Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Medieval Sci-Fi!, 30 May 2009
***NB: Review based on the Canadian blu-Ray which is already released***
The first thing I must say is about the Blu-Ray itself. The picture transfer is very sharp and clear even during the (many) dark scenes. Sound is also superb, although only listed as Dolby Digital it nearly blew our speakers away - as good as if not better than some DTS soundtracks. If the UK BD release manages this quality, viewers are in for a treat.
Turning to the story, essentially it is a re-telling of Beowulf vs Grendel only in this case Beowulf is the humanoid alien Kainan stranded on Earth when his spacecraft crash lands, as a result of the creature - a Moorwen, representing Grendel - that had stowed away on board. However unlike Predator, AvP etc. the action all takes place in 9th century Norway not modern day America.
The film combines elements of the Beowulf movies, 13th Warrior, Pathfinder and more contemporary monster movies. My only slight complaint is that in actual fact very little play is made of the fact that here we have a person from an advanced civilisation who, despite having retrieved some of his tech from the crashed ship, effectively goes native straight away. This is helped by a convenient "Matrix" style mind probe that implants the Norse language in about 45 seconds! Maybe his race has a none interference policy but given revelations about why they are fighting the Moorwens later in the movie, seems unlikely. While not expecting Army of Darkness, "Now listen up you primates..." style interaction more could definitely have been made of this.
After overcoming the initial suspicions of the Viking tribe Kainan is fairly readily integrated as a warrior and only just in time as first a rival tribe, then the Moorwen attack. Special effects are well done and the Moorwen reminded me at times of the Balrog from the LOTR movies. Not sure what certificate this will be in the UK but it is quite gory in places particularly towards the end of the movie. Although largely predictable there are a couple of twists, as I mentioned above about the back story of how the Moorwen came to be on the spaceship and the ending is actually quite satisfying including how the person closest to Kainan sees him - "I'm the only one who knows his secret", but quite wide of the mark!
The music score is very good and not only complements the action but would make for good listening in its own right. I hadn't heard of composer Geoff Zanelli before but a quick Google reveals him to be from the Hans Zimmer/Klaus Badelt cadre and style.
In conclusion a very enjoyable movie on an outstanding Blu-Ray - just a pity more mileage wasn't made out of the spaceman in medieval village than was actually the case, which is why 4 stars not 5.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than other recent blockbusters, 1 Sep 2009
It was a shame that Outlander got relegated to almost being(but not quite) straight to video. It had a VERY limited cinema release which most people missed.
The Film: Much better than you would expect, given the initial premise. It's well acted, well filmed, and with some superb effects that put a lot of bigger budgeted Hollywood films to shame. As far as action movies goes, this is much better than most of the other hits of the last couple of years (Transformers/Star Trek/Dark Knight/etc.) which were all light fun but nothing more. I won't go into any more detail, as it's all a matter of personal taste, suffice to say that this reminded me of the good old days of 80s action adventure movies, but with modern quality effects. The best of both worlds, really.
The Blu Ray: Having now seen the UK release, I can confirm that this is in the proper aspect ratio of 2.35 as it is meant to be, unlike the butchered Canadian version. This version also includes all the same extras (Which are sufficiently extensive) but adds the making of feature that was lacking from the Canadian release.
Verdict: So what are you waiting for? If you enjoy science fiction action and adventure, and you think the initial premise sounds interesting, then give this a go. I doubt you'll be disappointed.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Special Effects But Poor Movie., 17 Aug 2009
I'm probably the only one that didn't find this film all that good. Basically it's a rip off on many Sci-Fi movies of late, has the same old story and has a very rushed ending. But it does have some amazing special effects and is brilliant to watch on Blu-Ray with excellent sound and picture. It's a shame that this was poor, the acting was weak from the likes of Jim Caviezel, Jack Huston, Sophia Myles and Ron Perlman who was hardly in it. Only recommened if you like this sort of thing but be aware of familer sights and music taken from other movies that have been done so far.
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