Title: Outlander (2009)Starring: James Caviezel, Sophia Myles, John Hurt
Directed By: Howard McCain
Basically, this is what you get when you mix The 13th Warrior with Pitch Black. And I mean that in a good way.
Outlander is the story of Kainan, a man from another planet, crash landing onto Earth. But he isn't alone, he's brought a vicious alien monster here with him. Oh, and he also landed in 709 A.D. That's right! It's "Spaceman and Vikings VS Alien Monsters"!!! And it's AWESOME!
In what could have been a ridiculous low-budget straight-to-DVD disaster, I found instead a masterful piece of sci-fi fantasy. The direction is crisp and balanced. The creatures, called the Moorwen, are well-designed and rendered beautifully. The characters, while a little bit stereotypical to the genre, are all full-fledged and written well. The cast are all great, especially James Caviezel, John Hurt and Ron Perlman.
The few negatives I found were trivial little things. There were several cliches in the story. I thought the Vikings called Kainan "Outlander" too many times. There's a point where the characters merge Iron Age metalwork with Kainan's futuristic technology that I thought was a little underplayed. I would've liked to have seen more done with that. It comes off as a bit of lazy writing as it is.
But all things considered, I really enjoyed this movie. If you're looking for a surprisingly well-executed low-budget sci-fi film that has something fresh and new to offer, I highly recommend Outlander!
Score: 8/10
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