October 2009 Archives

A healthy air of skepticism is always needed when you decide to watch a film that has been hyped by DVD sellers but never got a cinema release. The same was true when asked to review Outlander. But against the usual DVD over-hype, it turned out to be a nice little gem of a film.

Admittedly the plot sounds a little silly when you first read it off the back of the DVD case but it is something that the movie executes well.

Canin falls from the sky over ancient Norway after his spaceship has been attacked. The other crewmember dies from his injuries and the vessel sinks leaving Canin to fend for himself on an alien world.

It is not long before Canin runs into the locals and is subsequently blamed for the massacre of the people of a nearby fishing village. And despite his best attempts to convince the locals that it was not him but a creature that followed him to Earth after it attacked his ship no-one seems to believe him (I wonder why).

After several failed attempts to escape and more attacks on the ever-decreasing populace the Norwegians finally decide that they are willing to listen.

Outlander has a nice feel to it with some very good acting, especially from veteran actor John Hurt. There are a few other familiar actors including Sophia Myles.

But the movies strong storyline is at times let down by the actors accents. Canin early on gets taught Norweigan by a computer that prints the information into his brain and as you would expect, viewers subsequently hear what everyone's saying as a translation into English. But while that is understandable, the varying American, Scottish and English accents amongst the characters is a little odd (they are supposed to be Norweigan after all).

Outlander is overall a solid movie despite this though and something families will also enjoy despite a few dark, scary moments early on.