Outlander (2008) starring Jim Caviezel, Sophia Myles, Jack Huston, John Hurt, Cliff Saunders directed by Howard McCain Movie Review

Outlander (2008)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Jim Caviezel in Outlander (2008)

Not Outlandish Enough

Out of control and plummeting through space at a rate of knots, alien Kainan (Jim Caviezel) finds himself crashing down to Earth around the year 709 A.D. where his arrival does not go unnoticed amongst the Vikings. Despite having advanced technology Kainan finds himself taken prisoner by the Viking tribe of King Rothgar (John Hurt) and his daughter Freya (Sophie Myles). It is them who agree to help him in a quest to capture a dragon like beast known as a Moorwen with a rival tribe lead by Gunnar (Ron Perlman). But it soon becomes apparent that Viking weaponry is no match for this ferocious beast.

They say money can't by you love but it certainly can buy you a better calibre of actors and a better special effects team so that something which would normally get panned gets praised. I am on about "Outlander" because this storyline of an alien coming down to Earth and teaming up with a bunch of Vikings is the stuff of late night TV which is also made for TV. Yet because this movie has some actual big screen actors such as John Hurt and Jack Huston as well as better looking sets, costumes and special effects it seems for many to be a better movie.

Jack Huston and John Hurt in Outlander (2008)

In truth "Outlander" is some b-movie nonsense, some outlandish action, sci-fi mumbo jumbo which for the most is quite tedious. The build up which for some reason tries to play it serious with a slow pace as we enter the Viking camp and set up what is a boring romance between Kainan and Freya is all incredibly dull. It either needed to be more comical and tongue in cheek or a lot quicker paced because trying to deliver the same styling as say "Lord of the Rings" is utterly pointless for his sort of movie.

It does get a bit better when it comes to the action side of things but by the time you have sat through the set up you have given up hope that this will ever be the enjoyable tongue in cheek action movie it should be. Not only that it is all stop start and when ever it stops it becomes incredibly tedious with people trying to act like Vikings and only ends up stiff in doing so.

What this all boils down to is that "Outlander" did nothing for me and to put it simply it would have been more entertaining as a made for TV late night movie without the sense of grandiose which this has and which is a major factor as to why it is mostly quite tedious.


LATEST REVIEWS