Combustible Celluloid


New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.

 
Home | Archive | About | Cinematical.com | Lists | News | Links | E-mail me | Sign up for my weekly newsletter!  
 



The American ***
Going the Distance ***
Machete ***1/2
The Last Exorcism ***
Takers *
Piranha 3D ***
Lottery Ticket **1/2
Vampires Suck 1/2*
Soul Kitchen ***
The Expendables **
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World ***
The Other Guys ***
More
 




Cinévardaphoto
City Island
The Evil Dead
La Mission
Loose Screws
Monamour
Red Riding Trilogy
The Simpsons: The Thirteenth Season
The Square
More
 

Film Features

Tribute: Harvey Pekar
Interview: Lisa Cholodenko
Interview: Annette Bening
Interview: George A. Romero
2009: The Year's Ten Best Films
The Decade's Ten Best Films: 2000-2009
The 25 Best DVDs of 2009
My 2003 Interview with Brittany Murphy
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards 2009
Richard Linklater
John Woo
Jared and Jerusha Hess
Essential Halloween Movies
Michael Stuhlbarg
Jane Campion
Bobcat Goldthwait
Hugh Dancy
Kathryn Bigelow
Willem Dafoe: The 2009 CineVegas Interview
David Carradine
A 2002 Interview with Edward Asner
Vinessa Shaw
Henry Selick
2008: The Year's Ten Best Films
The San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards 2008
The 25 Best DVDs of 2008
Bruce Campbell
Darren Aronofsky and Marisa Tomei
Josh Brolin
A Tribute to Paul Newman
Steve Coogan on Hamlet 2
Manny Farber (1917-2008)
Bernie Mac (1957-2008)
Emily Mortimer
Brad Anderson
Don Cheadle at CineVegas
Abel Ferrara at CineVegas
Tina Sinatra
My Top 100 Films [Updated]
My Top 60 Directors [Updated]
The Top 50 Movies of the Past Ten Years (1997-2006)
Terry Zwigoff on the new Bad Santa Director's Cut
Alfonso Cuarón Interview
Guillermo Del Toro Interview
Christmas Movies
Combustible Celluloid's Big Guide to Halloween & Horror Movies
Cult Movies
Actress Interview Gallery
The Top 100
More Features and Interviews
 

Film Books

Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World, by Judy Stone
James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee
Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis
Guide to Essential Movies, by Joe Leydon
Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, by Robert S. Birchard
Profoundly Disturbing, by Joe Bob Briggs
A Third Face, by Samuel Fuller
Dark Lover, by Emily Leider
Agee on Film, by James Agee
Lulu in Hollywood, by Louise Brooks
Negative Space, by Manny Farber
5001 Nights at the Movies, by Pauline Kael
More Books
 



Home
Reviews A-C
Reviews D-F
Reviews G-J
Reviews K-M
Reviews N-Q
Reviews R-T
Reviews U-Z
 

The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

 
SEARCH MOVIES / CELEB

Advanced Search

 
© 1997-2009 Combustible Celluloid



Outlander (2009)

Rating: 2 Stars (out of 4)

Norse Nonsense

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

I wish they could have just called this what it really is: The Alien and the Vikings Versus the Giant, Nearly-Invisible Monster. But in choosing a boring title like Outlander, they have showed their hand: this movie is no fun at all. Each and every scene comes straight out of the movie handbook, assembled accordingly, with little variation.

We get the arranged, unwanted marriage between the girl and the king's son, the girl's attraction to the mysterious newcomer and the hero asking the girl to stay behind so she doesn't get hurt. There's even a minor character who is introduced with a little speech about drinking mead, just so he can repeat the same speech 90 minutes later when he lies dying in the hero's arms (they're friends now, you see).

At any rate, James Caviezel (humorless, as usual) plays Kainan the alien; he learns the local dialect through the use of a machine, but there's no explanation as to why he looks exactly like an earthly human being. Sophia Myles plays the fiery girl, tough enough to join the battle (women's lib in the 8th century?).

Jack Huston plays Wulfric, the king's son, who at first hates the outlander, but comes to befriend him. Ron Perlman almost provides some humor as the leader of a rival Viking clan, and John Hurt is tragically subdued as the king. Occasionally, but not often enough, the movie veers into unintentional humor, but mostly it just snoozes along.


Buy DVD | Buy Blu-Ray | iTunes Download
Trailer | Poster | Soundtrack
Bookmark and Share
With: James Caviezel, Sophia Myles, Jack Huston, Ron Perlman, John Hurt, John Beale, Katie Bergin, Matt Cooke, Aidan Devine, Ricardo Hoyos, Amy Kerr, Ted Ludzik, Bailey Maughan, Liam McNamara, John Nelles, Simon Northwood, Mark A. Owen, Scott Owen, Owen Pattison, Petra Prazak, James Preston Rogers, Todd Sandomirsky, Cliff Saunders, Patrick Stevenson
Written by: Dirk Blackman, Howard McCain
Directed by: Howard McCain
MPAA Rating: R for violence
Running Time: 115 minutes
Date: January 23, 2009
Home
News
Search Reviews
Classic Movies
DVDs
Features
Film Books
Gallery
Links
About
The Rating System
Email Me
All scribblings © 1997-2010 Combustible Celluloid