Review by
Benjamin Poole
Directed by: Jesper Ganslandt
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Grace Gummer, Pablo Schreiber
Fair play to Daniel Radcliffe, and more power to his elbow as he
endeavours to extricate himself from the Aragog like webs of his Harry
Potter persona. Dude is unstoppable: insects under the skin in
Jungle, all that farty-arty stuff in
Swiss Army Man, numerous voiceovers for The Simpsons: prolific is the word here, as is eclectic. Your boy is one of the hardest
working players in the game, the sort of actor who (like James Franco and
Shia LaBeouf - oh yes) seems to live for the work and would be just as happy
performing in community theatre as bothering the box office (people who have
seen Radcliffe in 2007’s 'Equus' say he was great there, too). Radcliffe’s
post-Potter career is inexorably a reaction to The Boy Who Lived: an
extended, real life re-enactment of Bergman’s Persona with all
the physical trauma which that dark fable entails (Radcliffe follows the
Depp school of pretty boy playing ugly, with most of his contemporary roles
involving extensive facial make up or prosthetics, viz.
Horns). For fans of not only movies but the meta-narrative of showbusiness,
D-Rad’s varied career is a fascinating performance. However, is it
disingenuous to focus almost exclusively on this one aspect of
Beast of Burden (director, Jesper Ganslandt; writer,
Adam Hoelzel) though, basing an evaluative response to this film on
the personality of one of its actors?
Not where this movie is concerned. In Beast of Burden, Radcliffe IS the film, with 90% of the action taking place in the cramped
cockpit of a tiny plane (a ‘Cessna’), as Radcliffe’s character Sean runs a
load of contraband across the border solo, playing off the drug lords, the
DEA and his dear old wife from the restricted audio of his radio and wi-fi.
This situation is itself enhanced by the disjunctive concept of dear D-Rads
as drug runner, all illicit packages strapped to his body and meddling with
the big boys. These furtive designs still provide a jarring thrill. And
perhaps a reason for the inescapability of the Potter image is the abiding
consistency of the films within popular culture; they’re always on the
telly, and their branding, which is steadily revived by theme parks and
merchandise, provides an enduring contrast to these more offbeat roles which
Radcliffe selects.
But perhaps we’re not straying too far from the consensus here, as Sean is
one of the good drug runners: his wife is unwell, and thus he is doing the
wrong thing for the right reasons, etc. It’s an aerial
Locke, but can Radcliffe carry this role throughout its hour and a half running
time, as well as delivering his package/rescuing his abducted wife? Well,
yes, he can, but he is not helped by a script that swerves into contrivance,
and even nonsense, in order to add a few air miles to the narrative. You’d
think that the criminal kingpins would be more concerned with their bad
drugs being delivered safely, rather than dangerously stressing their pilot
out every nautical mile. At one point, Sean’s overlords even send up a drone
to keep tabs on him, with the infernal little machine keeping eyeline pace
with our harassed hero. Why? I mean, it’s nice to see one of these drones
that they have these days being put to practical use (what do real life
people who have spent hundreds on drones actually use them for?), but it’s a
pointless exploit: Sean is in constant radio contact anyway, and I doubt
that a drone could contend with an actual airplane. Sean then has a mad
little race with the drone through the throbbing skies. Get real.
Plot machinations like the above typify Beast of Burden, an initially intriguing flight of fancy which unfortunately runs out of
fuel far too soon. Radcliffe, with his buoyant charisma, just about keeps
things airborne, but even the mighty D-Rads can’t stop
Beast of Burden from ultimately crashing and burning.
Beast of Burden is on Amazon Prime
Video UK now.