Review: ‘Outlander’

Jeremy:

The new sci-fi film ‘Outlander’ starts out promising enough. Â  Sure, we’ve seen the shot a million times with a spaceship flaring up orange as it enters/crashes through Earth’s atmosphere. Â  However, we quickly cut to the fjords of 790 AD Norway where the ship eventually crash lands. Â  Emerging from the sinking wreckage is none other than a short-haired, clean-shaven Jesus of Nazareth, Jim Caviezel, who spends the next 100 minutes chasing down and fighting off a rather large and rather fiendish creature known as the Moorwen. Â  He also gets some help from the local warriors.

Yes, folks, it’s aliens vs. Vikings in this battle of brawn, and, were it to live up to the $47 million budget that is behind it, it might have been a rip-roaring good time. Â  Unfortunately, much of the film builds on tedium and the building up of characters who you know are just going to end up monster chum. Â  Seriously. Â  Most of the cast should have been wearing red Star Trek uniforms, it’s so obvious who’s going to kick it and pretty much when.

There are, however, a few secondary characters who live up to the amount of time they are given. Â  John Hurt as Rothgar, the king of the little community the good alien, Kainan (Caviezel) is helping to protect. Â  The little-known Jack Huston plays Wulfric, a spoiled brat who will one day be king. Â  Ron Perlman shows up just long enough for you to make him out behind the bald head and Braveheart-style makeup.

All of these actors, Caviezel included, do a masterful job, but it’s not because they pull off the characters so well. Â  They do a masterful job, because each of them seems to have no problem with the cheese-filled dialogue they are forced to spew back and forth. Â  Whether it’s Rothgar talking about the protection of his people, or Kainan waxing poetic about the wife and child he lost to the Moorwen, you have to give extra credit to each of these actors for almost making their respective characters believable.

The film is loaded with violent deaths and explosive set pieces, just about what you should expect from an aliens vs. Vikings film. Â  Unfortunately, neither the environments director Howard McCain sets up nor the creature itself ever seem believable in the least bit. Â  

We don’t see the Moorwen until about 30 minutes in. Â  When we finally do, it’s almost as if the whole screen has become pixelated as lame special effects kick into overdrive. Â  Good luck keeping yourself from reaching for the Nintendo reset button. Â  It really is some of the worst CG I’ve seen since ‘Lost in Space’, and that is saying something.

Strangely, though, it seems the special effects (and the story, for that matter) get progressively better as the film goes on. Â  By the time Kainan narrates us back to the homeworld where he and his people seemingly wiped out the Moorwen, the CG is almost passable. Â  We even get a twinge of originality in the script, as the dichotomy between man and monster really comes into its own. Â  Seriously, I would have to say ‘Outlander’ succeeds in satisfying Richard Matheson’s question of “Who is the man and who is the monster?” better than three different versions of ‘I Am Legend’ ever did.

This combined with the improved special effects gives the last half of ‘Outlander’ a real popcorn-esque feel. Â  It’s still loaded with corny dialogue and lame characters developments. Â  Whoever thought Kainan needed a love interest should have their head examined. Â  Having him befriend a small boy was an even worse error in judgment. Â  

However, there is much fun to be had in the film’s last couple of battle scenes. Â  It even edges in some nicely timed blood and moments that make you go “Ohhhhhh” for fans of that, as well.

‘Outlander’ is a B-movie.   That is without question.   It does seem to have this feeling that it is more.   We really don’t need another “true story that inspired Beowulf  movie.   However, for fans of monster movies, the film is entirely satisfactory.   You have to wade through the muck of the first half to get to the good stuff, but I can’t say it is entirely unworthy of the effort.

[Overall: 3 stars out of 5]