Ambition outstrips expertise in writer-director Phil Blattenberger’s “Laws of Man,” whose serpentine plot winds up seeming a wild goose chase — one whose execution should have been, well, wilder. Action and atmosphere are too poorly supplied for this stab at a noirish retro thriller to emerge as anything but talky, awkward and unconvincing. Set in 1963, it takes a big narrative leap toward the end that suggests an intent closer to such willfully over-the-top Cold War paranoia fantasias as “Dr. Strangelove” and “Winter Kills.” But the satirical edge which might’ve pulled off that gambit is absent throughout, making for a whole that’s peculiar without ever being very engaging. Saban is releasing the feature to U.S. theaters, digital and On Demand platforms Jan. 10.

Based in state capitol Carson City, Frank (Jacob Keohane) and Tommy (Jackson Rathbone) are U.S. marshals who’ve driven 15 hours into the remotest Nevada desert...