Outlander

Though saddled with a disastrously overlong running time and an opening half hour that’s almost unbearably slow going, Outlander ultimately establishes itself as a fun little endeavor that boasts as irresistible a premise as one could possibly imagine. The movie, set in 8th-century Norway, follows alien warrior Kainan (Jim Caviezel) as he crash lands on Earth along with a fearsome creature known as the Moorwen, with the bulk of the storyline detailing Kainan’s efforts at insinuating himself within a local Viking tribe and leading their subsequent charge against the aforementioned creature. It’s the sort of set-up that would seem to lend itself naturally to a briskly-paced, unapologetically violent B movie, and while there are certainly a number of enthralling sequences peppered throughout, Outlander‘s oppressively bloated sensibilities play an instrumental role in diminishing its overall impact (ie the film should’ve topped out at 80 minutes, max). The ineffective first act inevitably gives way to a surprisingly involving midsection that benefits substantially from the supporting cast’s collective efforts, with actors such as John Hurt, Sophia Myles, and Ron Perlman effortlessly breathing life into the otherwise stagnant proceedings – thus ensuring that the viewer is slowly-but-surely drawn into the increasingly compelling fish-out-of-water tale. Caviezel’s expectedly strong work goes a long way towards keeping things tolerable even through Outlander‘s less-than-enthralling stretches, while the fantastic battle sequence that transpires at about the one-hour mark virtually justifies the movie’s entire existence. The anti-climactic third act that ensues undoubtedly stands as further proof of the film’s lamentable overlength, with the end result an almost terminally uneven piece of work that’s nevertheless worth a look if only for the you’ve-gotta-see-it-to-believe-it nature of its premise.

**1/2 out of ****