Outlander is a creative commingling of action and sci-fi, one which boasts an imaginative concept and stars Jim Caviezel, Sophia Myles, Jack Huston, John Hurt, and Ron Perlman.
An alien space warrior named Kainan (Caviezel) crash lands on Earth in 709 A.D. He brings an alien creature named a Moorwen with him that has set out for revenge on all humanoids. Kainan must join forces with the Norse warriors in order to kill the Moorwen.
Outlander is an original film that premiered in obscurity in 2008. The movie creatively infuses a sci-fi premise within the confines of a historic, adventurous epic, and has a multitude of aspects filtered into it which greatly increase its entertainment value. Outlander explores themes of honor, loyalty, and the value of family, to name but a few of the elements embedded within it.
Jim Caviezel is outstanding in his performance of Kainan. He exquisitely showcases the grit and determination that the character embodies, and easily displays the gambit of emotions that govern Kainan’s visit to earth. In short, his performance is both believable and enjoyable. All of the supporting characters are well portrayed. Sophia Myles uses a lot of subtlety to display her emotion as the feminine warrior, Freya. Ron Perlman makes the most out of his limited screen time, portraying Gunnar terrifically, adding to his ever increasing list of great cameos.
Outlander does a fantastic job at filtering in multiple characters from Norse history, such as Freya (Sophia Myles) and a young Eric the Red (Bailey Maughan). The infusion of these two characters into the story adds to the plausibility of the film whilst simultaneously enhancing the enjoyment of the picture.
The cinematography and special effects are excellent, really first rate, especially considering the modest budget that film was made with. The Moorwen looked fantastic, with the use of CGI just right, adding to the effectiveness of the creature and helping it to look extremely real.
It's such a shame that so few people seem to have seen Outlander, as it really is a movie that will exceed all expectations. It's part action, part sci-fi and part thriller, with all three genres combined well and bringing a high level of enjoyment to this under publicized, entertaining story. It should also entertain nearly any movie lover, even those who are dead set against sci-fi films, because it filters in enough action and suspense to offset the sci-fi aspects.
Outlander makes for a good watch and you should give it a chance, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Da’Mon Guy is a writer and artist. He’s a graduate of Coppin State University and an avid, life-long lover of film. Da'Mon has been actively writing movie reviews since 2011, for a number of publications. Check out more of his work at Examiner.com, where he has published over 400 reviews. Visit his Blog and follow him on Twitter.
