DVD Review: Outlander

This Monday just gone saw the release of Outlander on DVD and Blu-Ray.

In Outlander, Iron-Age Norway sees the crash landing of a spacecraft containing a man named Kainan and his cargo, a Moorwen. The Moorwen is a deadly creature and now endangered thanks to Kainan's people after they destroyed the population of the Moorwen home planet in an effort to colonise it. This Moorwen returned the favour by killing the colony containing Kainan's family and having captured it, Kainan now has to hunt it once more now that it has escaped into the wilderness of Scandinavia and is feasting on Vikings.

Despite the barely noticeable cinematic release, Outlander actually wasn't as bad as I was expecting. It was a refreshing sci-fi movie with an original idea, reminiscent of Pitch Black but not quite the classic. It stars Jim Caviezel (Passion of the Christ) as Kainan, John Hurt as Rothgar the leader of the viking tribe who originally capture Kainan but then become his allies, and a nice appearance from Ron Perlman (Hellboy) as the opposing viking leader, who strolls around with some nasty looking hammers.

There's nothing outstanding about Outlander. The performances are fine, the effects are alright, the combat is satisfying, the story is pretty good but nothing stands out as spit-on-your-neck, kick-you-in-the-crotch fantastic (Fiancee will get that reference). Had it had a more successful theatrical release I could see a lot of potential for a sequel or even a prequel but I'd be very surprised if there was one. There is definitely room for one, perhaps another Moorwen is found and Kainan's assistance is needed once more or we get to see the original Moorwen planet being taken over, maybe told from the Moorwen's point of view! They could all work, but whether they would be a viable cost for the studio, who knows.

The DVD comes with possibly the worst "Making Of..." featurette I've ever seen. It seems the term "Making Of" is being used very loosely and the feature really doesn't explain in anyway how anything in the film was done. It's more an exercise in promotion of the movie, which inevitably you would have already watched before the "Making Of" feature.

If you liked Pitch Black, perhaps a little Starship Troopers (but not much) then you'll get a bit of enjoyment out of Outlander. It's an easy going two hours and worth a rent or waiting a while for it to drop in price a bit. It's already only £9.99, give it a month and you'll see it in Tesco for £7.