Customer Reviews

Outlander

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(76)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I got a chance to see this in the theatres thanks to a friend of mine with a sharp eye. It was only released in a VERY limited engagement - in my area, only one theatre ran it for a week. What a shame!
This movie is a must-see for fans of sci-fi movies like the first Terminator, movies like Ice Pirates, or Pitch Black. It has its own wonderful mythology, and the casting is great. Could've seen more of Ron Pearlman, though.
Yes, there are a couple of cheesy moments, but the good stuff far outweighs the bad. Very very enjoyable film. Looking forward to a disc release, and hopefully an extended edition - rumor has it that Weinstein and Co trimmed 15 min off the end to make the movie fit on one less reel, saving money.

Plenty to read about how the W brothers buried yet another fine film, but those two are a case study in having great films distributed incorrectly. Aside from them - what a great sci-fi film.

We have inter-planetary travel, love, loss, awesome looking dragon creatures with firefly (glowing) capabilities, all intertwined within the Norse time period of our history. Caviezel has just the right look to be the believable yet fearless fighter that hunts these creatures across the universe.

The effects looked adequate, and excelled during any of the ship sequences off planet. I have read most of the criticisms about pacing, time period gaffs and such, but overall I think they made a solid film. The DVD has over 32 minutes of deleted scenes that help answer some of the questions raised while watching the theatrical cut (which runs 115 minutes itself). The alternate opening would have helped with the end - but watching a space ship spiral towards Earth works better. The scenes with his Captain would have been nice to see in the main cut, as would most of the others but oh well. Some nice informative supplements for the special effects also.

Customers have been asking for this since last year, and playing it alone has generated quite a buzz. A worthwhile owner for fans of the film that would of course look beautiful on Blu.

In OUTLANDER Jim Caviezel plays an alien hunter so utterly deadpan he makes his PASSION OF THE CHRIST role seem flighty and vivacious. Somewhen in the Viking Iron Age, an extraterrestrial named Kainan (Caviezel) crashlands his space ship, sends it hurtling into the Scandinavian drink. His crew all dead and now bereft of his hi-tech weaponry, the stranded Kainan sets out on his mission to capture the man-eating alien predator called a Moorwen. But, while tracking the monster, Kainan is captured by a group of Vikings and taken to their compound. Not too long after, something begins to make raids on the Vikings' home and territory. Prevailing theories offer a dragon and a bear, and, oboy, does that ever get these doughty Vikings all fired up. Off they go, a-huntin', with their clean-shaven captive in tow.

OUTLANDER, when broken down, is essentially PREDATOR reimagined in old Norway and peopled with medieval, bearded, grog-swilling Norsemen and an intense spaceman. Some bells and whistles are thrown in, like John Hurt as King Hrothgar, Ron Perlman as a bald-headed Viking, and Sophia Myles as the Viking princess, Freya, who knows her way around a sword and isn't shy about baring her midriff, never mind that the near freezing climate seems to dictate bundling up in layers.

Early on, Kainan's computer indicates that Earth is an abandoned seed colony, and it would've been nice if the film had touched more on that. And for someone coming from an advanced culture and superior technology, Kainan isn't allowed a lot of chances to flaunt his stuff as such. Heck, the gent from A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT exercised his futuristic expertise more. Instead, Kainan finds himself immersed into the Vikings' hardy way of life, gradually celebrated in King Hrothgar's mead hall and romancing the king's feisty daughter. However, the best relationship here is the one that develops between Kainan and his warrior rival Wulfric (Jack Huston).

OUTLANDER is better than PATHFINDER (another recent film about Vikings), but it's sort of like saying that a paper cut is better than a poke in the eye. One's marginally preferrable but, mostly, you'd still rather not have both. OUTLANDER's achievement is that it combines Vikings and space aliens and still manages to come away with a story that is predictable and tame. Character development is nil, with these stock characters simply refusing to stand out. Sorry to say, Jim Caviezel, as an action hero, comes across as bland.

Not the acting, not the plot, but there are some saving graces. I thought the CG work is well rendered on the Moorwen, and I especially liked the bioluminescent touch. The several shifts in venue - the dark woods to the mead hall to the hellish caverns - serve to infuse energy, help to fight off that sense of staidness (but it's a losing battle). And I thought that the game of balance on shields (held up by drunken Vikings) was pretty cool.

A slightly better than average 3 out of 5 stars for OUTLANDER. I recommend it mostly for the well-done sci-fi action sequences. Hopefully, the writers of the upcoming COWBOYS AND ALIENS view OUTLANDER as a cautionary tale and learn from it.

The first I ever heard of Outlander was in an ad page in last month's Fangoria. It looked and sounded like typical straight to video B movie fair. This is sometimes a very good and fun thing, and other times absolutely dreadful. From sifting through some other Amazon reviews regarding this film I found that it had a very, VERY, limited theatrical run and apparently was bashed by critics. Well, I still haven't read any 'professional' reviews for Outlander and I'm here to tell you that it's totally worth two hours of your life, especially if you're a creature feature fan and, even better, a sword and sandels epic fan.

Basically, the premise of this movie is if Army Of Darkness was taken seriously. We have a space man(from another dimension? The future? Antoher planet?) who crashes his space ship onto earth in the year 709 and brings a big monster with him, that of course escapes and starts problems for the local Viking villages and tribes. That's it. That's the story. Nothing monumental or groundbreaking but totally fun. Hell, this movie has the type of story I would have written myself when I was ten and wanted even more to see it in the multiplex.

Don't get mislead by the Sci-Fi sounding premise, this is nothing close to true Science Fiction. It's a big action/horror/ monster movie on the most base levels. There's no science or hypothesis of the future or past of man to be found. Sorry, it just doesn't reach that high above it's B movie roots, and that is not always a bad thing if it's done well. It's obviously one of those films that has many different producers, most of which are not from the states, but the budget and level of polish on the production could be matched to any of the big summer films coming out now. The sets are good and have the dirty lived in quality required for anything involving Vikings. The CGI creature is mostly convincing. There's a few shots where the beast looks less then stellar but not many. The filmmakers were even smart, considering budget and suspense, by not revealing the creature in full light until the center of the film. It reminded me of the old Roger Corman creature features, but he waited until the third act, well, because his monsters never looked that convincing and were always more convincing when off screen. This could've been a big summer film of 09. Of course it's not a remake, a film based on action figures, one of several sequels to 20 year old properties, and of course there's no car, fast food or toy tie-ins to speak of, but it still could've given me what I long for this summer, something NEW.

The cast is all on spot. Jim Caviezel(The Passion of the Christ, The Thin Red Line, Frequency) stars, and I've always found him to be an underrated actor. He's turning into the king of big films that don't get a shot theatrically but become fan favorites on home video thanks to this and Highwaymen(if you haven't seen it, check it out). The movie even throws us the usual respected older actor in the form of John Hurt to play the Viking king. He's good as always and brings that extra John Hurt-ness he always brings to his roles, big or small. If you've read Beouwulf you can figure out where the plot is going and what it's riffing on but the added Sci-Fi trope helps throw you off for a bit. This isn't going to go down as one of Caviezel's great performances, but he does lend dramatic gravity to what essentially is the typical monosyllobic hero with a past role. After about an hour his characters comes more into his own and leaves behind the usual action character cliche's thanks to him. Ron Perlman shows up late into the film as an opposing tribes leader. He's not give much to do, and I'm not sure why they cast an actor of his caliber for such an nothing part, but it's nice to see him anyway.

The DVD looks and sounds great. Plus, it's loaded with special features. We get some neat special effects tests and animatics of the action scenes, which there are plenty of, and while they're nothing ground breaking, they are done well and leave one feeling satisfied. There's also a great commentary track by the writers, director, producers and special effects technicians that covers so much ground there is no need for a making of doc. They also react to their critics and talk about the original forms of the script. Of course there's also 40 minutes worth of deleted scenes, all of which were rightfully ommitted from the final film. There is an intersting alternate opening that's worth a look though. Can't say the same for the alternate ending.

At least give this one a shot at a rental. You won't be disappointed. Sure, the man from outer space might turn some viewers off, but I emplore you to open your mind and just smile while the B movie ride takes you away. Don't be scared off by the lack of Happy Meals and Tom Cruise level of star power tie-ins. This is a quality B picture on the level of all the big budget B pictures you'll be plopping down 12 bucks to see this summer in theatres. Yes, I'm looking at you Transformers 2 and Terminator:Salvation.

Rarely have I seen such attention to detail in a movie of this type. Rarely do I watch a movie without working on some craft project while it's on. Usually I love to pick movies apart for whatever ridiculous scenes, lines, and implausible situations are offered. Not this one!
Within the first ten minutes I'd set down the needlework to give my full attention to watching the story. Within an hour I knew I would need to own this DVD (not a common impulse for me). Vikings - in a believable setting - and not a horned helmet in sight. Architecture, clothing, homes, everyday items, all done with much care and it makes such a difference! The Outlander's past history works in giving him his new fate. A few events in the story might have been stretching things a bit, but the creature was beautifully done, the scenery was gorgeous, and the people suited their roles. It's a work of art and I totally enjoyed it from start to finish!! This is a movie I know I would enjoy watching more than once - an all too rare occurrence these days.

I had never heard of this movie and only learned of it when it was recommended by Amazon to me for another purchase I had made. I figured, sure, why not... What a pleasant surprise. This film mixes my favorite genres; Sci-fi and Gladiator-style ancient battles. It's like the 13th warrior meets the Chronicles of Riddick. Great story, great action and great characters!!! I was so impressed with the writers that I looked up their filmography career, turns out they are working on the new Connan the Barbarian. I will be going to see that now especially after enjoying this film so much! A must own for any Sci-fi, action fan!!!

This I thought was a wonderful movie - intelligent, a love story, action, you name it! Like all really great SF, it concentrates on the people, not the tech. I rented it, then bought it to keep.

Though I wanted to see this film when it came out theatrically in the spring of 2009, I expected very little from it. It was just the concept that seemed cool - vikings and monsters and aliens, awesome! But the movie came and went - I saw posters and a trailer for it, but I'm not sure if it played where I live at all, if it did it was only here for a week. And it got generally poor reviews; I know a lot of people here aren't fans of professional reviewers, but I've followed film criticism for a long time - since well before the rise of amateur critics here on Amazon and other places - and I'm fairly critical myself, especially when it comes to contemporary action movies. I love action as much as the next guy, but to me it's been going downhill pretty steadily as the budgets have gone sky-high and CGI has taken over for pure brawny manly fighting and gunplay. So I really didn't figure this would be much of anything by the time I got around to it last night.

Well, what a pleasant surprise! No, it's no CITIZEN KANE or anything, heck it isn't even DIE HARD and I'm not sure it's a patch on the old Kirk Douglas THE VIKINGS or some of the better 50s monster movies - but it's a heckuva lot of fun, it's got no obvious huge flaws, and most importantly it doesn't insult the audience's intelligence. It's a good sign to me when, right away, the film bothers to explain (but not in overbearing detail) how it's hero Kainan (James Cavaziel) is human despite crashing in a spaceship in 700s Scandinavia, and how he can learn the native language (Old Norse). I like how he's held when captured as a likely enemy, as he should be - but the king, Rothgar (John Hurt) is wise enough to listen to him and quick to free him when he's shown his usefulness in killing a huge bear that threatened the king and several men. At this point Kainan essentially becomes a Viking - but it's clear that he's got his own purpose, because there's a monster much tougher than any bear on the loose, a "dragon" called a Morwen, that followed him from another world.

The story is basic, and reasonably predictable - we've got a rival, would-be king Wulfric (the too-handsome Jack Huston), a potential love interest and Wulfric's intended, Freya (Sophia Myles), and rival chief Gunnar (Ron Perlman) who blames Rothgar for his village's destruction. How all the alliances and relationships shake out isn't going to surprise anyone, but it all feels pretty natural - the developing feelings between Freya and Kainan don't ever come off as either forced or cute, and Wulfric's rivalry isn't there just to have a big climactic duel that's going to jeopardize the ultimate mission - destroying the Morwen. And Kainan's eventual choice is left up right until the end, and seems like it could go either way. I did think that the flashback sequences detailing the origin of the Morwen and Kainan's people were unnecessary, and getting into the morality of the destruction of the dragonlike creatures probably was unneeded also; we never get to know them as anything but highly destructive and bloodthirsty animals, so I'm not sure what purpose is served in showing Kainan feel guilty about his hand in their annihilation. These bits and a few others do help push the film to near two hours, not really that long by today's action movie standards, but a bit more than it needs to be, as otherwise it's a pretty lean and fast-moving piece of work.

The cast is all fine; Perlman of course dominates in his unfortunately-few scenes, and Cavaziel acquits himself well - a bit stoic and dull, but that's not a bad thing in this kind of film. The CGI monster looks OK, and I like that we only see it bit by bit until the second half of the film - I think director/cowriter Howard McCain learned some things about monster movies from older masters like Roger Corman. A nice-looking Viking village, and great scenery throughout (Nova Scotia stands in for Norway here). Some of the action sequences are a bit too dark and frenetic for my taste - a bit too much of the modern fast-cutting style where it's hard to know what's going on - but this isn't as overdone as it is in a lot of films, and there's a good understanding of building suspense and putting a longer action sequence together, particularly at the climax. Overall this is one of the better action/monster films to come along since the first two ALIEN films, and it's sad that it got so little exposure initially. Well, let's hope it builds an audience.

I was pleasantly surprised and pleased to view this DVD movie. It's surely proof that a great movie does not have to be at the theater. The story is superb and imaginative. A man from another world in out space crashes onto earth and finds himself among tribes of Vikings. A powerful evil creature plagues the area he now inhabits because it arrived with him unintentionally. Feeling responsible, he is compelled to exterminate the beast. He will need help but he must earn the trust of the people around him because they recognize him to not be from any place near them; if they only knew. Get yourself a big drink, snacks, a compfortable place to sit with some friends and you are all set for a great movie to watch.

Bought "Outlander" on the strength of online reviews. Couldn't be happier! I like films that do 150% without a bazillion dollar budget. "Terminator" was like that. "Outlander" is like that. Acting, plot, and sets just great. It's my summer 2009 movie.