Off the Grid (2025) Lean, Practical, and Driven

Directed by Johnny Martin | Starring Josh Duhamel, Greg Kinnear, Peter Stormare

Johnny Martin returns with Off the Grid, a survival-action flick that trades big firepower for raw ingenuity. The film drops Josh Duhamel into a stripped-down, tech-lite environment and lets him run wild with handcrafted traps and tactical grit—not unlike a modern-day Rambo with an engineer’s brain.

The pacing is tight, the stakes stay grounded, and the action leans practical, which gives it a certain throwback charm. Martin keeps the camera moving, channeling the kind of kinetic tension that fans of Tony Scott will feel right away—quick cuts, close calls, and a soundtrack that pulses without overdoing it.

Josh Duhamel steps into a rare lead action role here, and surprisingly, it works. He doesn’t go full action hero, but there’s enough grit in his performance to sell the role. Greg Kinnear and Peter Stormare bring added flavor as the villains, with Stormare doing what he does best—looking like he’s enjoying the chaos.

What’s interesting is that the film makes a bold choice: the lead character doesn’t carry a gun. That forces the action into more creative territory—booby traps, lures, and raw hand-to-hand moments that break up the usual shootout formula. It won’t be for everyone, but it’s a fresh angle in a crowded genre.

The movie does flirt with some deeper ideas—corporate control, isolation, personal sacrifice—but it never dives too far into them. It knows its audience, and it’s here to deliver a contained survival story with enough bang for your buck.

Off the Grid doesn’t try to reinvent the action genre, but it finds a new lane by stripping it down to basics. Johnny Martin keeps it lean, practical, and driven. For fans of survival thrillers with a bit more brain than bullets, this one’s worth checking out.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Check out our interview with director, Johnny Martin at Action Reloaded

Author