Review of Outland (1981) by Keith R — 28 Jun 2008

This film is often written off as a gimmick piece with little to offer beyond Sean Connery running around with a shotgun and (bad) effects shots of people exploding in vacuum. That's not entirely fair. Sure, the plot is High Noon in Space, but how you get there counts too.

In this case, how you get there is: a little slowly, but with a fair amount of style. Hyams does a good job of establishing a credible setting, though that's relatively easy in this case: it's a company town. Characters too are drawn from familiar archetypes: the embattled honest cop; the crochety doctor; the glad-handing but ruthless company man; and more.

Production values are generally high, for the period. The sets and model work create a consistent look and feel. Lighting is moody and interesting. The separation between talking scenes and action scenes is perhaps a little too formally rigid, and the action is very slowly-paced by current standards. But the dialog is generally pretty punchy, and there's enough suspense to carry the slower moments.

All in all, this is a film that deserved better reception than it received when it was first released, and it has aged pretty well.