2 Guys 1 cup errr 1 Movie

*Repost from 02/23/2009

Outlander Movie Review

Directed by Howard McCain

Starring Jim Caviezel, Jack Huston, Sophia Myles,

Availability: On dvd 05/19/2009

This is the first of I hope many posts about two different dissenting opinions about the same movie. First up is my positive review of the movie then last will be Jamie from Cowards Corner segments with his pissing all over the movie. Enjoy!

Mits777 aka Jason's Take

Like most genre film lovers I have a love/hate relationship with the Weinsteins. I love the fact that they like genre films and sometimes help obscure and foreign films get wide distribution but I also hate how they fail to theatrically distribute some of their bigger titles or they recut them to how they like. Unfortunately Outlander is one of those movies who got shit on when it came to distribution. With the right marketing I believe that Outlander could have made some decent jack or at least made their 50+ million budget back. Instead they released it in limited theaters and who knows when it finally will make its way to dvd.

Jim Caviezel plays a soldier from outer space that crashes to earth in Norway in 709 a.d. Along with him is a space monster thats out to destroy all in its path. In a cool scene he uploads data to his brain that makes him learn the Norwegian language so he can communicate with the Vikings. Pretty soon the monster creature starts killing the villagers and the Viking have to work with Jim to trap and destroy the monster.

I'll go ahead and get the negative out of the way. I thought the romance between Jim and the main woman wasnt really that developed and a little unnecessary. I know cgi can be expensive but I was hoping for a few more minutes of screen time for the monster. The story and dialogue wasnt anything groundbreaking but I thought it was adequate for this kind of movie.

What I did like about the movie definitely outweighs the negative. I thought the creature design with the fluorescent lights was unique and awesome. The first attack on the village had a few cool gory kills and overall the creature movement and cgi was first rate. Ron Perlman's brief appearance was awesome. He had the best kill of the movie with his double hammer skull smash. Right when it seems like the movie is over there's another 25-30 minutes of action.

Overall I thought it was edited well had a good fast pace, unique story and enough action to satisfy most action aficionados. Good monster movies are far and few between so I relish the good ones when they pop up every few years. On a scale of 1-10 I give this a shield walking 7.7 out of 10.

Jamie's (Cowards Corner) Take

Well it was a good idea and had potential but was turned into cheese dip. Our hero Jim "Jesus" Caviezel, is from the future and he looks like a Starcraft Teran Marine. His People find a planet they want and destroy the creatures that live there. Then they set up a colony with Jesus's family living there. While he is gone, one monster was still alive and kills the whole colony. Jesus is transporting his family and other bodies when the creature attacks them and they crash on earth in 709 ad in Norway, home of vikings. The creature then goes on a rampage killing vikings as our hero "Jesus" has to lead the small viking army to defeat it. The first half is pretty boring not much going on and the creature effects are not that great. The late Stan Winston was much needed here. They were trying to develop the characters but failed, for I did not care for them. Ron Perlman shows up and helps the scenes he is in but is killed pretty quick. He are some spoiler bad points about the movie. When Jesus lands he has a bad ass space gun that gets dropped in the river like 5 min later. Jesus stares way to much and tries to be compassionate. To kill the monster Jesus decides they need better metal so they go to his sunken space ship and bring up some of the ship then forge that into swords, I guess he welded underwater then they made the swords in 5 minutes. Also when he dives down to get the ship the 2 people waiting for him are attacked but not killed. One is monster napped while the other was just knocked out even though the monster had previously gutted everyone else he ran into. You a can tell half way into it Jesus will be the king of the vikings by the end of the movie. I cannot see a reason to recommend this movie., unless your low on Velveeta cheese. Nothing works and I left not entertained. Rotten tomatoes has it 24% for a reason.