Home Cool News Coaxial Reviews Zone Chat Contact Us Sign in

Vikings vs. Aliens! Capone finds OUTLANDER just outlandish enough to be goofy fun!!!

Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.

Where the hell did this movie come from? That was pretty much my reaction when the invite to a screening of OUTLANDER dropped in my Inbox recently. Apparently, it came from the 2008 Cannes Film Festival last May and has been slowly creeping its way across the world toward the U.S. sine then. The film features real actors, clearly had some sort of budget, and has a story just wacky enough to pique my interest. Space man? Vikings? Killer alien creatures? Sign my ass up! Let's not get crazy, though. This movie is not a unbridled success, but it is a decent attempt to take an idea that sounds utterly ridiculous on paper and turn it into something somewhat thrilling. Outlander doesn't spare us all sorts of gruesome violence, superior hammy performances (with Ron Perlman and John Hurt in the cast, you'll get nothing less), and an almost unlimited supply of debauchery as only Hollywood Vikings can supply.

Director and co-writer Howard McCain (probably best known now as the scriptwriter of the current draft of Brett Ratner's CONAN film) tells the story of Kainan (James Caviezel), an outer space man whose ship crash lands in a small lake in Norway. He is the sole survivor of the crash, which was caused by an alien beast known as a Moorwen sneaking on board and killing the rest of the crew. Using convenient technology that allow him to speak Viking (which sounds surprisingly like American-accented English), Kainan is captured by a tribe of Vikings living in the area. They think that he has massacred a nearby village, when it fact it was the Moorwen. We learn that the Moorwen also murdered Kainan's family back on his home planet (there's a part of me that wishes they'd just made Kainan a time-traveling human from the distant future after an alien attack of some sort). Eventually both the off-worlder (or "Outlander," as the Vikings call him) and the Vikings get their shit together and agree to slay the Moorwen together.

Although Kainan drums up some pretty great traps to capture and kill the giant, near-invisible-at-dark Moorwen, it takes a fusing together of parts of his ship with Viking-style weapons to make swords and spears that will actually match the deadly creature. Plus, there's Hurt as Rothgar, the rather impish king of this particular Viking sect; the lovely Sophia Myles as Freya, his tough-as-nails daughter who wants to fight as much as she'd like to find a husband worthy of her; Jack Huston as Wulfric, the heir apparent to the crown and Freya's bed; and Perlman as Gunnar, the leader of another tribe of Viking warriors. The names alone scored points with me. But the funny thing is, the pacing of the film is solid, the attacks are nasty and loaded with suspense, and the conceit of melding alien monsters with Norseman is just goofy enough to work. There's a lot of Viking screaming (think 300, but with pelts rather than loincloths) and chest puffing, and that gets old after a while, but I'll admit I kind of got sucked into this nutty adventure tale. Caviezel does a workman's job of playing his character straight and conveying a sense of desperation and knowing that sold me on a lot going on in this film that I otherwise might not have been able to forgive. As I said, there's nothing great about this OUTLANDER, but if you're in the mood for big, dopey fun that actually has a concept I'm fairly certain you've never seen before, you might like to try this one on for size. It certainly surprised the hell out of me how much of it worked.

-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com



AddThis Social Bookmark Button
Click for previous story Talk Back More on this story Click for next story

User login

Reader Talkback

wa-hoo!
by just pillow talk
Jan 23rd, 2009
06:53:06 AM
Sounds interesting...
by berksbear
Jan 23rd, 2009
06:53:31 AM
I'm so looking forward to this
by just pillow talk
Jan 23rd, 2009
06:53:42 AM
This movie doesn't look good
by YackBacker
Jan 23rd, 2009
06:54:01 AM
la-la-la-la-la
by just pillow talk
Jan 23rd, 2009
06:57:45 AM
This looks like it meets the qualifications of
by Grammaton Cleric Binks
Jan 23rd, 2009
07:16:30 AM
American-accented English
by dr sauch
Jan 23rd, 2009
07:17:35 AM
dr sauch
by just pillow talk
Jan 23rd, 2009
07:23:20 AM
Ron Perlman can fight everything
by IAmMrMonkey!
Jan 23rd, 2009
07:28:01 AM
Pearlm Perlman?
by IAmMrMonkey!
Jan 23rd, 2009
07:28:49 AM
you must really have a monkey crush on Perlman
by just pillow talk
Jan 23rd, 2009
07:35:07 AM
Here's a trailer and concept art . . .
by Nice Marmot
Jan 23rd, 2009
07:36:08 AM
Let's DO this thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by Diagnostic
Jan 23rd, 2009
07:40:12 AM
This year's Pitch Black!
by BiggusDickus
Jan 23rd, 2009
07:43:12 AM
BEOWOLF vs PREDATOR
by palimpsest
Jan 23rd, 2009
08:15:41 AM
Vikings v. alien monsters is not a new concept.
by Leafar the Lost
Jan 23rd, 2009
08:18:32 AM
SOLD!!!
by art123guy
Jan 23rd, 2009
08:22:51 AM
shit like disaster movie gets wide releases...
by Gungan Slayer
Jan 23rd, 2009
08:28:57 AM
But does it have boobies? Because a movie like this....
by FlickaPoo
Jan 23rd, 2009
08:35:13 AM
No New York Showings = BULLSHIT!
by cowboyone
Jan 23rd, 2009
08:37:26 AM
Lets face it,
by Gearfree
Jan 23rd, 2009
08:38:09 AM
OUTLANDER!!!!!!
by Lost Jarv
Jan 23rd, 2009
08:56:35 AM
CAVIEZEL
by Reckoner
Jan 23rd, 2009
09:08:43 AM
It's Predator done 1000 years ago.
by V'Shael
Jan 23rd, 2009
09:20:13 AM
Capone-- would you have liked it more if Paris Hilton....
by DANNYGLOVERS_DICKBLOOD
Jan 23rd, 2009
09:30:34 AM
Where the hell did this movie come from?!!
by DANNYGLOVERS_DICKBLOOD
Jan 23rd, 2009
09:32:25 AM
where is moriarty's site btw?
by turketron
Jan 23rd, 2009
09:46:15 AM
www.hitfix.com
by DANNYGLOVERS_DICKBLOOD
Jan 23rd, 2009
09:52:17 AM
It's not a sequel or a remake.
by rbatty024
Jan 23rd, 2009
09:55:42 AM
For Outlander!!
by Jonah Echo
Jan 23rd, 2009
10:07:35 AM
So essentially this is
by tombseye
Jan 23rd, 2009
10:12:09 AM
I want to see this...
by Franklin T Marmoset
Jan 23rd, 2009
10:13:58 AM
it's your fault for living in the provinces
by Lost Jarv
Jan 23rd, 2009
10:18:15 AM
i'd love to see it if i could find it.
by Norm3
Jan 23rd, 2009
10:20:14 AM
Sounds like that McConaughey dragon movie.
by Christopher3
Jan 23rd, 2009
10:21:50 AM
Christopher3
by just pillow talk
Jan 23rd, 2009
10:39:55 AM
How wide is its release?
by The Game Master
Jan 23rd, 2009
10:41:52 AM
Conan...
by BrooseTheScharuk
Jan 23rd, 2009
10:57:58 AM
This one seems kind of like "Doomsday"
by Subtlety
Jan 23rd, 2009
11:07:46 AM
How is this not playing in New York?
by TheContinentalOp
Jan 23rd, 2009
11:11:39 AM
Oh and vampires! Ron Perlman fights vampires too!
by IAmMrMonkey!
Jan 23rd, 2009
11:28:07 AM
thanks Capone
by ItsaMadMadMadMaxWorld
Jan 23rd, 2009
11:28:25 AM
Has Ron Perlman ever fought secret agents?
by IAmMrMonkey!
Jan 23rd, 2009
11:29:27 AM
No, but he goes up against the Pope
by ItsaMadMadMadMaxWorld
Jan 23rd, 2009
11:52:04 AM
Where are the great B-movie films?
by rbatty024
Jan 23rd, 2009
11:54:38 AM
looks great. can't wait.
by crazybubba
Jan 23rd, 2009
12:39:32 PM
Sounds good.
by mrfan
Jan 23rd, 2009
12:48:57 PM
One thing Perlman should never have fought...
by Subtlety
Jan 23rd, 2009
03:46:00 PM
Enough about english or american accents in
by SID 8.0
Jan 23rd, 2009
05:45:31 PM
Language
by JoeSweden
Jan 23rd, 2009
06:07:02 PM
Showtimes
by des.nibelung
Jan 23rd, 2009
06:29:08 PM
Moorwen was animated by a buddy of mine...
by Monkey_King
Jan 23rd, 2009
06:39:50 PM
WHY NO FUCKING WIDE RELEASE!!!!
by Series7
Jan 23rd, 2009
07:27:56 PM
This movie is great
by ItsaMadMadMadMaxWorld
Jan 23rd, 2009
08:57:37 PM
Great B-movie
by Raschied
Jan 24th, 2009
12:45:25 PM
Reign of Fire sucked compared to this
by Raschied
Jan 24th, 2009
12:50:37 PM
" BRETT RATNER'S CONAN FILM..."
by alice 13
Jan 24th, 2009
05:52:51 PM
Here in Chicago
by thesinofthesky
Jan 25th, 2009
10:18:34 AM
13th Warrior meets Pathfinder meets Alien
by lynxpro
Jan 25th, 2009
06:31:24 PM
Pearlman vs. Clancy Brown vs. Bruce Campbell
by lynxpro
Jan 25th, 2009
06:37:22 PM
Capone is WAYYYY underselling this
by Series7
Feb 16th, 2009
01:16:13 AM

Quick Talkback

Please login to post talkback.