Outlander - L'ultimo vichingo

I was very skeptical before watching this film. Even if it got John Hurt and Ron Perlman in it, I just couldn't believe the SciFi/Norse legend combination would work. My instinct told me that this was going to be another of those horrible B-movies with a stupid story, sub-average effects and mediocre acting at best. I was, however, pleasantly surprised. Not that it is a masterpiece. The background story could have been a tad bit more elaborate, the plot more original and the final outcome a little bit less predictable, but all in all one has to acknowledge the decent effort to make this movie convincing and suspenseful. The end result is a solid piece of entertainment, with ample effects, directing I'd call 'by the book', workmanlike acting and a few kicks and thrills along the way. So if you happen to like action movies and don't ask for too much depth in the story, this will provide you with a 120 minutes amusement worth the time.

I stumbled upon this move by accident, but being a sci-fi and fantasy nerd, I watched it, despite the fact that sci-fi movies nowadays tend to be rather poor.

The story begins with Kainan (James Caviezel) crash landing his spaceship into a lake, in the middle of Viking-land, in 709 AD. With his co-pilot dead, and his ship in ruins, sunken to the bottom of the lake, he uses his only working piece of technology to teach himself the norsk language. (I laughed my head off, when the first word he utters in Earth language is the "F" word :D) Wandering around in a forest, he is found by Wulfric (Jack Huston) and brought back to his village. They think Kainen is responsible for brutally ransacking a nearby village, and when Kainen tells them he is hunting for a "dragon", he is labeled as a liar and enemy. When in fact, the "dragon" he is referring to, is a monster from another planet, now hunting the viking populace and fauna of the land. Soon, when the villagers start vanishing and turning up as mutilated corpses, the vikings realize that Kainen might be telling the truth after all...

I gotta say, combining space marines and alien monsters with a fantasy Viking setting intrigued me to no end. Outlander is the living proof, that such a combination can result in a very good and entertaining 115 minutes. Although the story is a little shallow, lacking in huge plot-twists and deep character development, but it is enough to keep the attention between the awesomely gory fight scenes.

The acting is good enough, with the Christian Bale look-alike Caviezel, and the great but short performance of Ron Perlman, it manages to be captivating. We see far more swordplay than pulse rifle shoot-outs, so the sci-fi part of the film is largely suppressed to make way for the epic battle between the vikings and the moorvens, but that's just how it must be in this movie. The fight scenes are nicely choreographed and acted, the special effects are more than awesome, and the whole is movie is just great.

I'd like to point out, that the Moorven is most astonishing space monster I've ever seen. With the clever colored pulsing and the well thought-out anatomy of the beast, it manages to be best so far.

It's not the best movie I've seen, but it's still great, and every sci-fi and fantasy fan should go see it.

Outlandish. Howard McCain's Outlander may be the best B movie you never saw. This release dumped unceremoniously into theaters in the early year scrap heap is certainly a movie that is fully aware of its preposterous nature and approaches it with a straight face, a talented cast and premier production values that all work oddly well to produce an entertaining if far from perfect Sci-fi cult classic.

Originally slated for a normal wide release, a series of setbacks plagued production to an extent where it was deemed no longer feasible for such distribution. Why is this important you may ask? Well, thanks to the original and best laid plans producers threw a whopping $50 million into the film which provides us with some damn good effects for a film you would all but assume to be a low budget, straight to DVD release.

The plot is as tantalizing as they come; an alien, Kainan played by James Caviezel crash lands in ancient Nordish territory in the age of the Vikings. But along with his technology he brings a foreign parasite, a deadly creature known as the Moorwen. Caught in the middle of two warring Viking clans headed by Rogthgar (John Hurt) on one side and Gunnar (Ron Peralman) on the other, the primitive tribes must ban together to defeat their new common foe. oh yeah, it is in fact that awesome. The 'modern' story is framed by an interesting if slightly preachy back-story of past betrayal and genocide throughout the history of Kainnan's homeland.

After all this financial mumbo-jumbo is put to the side, what we are left with is a deliciously acted, well made period/sci-fi/creature feature/action film that only works at all due to all originality and the bizarreness of the plot. A few elements keep Outlander from being a cult-masterpiece however; it is too long, there are too many false climaxes and the goofy plot only just holds up. That being said the good news is that this film will make a quick trip to your local movie store bargain bin which means that you can score it for about the cost of a rental. Outlander is worth a look and even if you don't like it, you can't deny how perfectly it defines the so-bad-it's-good adage.

Read all my reviews at: http://www.simonsaysmovies.blogspot.com

I had never seen the trailer of this movie nor any much publicity whatsoever,but it came as a clear surprise for me after getting to watch it,i liked it very much.So sad that i ended up watching in a DVD. You have the Viking battles,good storyline,very good CGI and special effects,with equally complementing soundtrack. The actors have rendered their skills to the best,the screenplay was great and overall the characters are well delivered. The story is of an Outlander from a different planet who ends up in a ship crash on NORSE territory-planet earth!But the ship has brought along an alien trouble-a species called Moorven/Moorwen.Kainan(James Caviezel) is treated as an Outlander,he has to prove his worth and also tell the vikings of the alien trouble he has bought along.And henceforth the plot flows. The Movie has got breathtaking locations,viking costumes,"the shields" game,all was just entertaining.It has abundant gore too,of course its a viking movie after all! Anyways guys its a perfect perfect perfect snack for your pop corns!Rent it or buy it!

Like a previous reviewer I don't know why this had a limited release. It is MUCH more value for ticket money than a number of other recent offerings and its faults are minor compared to the good qualities.

The story is basically a sci-fi plot but since the lead character's space ship crashes in the Iron Age, among Vikings, you can understand that most of the movie takes place with Viking themes and scenery.

The basic plot is quite sound and for the first 40 minutes the movie is VERY gripping. It tends to go a little flat at the end of the middle act and the start of the third act but effects, gore and very tense action compensate for those not too engrossed in the intricacies of the story. A pity about that because it looked like the story had more to offer and was chopped up somewhat to fit in a bunch of set pieces. I realize this is now making the movie sound a little lame: it isn't Lord of the Rings, but it is definitely worth the price of the ticket. See it expecting to be entertained for about 95% of the time and you wont be disappointed.