BEYOND THE LINE Review: An Overly-Contemplative Shoestring War Epic That Goes Beyond Its Runtime
I hadn’t seen any of director Jason Mills’ films up to this point, but having just screened his latest film, Beyond The Line, I’m hard pressed to give this one a pass even to those most fond of war movies.
An allied forces plane carrying British soliders is shot down, leaving officer Baker (Chris Walters), fending for himself and surrounded by Nazis. Hours later, a chance meeting with Summers (Jackson Berlin), an American solider gone rogue following the loss of his team, pits the two very different soliders in a reluctant partnership that ultimately becomes an introspective testament to what surviving will really take on the battlefield.
We spot that difference almost instantly throughout our protagonists’ screentime with Baker more fearful of taking a life on the battlefield than Summers, who is ardently driven to kill as many Nazis as possible while he’s still armed and breathing. Moral quandaries aside, the remainder of the film is really all about their violent journey together with Baker, visibly traumatized and eventually confronted with a major choice.
With only a pair of actors leading the way showcasing Chris Walters and Jackson Berlin, I’m impressed Mills even managed to squeeze out the 75 minutes he got for a final cut. One might even be able to strip this down to a feasibly entertaining half-hour short film if done correctly with some creative measure.
Beyond The Line is told from Baker’s perspective, entering Baker’s present-day performance iterated by actor Paul Fisher with narration by Walters. The inspiration from Saving Private Ryan here is as clear and present as ever, though it sadly results with a servere lack in any ample modicum of substance.
Much of the film feels like it was completed using actual cast footage and filler shots, established by Walters’ long, dull and drawn-out narration, campy dialogue and monument worship. With at least one moment of visible post-explosion gore and despite Berlin being the most stand-out of the duo, the result is still a redundant play on the soul-searching war genre, carried blandly, and shortly limited in its stock.
Beyond The Line simply goes beyond its runtime. It’s a difficult affair to get through without either falling asleep, checking my e-mail looking up other projects to watch, and it’s a rather frustrating film to finish.
I get that this film was done out of a great deal of love for war movies, and not without a great deal of respect for our uniformed heroes of yesteryear. Furthermore, I’ll never begrudge anyone for at least finding a soft grey area to highlight its appeal, as differing as opinions can be on any film.
Still, I simply can’t go beyond where I’m at with this one. I was generally bored and strained for most of the duration, and save for a decent outro performance by Fisher, much like the soldiers gallantly fought in our second World War almost eighty years ago, I was glad it was all over.
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!