Review of Outlander (2008) by Matthew A — 14 Sep 2009

Another great epic.

This film mixes sci-fi and epic genre. The film is about a man from some distant planet by name of Kainan, whose ship crashlanded on Earth during the time of Vikings. At first he is treated as an enemy, but then gradually he starts to prove himself. The main problem that he faces is that the monster that caused his ship to crash is now roaming free and killing people. Now it is up to him to win trust of the townspeople and to find a way to bring the demon monster Moorwen down.

The action was pretty great. It's definitely a highlight of the film. The special effects of Moorwen were really good. The whole glow looked amazing and the way the beast maneuvred was made to look very deadly. There's also plenty of blood and various violent ways of dying. So yes, the movie is not so much for the squimish.

The acting wasn't too bad. I won't say anyone stood out in particular, but no-one really did badly either. Other than that, the movie is a bit long. I reckon it should've been a tad bit shorter. There's so much of the same action you can take before getting bored. But overall it's not a big issue.

I'd say any fan of fantasy epics such as Lord of the Rings series, In the Name of the King, Conan the Barbarian, The 13th Warrior, etc should give this film a try.