Review of Outlander (2008) by Tim B — 15 Jan 2012

Yet another example of how genre films of the better kind go straight to DVD and the teeny bopper fluff gets the theatres. It's been a good while since I've seen something not based on a Japanese movie/cult classic/script by a Kevin Williamson wannabe.

Think "Army of Darkness" (with a very serious tone) meets "Reign of Fire." This one took its time; setting up its story and characters while throwing in wicked action sequences in between and never getting boring.

The creature shenanigans made sure I was on the edge of my seat in anticipation. McCain had the perfect blend of down time and camera-nuts (for the action scenes) that had me drawn in from the start. The casting here was also on the ball with James Caviezel, once again, owning the movie and Sophia Myles playing the perfect "better half" for him.

John Hurt made what could've been a throwaway part and made it his own. There are times when the CG gets really fake though (is CG in a movie EVER perfect... really?) and it won't take much for you to second guess what's going to happen next if you've seen.

.. anything. These tidbits didn't effect me much though as I was too busy getting warped into the story. Add to this some awesome war scenes with Vikings, a score that brought the scenes to their full potential, beautiful cinematography (shot in the Maritimes, no less) and the feel of "we're making a movie, not a Whopper" attitude and you get one of the better genre films I've seen this year.

You bet I'll be hunting this one down.