills, and generic enough to suggest it was scripted by AI. Indeed, this half-baked potboiler leaves one with the nagging suspicion that it was produced simply to meet some sort of quota, and cast with actors who came on board only because they lost bets.
Josh Duhamel does his best to get his Rambo on as Guy, a research scientist who skedaddles from his lab at the San Francisco-based Belcor Enterprises after he discovers his corporate overlord intends to weaponize his current project, a palm-sized energy-producing reactor. He goes to ground and reinvents himself as a survivalist in a wilderness area of Tennessee, where he resides in a reconverted Quonset hut, maintains an elaborate array of boobytraps and warning signals to ward off unwelcome visitors, and generally stays (as the title says) off the grid.
Occasionally, Guy motorcycles into a nearby small town to purchase supplies, conversing only with Chase (Michael Zapesotsky), the brainy teen cashier at a general store that only sporadically stocks Red Bull, his beverage of choice, and Josey (María Elisa Camargo), the friendly Latina who operates the local tavern and bed and breakfast. But these visits are the only interruptions in a daily routine of lying low and prepping for danger. Be forewarned: It would not be advisable to join in any drinking game that requires you to take a shot each time Guy takes his ax to chop tree branches and assorted other foliage.
Naturally, Guy’s aforementioned corporate overlord, Mr. Belcor himself (Peter Stormare), wants someone to locate his fugitive ex-employee and drag him back to the lab. Just as naturally, he hires a walking, talking cliché to handle this assignment: Marcus (Ricky Russert), a mercenary with the coiffure and social skills of Anton Chigurgh, and the black-on-black wardrobe of a Severus Snape cosplayer. He leads heavily armed underlings while hunting for Guy in the woods and the nearby town — underlings, it should be noted, who don’t always act like they fully understand the “Bring him back alive!” part of their assignment.
Marcus might have been a smidge scarier if “Off the Grid” didn’t begin with a flash forward that has Guy tangling with him, then blowing him to bits, before “Five Days Earlier” flashes on screen and the movie proper begins. So much for generating suspense.
Worse, this is the sort of thriller in which the stooges hired from Rent-a-Minion are such lousy shots that there’s never any doubt that all of them will eventually be terminated, either by Guy and his makeshift weaponry or their impatient employer.
Greg Kinnear picks up an easy paycheck as Ranish, a rather snooty Belcor Enterprises exec who deeply resents being sent out into sticks — where he must contend with mosquitos! —to oversee Marcus on his mission. Ranish is a former comrade of Guy’s who believes he might be able to talk the scientist into returning to Belcor fold. Fat chance.
On the other hand, Ranish does deliver the movie’s funniest line, as he confirms to the dubious town sheriff that Marcus, who looks as conspicuous as a tarantula on a wedding cake, really is in the area to film trees for the U.S. Forest Service. “Yeah, he’s an auteur,” Ranish claims with a charming smile. “A real Robert Bresson.”
