During the reign of the Vikings, Kainan, a man from a far-off world, crash lands on Earth, bringing with him an alien predator known as the Moorwen. Though both man and monster are seeking r... Read allDuring the reign of the Vikings, Kainan, a man from a far-off world, crash lands on Earth, bringing with him an alien predator known as the Moorwen. Though both man and monster are seeking revenge for violence committed against them, Kainan leads the alliance to kill the Moorwen ... Read allDuring the reign of the Vikings, Kainan, a man from a far-off world, crash lands on Earth, bringing with him an alien predator known as the Moorwen. Though both man and monster are seeking revenge for violence committed against them, Kainan leads the alliance to kill the Moorwen by fusing his advanced technology with the Viking's Iron Age weaponry.
- Awards
- 3 nominations total
- Donal
- (as John E. Nelles)
- Bjorn
- (as James Rogers)
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Featured reviews
This is a mixed bag mingling Vikings, extraterrestrial person and monsters in Alien Predator style . There is also a brief exploration of Viking life with rites, traditional habits and Gods .Taking parts here and there of other films as 13th warrior, Predator, and Beowulf . Some overwhelming wide screen images linger in the mind. At its best, this achieves the grandeur and beauty of a breathtaking Viking epic, at its worst, however, it feels an extravaganza blending various genres. Well starred by James Caviezel as a hero who's not from North but from outer space and relunctantly throws in his lot with these hairy-arsed, hard-drinking Nordic types to tackle a monstrous evil. He is finely accompanied by a nice cast as Sophia Milos, Jack Huston, John Hurt, Cliff Saunders and special mention for Ron Perlman as a two-fisted and tough warrior chief who seeks vengeance for death his wife and son.
It packs a moving and thrilling musical score by Geoff Zanelli. As well as evocative, though dark cinematography by Pierre Gill. The motion picture was well written and directed by Howard McCain. He is a good writer and director who has written and shot a few films. As he has written : Underworld rise of Lycans and filmed : Unspeakable, No dessert dad till you mow the lawn and this Outlander. Rating : 6.5/10. Well worth watching. The flick will appeal to Science-fiction and fantasy enthusiasts.
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.
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.
Spaceship carrying terrifying bloodthirsty monster and a mysterious hero (well, not that mysterious) crash lands on Earth during Viking times. I repeat - Vikings! Swords, battles, mead- drinking and all-around Norse badarsery are featured prominently. The acting is good for the most part, the writing isn't stupid and formulaic, and the director keeps a brisk pace throughout the film. And the space monster is simply terrific, imbued with the perfect amount of personality.
If I was 10 years old when I watched it, I would have been running around on the ceiling for months. Being the mature and responsible grown man I am now, I didn't exactly do that - instead, I recommended it to all my friends and watched it 3 times.
Did you know
- TriviaThe language spoken by Kainan ( Jim Caviezel ) and his computer in the beginning of the movie, is actually Icelandic as it was pronounced in the twelfth century. The dialogue between him and the computer is as follows: Kainan asks: "Staður" (=location). Computer responds: "Stadhur: Noreg, taeknistig: Jarnold" which means "Location: Norway, Technology: Iron age". Kainan asks: "Leita skips" (Vessel search). Computer responds: "Leita....engin skip fundust" which means "Searching - no ships found". Kainan says: "Senda merki" (which actually means "send signal" but is translated as "language"). Computer responds: "saeki talmal: norrænu" which means "Loading dialect: Norse". When Kainan has buried his friend he says: "Far vel, herra" which is subtitled as "Sleep well, sir" but more correct would be "Farewell, sir".
- GoofsThe Christian missionary is a few centuries too early.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Starfilm (2017)
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- La Tierra Media
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Box office
- Budget
- $50,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $166,003
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $59,581
- Jan 25, 2009
- Gross worldwide
- $7,034,698
- Runtime1 hour 55 minutes
- Color
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- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1