Bullet Points: Outlander

I recently mentioned 2008’s Outlander during an article praising the recent Predator prequel Prey. Anyone who watched Prey knows it was pretty sweet but that it also didn’t break any new ground in terms of storytelling. That isn’t a knock on the film, however, but instead I wish that more movies would take a similar approach. Outlander had done the ‘alien in historical times’ over a decade before Prey and if my memory serves me, it kicked a lot of ass.

Synopsis: During the reign of the Vikings, Kainan, a man from a far-off world, crash lands on Earth, bringing with him an alien predator known as the Moorwen. Though both man and monster are seeking revenge for violence committed against them, Kainan leads the alliance to kill the Moorwen by fusing his advanced technology with the Viking’s Iron Age weaponry.

• Aliens on Earth: The film opens much the same way as my favorite flick of all time, Predator, with an alien ship landing on Earth. This time, we get a little more than just the visual and we see that a ship has crashed in Norway in the 700’s A.D. We also learn that there was some sort of creature that escaped from the ship and it looks like our humanoid main character isn’t thrilled about it.
• The Vikings: Humanoid alien dude Kainan (Caviezel) immediately begins tracking the escaped creature and finds himself getting captured by the local Vikings. Led by the legendary John Hurt, the Vikings are the mostly peaceful type who are more interested in finding out who or what has been killing folks in their neighborhood and less interested in torturing and killing Kainan. Jack Huston plays Wulfric, the heir apparent and very possible son-in-law to Hurt’s Rolhgar.

• The Moorwen: There is one thing that Outlander isn’t afraid of and that is showing the creature. Most movies like this never show the beast until the very end and it’s usually a letdown. Whether you love the design of the Moorwen or not (I didn’t love it), at least you know where they stand when it comes to showing it.
• Huston, we have a problem: I didn’t have a problem with Jack Huston as the Viking Wulfric but I don’t think I’m out of line to say that he’s far too pretty to be a tough guy. We’re given a bit of mixed feelings about Wulfric; sure he wants to marry Rolhgar’s daughter Freya and become King but he also pals around with Kainan and turns out to be a swell guy. Still….too pretty.

• Fighting for survival: Once Kainan gets the welcome from the rest of the clan it’s all fun and games until Ron Perlman’s own Vikings show up for a little revenge. They are clamoring for revenge for a crime that Rolhgar’s men didn’t commit, of course, and instead wind up teaming up with Hurt’s crew in an effort to take down the deadly Moorwen.
• The Twist: The film could have been a simple story of Aliens vs. Vikings but we get a bit about Kainan and his past. A few flashbacks of Kainan tell us about his family and how they were lost to the ravaging of the beast. We get more as Kainan and his new connection with Freya develops and it’s much better than the film needed to do.

The Verdict: Outlander is one of my comfort movies. It’s very much like The 13th Warrior only with a mass-murdering alien running around. How can you hate that? What it reminds me of the most is an old comic issue of Aliens I have where an Xenomorph somehow makes it into Viking times and ruins some dudes. Maybe the Moorwen isn’t as cool as a Xenomorph but Outlander is a damned cool movie.