Off the grid

Off the Grid is the kind of film that seems to have been born not out of artistic impulse, but rather out of a long-held desire to carve out a place for itself in the survivalist action thriller genre, a field once dominated by legends such as Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and recently revitalized by the cool precision of Keanu Reeves in the John Wick film series. Directed by Johnny Martin and written by Jim Agnew, Off the Grid positions itself as a modern take on the one-man army subgenre, featuring a tech genius turned hermit in a deadly game of cat and mouse against a soulless corporate army. But while the film strives to tick all the genre boxes—isolated protagonist, shadowy villains, homemade explosives, and a final showdown in the woods—it too often stumbles under the weight of its own clichés and mediocre execution, despite the sincere efforts of its cast.

At the center of the story is actor Josh Duhamel as Guy, a former employee of a shadowy San Francisco tech company, Belcor Industries, who flees into the wilderness after discovering the company's plans to turn his latest invention into a weapon. This device, a vague MacGuffin the size of a palm that is supposed to produce infinite energy, becomes the reason for his isolation in the woods of Tennessee, where he lives off the land, sets elaborate traps, and occasionally ventures into town to buy Red Bull and chat with two stereotypical characters: Chase, the smart teenage salesman played by Michael Zapesotsky, and Josey, the flirtatious bar owner played by María Elisa Camargo, who sees something deeper in this mysterious, bearded man. These interactions seem superficial and serve more to remind us that Guy isn't totally antisocial than to add any meaningful depth to the story.

Guy's down-to-earth, grungy survivalism contrasts with the exaggerated villainy of Mr. Belcor, played by Peter Stormare, a character so caricatured that he might as well be twirling his mustache and laughing maniacally. Peter Stormare's talent is undeniable, but here he has carte blanche to indulge in theatrical comedy, shouting monologues and glaring at the camera as if to challenge the audience to take the film seriously. Equally disconcerting is the mercenary Marcus, played by Ricky Russert, a character whose wardrobe is reminiscent of Severus Snape and whose mannerisms seem inspired by Anton Chigurh. Ricky Russert gives it his all in a role that veers into the absurd, never quite intimidating enough to be threatening, nor eccentric enough to be memorable. One of the film's strangest choices is to begin with a flash-forward that reveals Marcus' death, thus depriving the film of its only potential suspense before it even begins.

Perhaps the most interesting subplot in the film is the reintroduction of Greg Kinnear as Ranish, an old friend and colleague of Guy's who is sent by Belcor to clean up Marcus' mess. Greg Kinnear brings a certain charm and ironic humor to an otherwise uninspired role, and you can almost feel him winking at the camera when he delivers the film's best line, a casual lie to a skeptical sheriff who tells him that Marcus is just a writer who photographs trees for the US Forest Service: “A real Robert Bresson.” It's a rare moment of wit in a script that otherwise consists of heavy-handed dialogue and clumsy attempts at drama. Greg Kinnear's discomfort, caught up in a mosquito-infested wilderness, mirrors our own growing exasperation with the film's pace, which gets bogged down in long preparatory sequences before delivering its action in disappointing bursts.

When the film shifts into survival mode, we glimpse a few glimmers of potential. Guy's traps and homemade weapons, while uninventive, recall the ingenuity of John Rambo in First Blood. But the comparison ends there. While that classic used action to explore trauma and institutional failure, Off the Grid never digs beneath the surface. The editing is disjointed, the action choreography confusing, and the photography flat, particularly in the forest sequences, which quickly blend into a repetitive series of clumsily staged chases, shootouts, and ambushes. The tension between the countryside and the city, suggested by the visual contrast between Memphis and San Francisco, could have been fertile thematic ground, but it remains underutilized, a faint whisper of commentary lost in the din of bullets and splintering trees.

Despite its missteps, Off the Grid attempts to tap into contemporary anxieties about tech monopolies, corporate surveillance, and whistleblower ethics. There is the seed of a provocative idea here: what is the price to pay for doing the right thing in a world that monetizes morality? But Jim Agnew's script treats these questions as afterthoughts, preferring to focus on the ridiculously simplified journey of a hero who ends up exactly as one would expect. Even the concept that gives the film its title, “living off the grid,” seems more like a narrative device than a philosophical statement. Guy's transformation from lone wolf to reluctant savior is rushed and implausible, a missed opportunity to give the character real inner conflict.

And yet, the film's refusal to pretend to be anything more than a disposable action thriller has a certain charm. It's a return, both in structure and spirit, to the kind of made-for-TV movies that once graced video stores, relying on charisma, cheap thrills, and the promise of a lone man facing insurmountable obstacles. Josh Duhamel does his best with the material he's given, conveying quiet determination and latent regret through subtle gestures and worn expressions. It's a performance better than the film deserves, but one that suggests Duhamel could have a real future as a B-movie mainstay if paired with stronger material.

Off the Grid is a film caught between ambition and budget, between homage and parody. It wants to be a mix between Tony Stark and John Rambo, but ends up looking more like an amateur YouTube film with the Lionsgate logo slapped on it. That doesn't make it unwatchable, just frustrating and mediocre. There's a better movie somewhere in this script, but Johnny Martin and Jim Agnew never find it, leaving audiences with a thriller that feels more like a survivalist slideshow than a suspenseful showdown. If you're in the mood for a rustic revenge fantasy with familiar faces and modest stakes, this might be right up your alley. But don't be surprised if you forget most of it five minutes after the credits roll, especially since the credits themselves, hastily assembled and barely animated, feel like the last gasp of a film that knows it never really achieved its goal.

Off the Grid
Directed by Johnny Martin
Written by Jim Agnew
Produced by Luca Matrundola, Richard Salvatore, David Lipper, Bobby Daly Jr., Rick Moore
Starring Josh Duhamel, Greg Kinnear
Cinematography: David Stragmeister
Music by Frederik Wiedmann
Production companies: Latigo Films, Eyevox Entertainment, Lady Bacardi Media, March On Productions, Red Sea Media
Distributed by Lionsgate (United States), Grindstone Entertainment Group
Release date: June 27, 2025 (United States)
Running time: 105 minutes

Seen on June 29, 2025 (VOD)

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