Outland

Starring: Sean Connery, Peter Boyle, Frances Sternhagen, Bill Bailey, John Ratzenberger
Directed by: Peter Hyams
Rating: R
Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Thriller
1981

Times Seen:
Tim: 1


Summary: On the Jupiter moon Io, a police marshal (Sean Connery) stumbles upon a drug smuggling ring. When he decides to take a stand against it, he finds himself alone, as no one else on the colony is willing to confront the man (Peter Boyle) behind it all.

Review:

Tim: I like this movie because it is a space Western. The story and plot are purely Western, although it is set on Jupiter's moon, Io. I really liked this combination of two different genres, and I thought it worked well. The movie also happens to be fairly entertaining, moving at a quick enough pace to keep us interested. There are also some decently tense moments, and a few legitimately suspenseful ones. For this reason, the movie works.

You also have to like the performance of Sean Connery. Connery is such a terrific actor, and he is quite strong in this role. He anchors the film in real emotion and you believe him as a flawed man determined to stand up for what is right at least once in his life. I really liked Connery here. I also enjoyed Peter Boyle's performance. He is quite villainous, but in a very reserved way. He is an understated bad guy, and that made it believable. Frances Sternhagen also adds in a good supporting performance. The rest of the cast is pretty forgettable.

The movie does a good job of balancing some of the technological aspects of the film with the more human ones. This movie is more about the human characters than anything else. That is one of the film's strengths. The special effects are a bit dated, but not to the point where they detract too badly from the film. This entire movie feels a bit small and almost claustrophobic. That is not necessarily a bad thing, as this movie resists the urge to focus instead on special effects and action. It is refreshing to see a movie focusing first on characters.

Having said that, the movie does movie a bit too slow in some places. There is a long build up to the action scenes, but these leave us wanting more. I was a bit disappointed in how these scenes were handled. These could have been more exciting, without sacrificing the understated tone of the rest of the movie. I expected a few more fireworks, quite frankly, which would have made the movie a bit more exciting and memorable.

While not a perfect movie, Outland does enough right to consider it a good film that is worth seeing. I think this is a movie that often gets overshadowed and lost among other films in the genre, but it is worth watching in its own right.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Rock, The Hunt for Red October, Time Bandits, Meteor