A couple of years back we had a big, boys own movie about Vikings and Native Americans called PATHFINDER, which is selling for a couple of quid now, then came animated Vikings fighting a shapeshifting, nippleless Angelina Jolie in BEOWULF (also turning up in the bargain bins), now we have OUTLANDER with Vikings versus aliens. While it sounds like a slightly preposterous sci-fi hybrid of the aforementioned films it actually works, and a lot more successfully than the other two individually. This is mostly due to the quality of the casting, along with some great action sequences and a little bit of romance to temper all the testosterone.
The premise for the story is it is 709AD, and a spacecraft crash lands in a Norwegian fjord. From its wreckage emerges, Kainan (Jim Caviezel) a soldier from a far away planet and also a deadly alien stowaway, the Moorwen. Before he has a chance to track down the creature and kill it, Kainan is captured by a viking warrior, Wulfric (Jack Huston), and held prisoner in the local village led by King Rothgar (John Hurt).
Grudgingly accepted into the clan after saving Rothgar’s life, Kainan confides about his past to Rothgar’s fiercely independent, yet beautiful, daughter Freya (Sophia Myles).
As the Moorwen wreaks terror and destruction on neighbouring villages, the threat of conflict between the clans escalates and Kainan is called upon to kill the creature. Aware of his prey’s strength, Kainan enlists Wulfric to help him fuse his advanced alien technology with the Viking’s Iron Age weaponry. They are joined by their neighbouring rival, the fearsome, bloodthirsty Gunnar (Ron Perlman), to lead what could be their final mission to find and slay the Moorwen.
It does take a certain amount of suspension of disbelief, but once you do it is a jolly good romp that has plenty of action that you expect from Vikings, although not much in the way of raping or pillaging, and even some moments of levity, which does help you not take it all too seriously.
The DVD has a fairly standard set of extra features, with behind the scenes, deleted scenes, VFX tests. The animatic is quite interesting for film students, but the highlight has to be the artwork galleries which contain some truly stunning concept illustrations.
OUTLANDER is out on DVD and Blu-ray on 31 August 2009 and is available from major retailers including Amazon
To celebrate the release we have three DVDs and three Blu-ray copies of the film to give away, courtesy of Momentum Pictures.
Click on the link below to enter the competition, which closes on 21 September 2009 and specify which format you prefer.