Beyond

"I know she hasn't been gone 24 hours but this is my family, my niece." After a child goes missing detective John Koski (Voight) is on the case and tries to find the missing niece of the Chief of Police (Mulroney). When the mother and babysitter tell Koski about a psychic who may be able to help Koski is reluctant to accept him. I really wasn't sure what to expect from this at all. The best way to describe this is the feel of a made for TV movie with better acting and an OK idea. While this is really nothing super original or that exciting it is still worth a watch and could have been worse. The biggest problem is that the person I suspected about a half hour in turned out to be the right one. I'm not sure if it's because I watch to many movies and have picked up on certain clues or if the movie is just that predictable. Either way this is still worth a watch but nothing to rush and see. Overall, not bad but would work better as a TV show instead of a movie. I give it a B-.

In Alaska, the veteran police detective Jon Koski (Jon Voight) is near retirement and is a specialist in missing children. Koski is troubled by a failure in his past and is haunted by nightmares with a woman and the little girl Aurora. When the seven year-old girl Amy Noble (Chloe Lesslie) is abducted, Koski is assigned to the case by his chief Jack Musker (Dermot Mulroney), who is the uncle of the child. Amy lives with her parents, Musker's sister Sarah Noble (Teri Polo) and her estranged husband Jim Noble (Ben Crowley), who is an executive in oil business and former DA, and had an affair with his secretary seven years ago. Koski interrogates Amy's nanny Megan (Skyler Shaye) and she presents the psychic Farley Connors (Julian Morris) that is the host of the TV show Beyond to Sarah. Farley becomes Koski's prime suspect but soon they team up to resolve the case.

"Beyond" is an average supernatural movie with the usual clichés of the genre. Jon Voight has a good performance, Teri Polo is still a very beautiful woman and the landscapes in Alaska are wonderful. However the lame and unconvincing story associated to the wooden performances of Ben Crowley and Skyler Shaye ruin this forgettable movie. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Do Além" ("From Beyond")

*** EDIT (2016-11-10) I happened to be re-reading about this film and I saw my review here and that it had a rather poor 6/12 rating with readers. Heh... they were bloody right! Gawd-awful review, sorry about that... So, I amended it and tried to improve it so that HOPEFULLY it might actually be of some help to those who want to know more about the movie.

***

I REALLY like the director's film 'THE 13TH FLOOR'; I thought it was beautifully done, the story was very engaging, and it was extremely entertaining, especially if you like Science Fiction. However, I get the feeling that his heart just was not completely in this one.

The scenery and photography are breathtaking; Alaska is truly a beautiful place! I do fully agree with the other reviewer here who stated that the principle actors did a decent job while the supporting ones were pretty cringe-worthy. I DID think that the psychic guy was okay; maybe I just liked his accent... BUT... the 'baby-sitter' and the husband were clearly blowing SOMEBODY because I cannot for the life of me imagine why they would ever, EVER be considered as serious actors in any film...

Probably, due to the established talent of the director, the movie technically was done in a fairly competent way. If you are not terribly demanding, and I mean really NOT demanding at all, then it is possible that you might actually find something to enjoy in this movie....

It is quite sad I think to see a great actor like Jon Voight looking so rough in his older years, especially when he was so good looking when he was younger; and he's not even really that old. But, that is the way it is with some people, I guess. Just kind of sad, that's all...

Anyway, sorry to digress... But, there's nothing really to get very excited about here. Unless of course the 'babysitter' goes back to doing porn like she was clearly born and bred for... : )

Seriously though, the film makes a moderately decent effort, but sadly it just doesn't seem to have the substance or quality that that the director has clearly demonstrated in the past...

With a great cast and a possibly really neat twist on a tapped out genre, I thought BEYOND would be a great watch. Ugh. Everything was good except for the DIRECTION!! Which is everything. The energy of each scene was dis-jointed, and it seemed just silly the way things unfolded.

I also have to say there were many SMALL holes in this story. Little things... Like, the babysitter being dressed like a ho, no follow through on certain plot-lines that seemed important to the story. A bit of a mess...

Maybe with better editing this could have been better. When the big finale happens, half the ensemble doesn't even react to what should be the culmination of MUCH trial and effort. BAD DIRECTION. Let this director stick with his Wesley Snipes movies.

All in all I would say give it a watch. Jon Voight delivers as do all the main actors, with the exception of the young psychic. Totally miscast and unwatchable. Sorry dude.

After a seven-year-old with an 'imaginary' friend gets kidnapped, it's put high on the rader since she's the police chief's niece. So Detective John (Jon Voight),who's wrestling with demons from his past, reluctantly teams up with a TV physic, whom has wormed himself into the investigation, to find her.

This movie is only marginally watchable because of Voight. Everything else about the film is decidedly sub-par, be it the awful acting or the easily predictable plot 'twists'. I found myself glancing at my watch multiple times (never a good sign)

My Grade: C-