Heiress Christine Sanders (stiffly played by the striking Carol Alt) hires former CIA agent turned mercenary Tom Burton (Rutger Hauer coasting along on automatic pilot) to go to Morocco and rescue her bratty kidnapped son Robert (an obnoxious portrayal by David Flossi).Sound tense and exciting? Well, it just ain't. Although competently directed by Duccio Tessari, the talky script, sluggish pace, and infrequent blandly staged action set pieces all ensure that this movie fizzles when it ought to sizzle. Worse yet, Alt's cardboard acting and plastic personality make it impossible to care about her character while the annoying abducted kid just isn't worth all the effort everyone exerts to save him. Fortunately, the solid supporting cast keep this picture watchable: Omar Sharif as hearty sheik Emir Beni-Zair, Kabir Bedi as Christine's dashing husband Moulet, Brett Halsey as the two-fisted Sal Coumo, Peter Sands as Burton's rugged partner James Ross, and Elliott Gould as smitten lawyer Red Merchantson. In addition, the insights into Arabic culture are pretty interesting and insightful, the exotic desert locations are stunning, Giorgio Di Battista's glossy cinematography supplies a pleasing polished look, and Ennio Morricone comes through with a typically lush and sweeping score. A strictly passable diversion.

Think about all the lives lost in this movie. For what? The kid who's kidnapped by his own father winds up back with his Mom after the father has a change of heart. Really? And the grandfather Emir who engineered the whole thing just shrugs it all off and let's the kid make his own decision at the end of the story.Obviously someone must have thought all of this was a good idea because Omar Sharif and Elliott Gould signed on to back up Rutger Hauer and Carol Alt in this desert adventure. Hauer portrays mercenary Tom Burton, hired by business executive Christine Sanders (Alt) to rescue her son after he's whisked off to Morocco by her ex (Kabir Bedi). As an actress, Alt is one fantastic model, and virtually every scene with her in it is constructed basically to show off her fine legs. The kid playing her son must have been some kind of studio political appointment because he can't act and his demeanor never matches the situation he's in.There are a couple of interesting bits here. That huge poster of Bogart in "Casablanca" simply overwhelmed that early scene at the Moroccan airport, and this has got to be the latest I've ever seen a horse brought down by a trip wire (even though it looks like someone bashed it with a machine gun) during late battle action. If made in the U.S., the PETA folks would have been all over this one. But you know when I became convinced this was a clunker? At one point, Rutger Hauer's character actually comes out with the line - "Go ahead, make my day".

I must admit I haven't seen all movies starring Rutger Hauer yet, so I'm not sure, but my guess is that BEYOND JUSTICE (aka THE LAW OF THE DESERT) has got to be the worst Hauer-movie out there. It excels in being bad. Now I know that, for instance, PRECIOUS FIND was a poor attempt at sci-fi/action, but at least it had Brion James in it and it wasn't an ambitious international co-production. And, yes, I know that TURBULENCE 3: HEAVY METAL was a trashy crapfest, but that one was at least so 'over the top' it was hilarious. So nobody can convince me that those movies were worse or, at least, less fun than this one.I'm gonna be brief about the plot. There's a divorced couple, an American wife and an Arabian husband, living in America. The Arabian dude kidnaps their son and transports him to Arabia to live with his grandfather (Omar Sharif). The son is supposedly to inherit his legacy, and thus living the Arabian way of life for the rest of his days. He doesn't seem to mind, by the way. Maybe it's because those Arabians don't do anything throughout this movie except sitting in a castle and riding horses (yes, indeed: Boring!). The ex-wife (Carol Alt) and her legal adviser (Elliot Gould) bring in Tom Burton (Rutger Hauer) to go and save the kid. The acting: Rutger Hauer, though undoubtedly the best actor of the cast, seems hopelessly lost in this movie. At the time of shooting this movie he clearly hadn't developed his method-acting-skills yet. So with the absence of any guidance from the director, you could consider him a loose cannon throughout this film. I love the way his character is introduced. He is on this mission to save some political prisoner, so you see him running around randomly shooting and throwing grenades. Quite pointless, if you ask me, while stealth moves would've been more appropriate. Carol Alt has not much to do except looking beautiful. Omar Sharif, well, the only good thing the man did - in my book - was his role in TOP SECRET. And after seeing him in that one you just cannot take his whole 'respect my Arabian authority'-thing in DESERT LAW serious. As for Elliot Gould (TV's FRIENDS), the man's acting range is limited to two aspects: whining and looking sad. I must also mention the young (non)actor who plays the kid's Arabian slave/friend. Not only he just can't act, he also looks like a moron with his tongue cut out who smiles all the time (in fact, his tongue was cut out, if I remember correctly... Oooh, those savage Arabians!)The cinematography: This movie was shot in 1989, re-released in 1992, but looks like something from the late 70's. It seems like the camera-operator just discovered the zoom-button and is very enthusiastic about it. He just can't stop touching the damn thing.The editing: Atrocious. Sometimes the editor cuts too soon to the other over-shoulder-view in a conversation, making you here the last word of one person's line without seeing his jaw move. At one time, after a dialogue is finished, the camera stays focused extreeeeemely long on a guy's face instead of cutting away to the next scene. The plot: Now, the premise is OK. The clash between traditional Arabian and modern day American lifestyle could have invoked interesting moral discussions resulting in a violent confrontation during a climactic ending. Because you feel like it builds up to that (it takes almost two hours to get there), but in the end it just does not deliver. The conversations in the drama department are boring blahblahblah's, the trip through the desert is boring with just one lame and badly choreographed shoot-out scene. The rescue near the end is rushed followed by one of the most stupid happy-endings I've ever seen: Omar Sharif handing over the kid, admitting he was wrong and HUGGING Hauer! And what's worse: after that, in some sort of epilogue, we find out that sissy-boy Elliot Gould was a traitor. Normally you discover something like that just before the climax, so you could have some kind of showdown between Hauer and Gould, or heck, Hauer just shooting the bastard. No, instead this goes on and on and then we get to see Gould make a confession while a fly is walking around on his face. The directing: I think there was no director present at the time of shooting. The music: I just can't believe they got Ennio Morricone to do the soundtrack. Even he f#@ks it up. One time he cooks up this really dumb funky porn-movie tune. And most of the time he mixes his score with so much cheesy sweetness that by the time this movie ends, you'll have to be taken to a hospital suffering from a sugar-overdose. I think you all get my point, no? This movie was abominable. Rutger Hauer, what the hell were you thinking? I guess you thought it was fun to come back to Europe and do a picture while being here, no? Well, at least I hope you got paid alright, 'cause this movie turns BLIND FURY into Oscar-material. Normally I would recommend this kind of movie to make fun of, but it's actually a torment to sit through and you'll feel insulted in the end. Therefore I will add that Rutger Hauer even gets the girl in the end! So, there you have it. Now you have absolutely no reason to watch this tripe. And now, please excuse me, I'm gonna go watch TACTICAL ASSAULT (starring Hauer and Robert"T2"Patrick). I heard it's so bad, it's fun.

The synopsis on the video box hardly do any sort of justice to this movie, depicting it as more of a regular kidnapping story where a mother hires a rather unorthodox agent to trail her strange husband. But this movie has none of that. Filmed in Morroco, it is more like a modern tale of adventure in the deserts of Morroco complete with sword fights and camel rides. A rich woman's husband, son of a Morrocan Prince, takes their son to Morroco with plans to live in grandfather's palace. While the grandfather declares the grandson heir to the throne and prepares him for living in the Holy Land and ridding himself of the life he once knew, the woman hires a few men (including Rutger Hauer) to get her grandson back. And it turns out to be a very dangerous mission. This is a fantastic adventure film, though a pretty violent one, since it's a deadly mission and one that, although the main premise involves a kidnapping, continues on to involve all sorts of wild intrigue including that of a feuding Morrocan tribe. It seems so unusual because it is an ancient tale told in a modern setting when the family is taken away from their modern conveniences into a highly hostile desert scenery with completely different customs and culture. These Italian filmmakers have given us something that I would less consider an action movie and more of an adventure tale. I would definitely recommend this movie if you're in the mood for something really different.