Beaks here...

Moriarty already sold me on Howard McCain's OUTLANDER (the one about an alien teaming up with a bunch of Vikings to hunt down and kill some dragon-like monster called a Moorwen), but I'm still interested in reading other takes on the low-budget fantasy flick - if only because I'm kinda shocked the movie exists in the first place!

To that end, here's a write-up from a German reader who caught the film at the Fantasy Filmfest in Berlin...

DoubleEM here (Romoehlio in TB`s)- thought you might be interested in an opinion regarding "Outlander".

Was at a screening in my lovely hometown of Berlin just some hours ago as it played during Fantasy Filmfestival, which has taken place over the last couple of days all over Germany.

Due to the fact that there WILL BE HUGE SPOILERS later on I will give a verdict right from the start and right now:

The movie is OK. It`s not terrible, it`s not bad, it`s not the second coming either- it`s OK. It makes an entertaining DVD-night for the people who might want to check it out (and with a premise as “blissfully retarded” - Yes,I dare to say it- as this you know if you want to or not) but it`s not really awesome either.

The premise is easy: Jim Caviezel crash lands as said “Outlander” on our lovely planet during the Viking Wars (is there something like that? It`s 709 a.d.) and brings an evil with him, which might turn out to be one mean MO`FO. He bands with some Vikings and the hunt is on. No T&A, but heads are rolling, slow`mo`s are shown and some tight moments follow.

The fights are mostly watchable, the FX are 95% terrific, the acting is solid (Ron Perlman makes one nice attendance here! Jim, although I am kind of a fan, is more on the meh-side), the score is really good and all in all everything you see on screen is good and solid work. The Monster (more on that in the SPOILER-part) is, although obviously influenced by “The Relic”, pretty cool and every time until the ending makes for one good time at the movies.

But there also are problems which I will address now and which will tip into SPOILER-territory. So here goes:

SPOILERS FOLLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ask yourself the following question: If someone comes up to you and asks if you might be interested in a movie regarding an alien-dude who fights a monster with a bunch of viking-bad-asses, would you like to see it? There are imo 2 answers:

a) No- that sounds just plain (and I use the word again) retarded!

b) Yeah, that sounds retarded but still it sounds so bad it might be pretty awesome

As one can guess, I voted b)
Still, if you make this kind of movie- why don`t you just tear everything the F down? (budget I guess- can`t have a Michael Bay everywhere, can`t you) And break some rules??

Jim crashes, gets caught by the Vikings, they don`t believe him at first and EVERYTHING follows the same rules that every movie does that has been there before – WHY??

Examples?

The Viking-tribe is ruled by an older king who is in search of a successor – guess what – no manly heir, just a still-able-to-be-king-cause-she-is-so-awesome-girl-Girl. And she is kinda HOT also.
Oh yeah, you also do have the “prince” who isn`t really ready to be king-but-desperately-wants-to-be-king kind of guy who also wants to smooch the girl and is a dick at first but in his heart is the king he never can be!
Then you have the “hero” who comes out of nowhere- charms the girl by just being there, pisses of the other guy and still stays in the end cause he has lost his family and now has the chance to f.. the princess.

And what follows now borders on the edge of a rant: WTF do you have to have kid in a movie like this? WTF? If you come up with a premise like this- and make it in the spirit of a R-movie- why a kid? Cause it lends background and emotional depth to the hero?

I think I am not the only one when I say this: Putting a kid and/or a love-arc into a movie where a monster and some dudes square of is ONE BAD IDEA – because IT IS LAME!!

When we watch this kind of movie we want to see shit explode and get pure havoc! A kid simply annoys the fuck out of everyone I guess- it does to me. Tell me one kid that ruled in an action-movie besides the boomerang-kid in Mad Max. I still want to punch the girl from “Long Kiss Goodnight”. I know that there is a rule regarding killing children and dogs in Hollywood but when you go up to a studio and say “Listen, I have this script about a dude from Outaspace crashing on earth and he brings shit with him which he then has to face with a bunch of Vikings”- do the studios say “Well friend, you have to put a love-story and a kid in there as well”??? NO!

And I normally have trust in people who come up with something like “Outlander”. There are things in this movie which are pretty great.
The background between Jim and the Morvin is cool. The Monster is cool. The flashbacks they show are cool. But in comparison to what the movie is about all that is kind of cooler then the movie itself.
dearly wish for an all-out-war-man vs. alien-movie. Guess I have to wait for “GoW” or the once oh so promising looking “Halo”-movie (even Terminator-Salvation looks like it will hold on out on the full scale- for now?? Hope so).
Also – the spawn-thing does not get explained actually and the scene itself is kind of unclear- still, I guess that`s the bodypile is for?
Oh, and one more thing: putting a guy in a movie and calling him “Boromir” (at least that is what I heard) post LotR and name the kid “Eric”- come one... again WTF?

SPOILERS END!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, where was I? Ok, then again, all of that may sound harsh, still, the movie is kind of fun. Simply not the fun I wish it would have been. In my opinion movies like this, with a premise like this, have the chance to break some rules and to play with genre in a way which then turns a from-the-premise-really-retarted-movie into one really-still-retarted-but-awesome-movie. Here they throw in everything from “Alien” to “Beowulf” to “Species” – some shots are nearly copied!- without putting a new twist to it; sadly.

I kind of missed that. I had good hopes when they sorted out the language-barrier in a pretty cool way and the first “Norse”-word Jim said was “Fuck”. Then- it was kind of by the numbers. A chance missed in my opinion, still, a kind of OK movie.