This is my favourite film, but I can't explain why. It's probably something to do with Sean Connery; his performance was outstanding. Most of my friends mock me when I mention Outland. I need something to silence their criticism. Please help me.
share[deleted]
this is not a kid's sci fi movie,
no cute robots or teddybear aliens here just a gritty realistic extrapolation of how off-world colonization would probably happen. this film is like alien, total recall or blade runner not star wars or star trek.
industry will drive exploration
and with all industry ,as in this movie, profits are the driving factor
[deleted]
What's funny about this film is that it's a character driven thriller. The fact that it takes place on Io is incidental. It is much more about character and story than it is about special effects. People are so wrapped up in visuals (whether they admit it or not) that many overlook character arc or storyline. Also, if you look at it, there's no way this movie would get made today, ESPECIALLY with the cast it had in 1981. No studio would sign off on a female lead as old as Frances Sternhagen. They'd want to see someone that looked like Pamela Anderson. They would be much more interested in how that character looked, rather than how good an actress she was.
shareI think Outland is a great film too. It is a fascinating SciFi update of the Gary Cooper western, High Noon (1952). The effects are quite good for the era. Plus, I appreciate the anti-corporate message - the all-powerful "company" doesn't mind the space workers dying from a drug that boosts production. Sean Connery is great as the incorruptable marshall.
shareI'll put this movie as above average, the story was intriging and had a cramped 'coal miner' type feel...my God you want to see GREEN after viewing this film. Connery did a fine job in it playing the tough but not so tough that he wasnt scared role. Peter Boyle's role was also chilling as the icy station manager that put money and corprote earnings above workers life.
This film also had an 'adult' feel to it, not like the Matrix or other sci fi movies which mocked the adult world and is really meant for the adolescent crowd, it dealt with situations that can be directly related to adult life. The interaction between Boyle and Connery might go over some of the younger viewers heads...
This is one of the more 'realistic' type of sci-fi movies out there.
Absolutely Mrred!
And to get at the original post of why this film is so good:
The best part of this movie is the all encompasing gritty realism. The interpersonal interactions are straight out of today's world. Capitalism run rampant, the indifference of the cops evidenced in the scene where they discuss the previous night shift's problems, the evil boss you hate, a grimy industrial world where no one sticks their neck out to help, drug pushers, corruption and people in positions able to change it looking the other way, the wife leaving the upstanding hard-working guy.
And of course all this is lent the realism it deserves by the outstanding set design.
Sure the plot unfolds "slowly". That's because its an extension of real life. This movie is sci-fi, but not fantasy. An action scene every five minutes would ruin it. No there are not over the top characters who have awesome one-liners and beyond belief action scenes. Go watch Star Wars and the Matrix for that. Outland is after something different.
However, there is a scene of interest every few minutes. I find the scene where Spota delivers the drugs, Connery's icy confrontations with Boyle in both the conference room and then his office, how Connery has to stare down the onlookers in the bar when he's waiting for the shuttle, just as entertaining as the leisure compartment hostage situation, the fight in the kitchen and meat locker and the final shootout.
The plot unfolding as real life events would is what makes this film so engaging, and ultimately satisfying. And incidentaly Connery's scenes with Sternhagen deliver great dialogue
All the above are great reasons. But- and it may be just me here- does anyone else find these late 70's/early 80's depictions of a cold, grimy space-environment to be- well, a bit creepy? I mean, in the way that a great big statue in the park at night can be a bit creepy. You know, harmless in actuality and you know it, but darkness and a towering, unlit black and man-made creation with you in your solitude can get your imagination going? Okay, perhaps it IS just me, but I'm a little bit scared of that shuttle-landing sequence.
Besides, those stupid bastards HAVE been taking polydichloric euthemol.
Coinicidentally, I just watched Outland this afternoon on (a not-enhanced-for-16:9) DVD. Connery's pursuit of the drug peddler through the complex is hands-down the greatest foot chase ever filmed. I was giddy and totally satisfied throughout. There was even a bit of shotgun play which I enjoyed.
Special effects were great considering ILM was still only doing Star Wars movies at the time and the film had an Alien/Blade Runner feel probably helped by Jerry Goldsmith's quirky industrial score. I think I even heard some Alien riffs in there somewhere.
"Duhn, duh, duhhhh.... duhn-duh-DUHN-duh-duhhhh...."
And I can see Peter Hyam's influence here and later on when he did 2010, another overlooked sci-fi joyride.
Jason R. Johnston | impossibleFX.com
Hi evermail,
I just had to agree, Peter Hyam's other sci-fi outing, "2010" is "another overlooked joyride" (I was blown away when I saw it when it orignally came out [when I was 10-years-old, in '84]). Too bad really, his sci-fi movies all sems to have bene forgotten?
-David Chipman
it's the scene he and Sternhagen have in the racketball court. He makes that empassioned speech about doing his part, playing by their rules and how he got tired of it. It's almost as if Connery was discussing his career at the time. It gives an otherwise thin character alot of depth.
shareThe reason you like it so much is the atmosphere. It is similar to Bladerunner or Alien, where every background, every badge, every label means something and leaves you wanting to know more. It also has a dark vision of the future where nothing is totally clean or necessarily futuristic, but seems to be a logical advancement that would or could exist. I don't know why this movie draws criticism, I thought it was excellent. The cast was outstanding.
shareNice review. It's good to hear from so many other fans of the film.
shareThere are also two very well-executed explosive decompression deaths - something that still has to be topped. Total Recall was laughable, but I doubt any posters that find their way here will even mention it. I often wonder if I will ever see a real explosive decompression death in my lifetime. It's bound to happen....it's bound to be caught on camera too....I wonder what it really looks like. Don't get me wrong, I don't want it to happen - but being the retards that we are, we'll get ahead of ourselves and there will be incidents where people are ejected into space and explode. Big time.
shareI had the great good fortune to work as an usher when I was in junior high, late 70s' early 80's. Road Warrior, Outland, BladeRunner, The Thing, Escape NY, etc... all masterpieces and I saw them dozens of times. Outland is a sci fi classic for the reasons noted above... absolutely realistic depiction of corporate colonization through industry. But also the clever updating of classic westerns. The acting is topnotch nad the sci fi effects are convincing. Many films try to make female pole dancing seem sleazy and degrading but this one succeeds in a way no other has. The science behind sudden explosive decompression is a bit off the mark ( you actally would asphyxiate then slowly "boil" away...air embolism expulsion takes awhile), but it's a damn good movie. The thematic reinforcement of isolation and claustrophobic closeness is worthy of Hitchcock.
shareIt's good to see so many positive reviews of this film, which has always been one of my favourites.
It's certainly true that you can't analyze the science too deeply: morris7800 has already mentioned about the decompression. I also think that you would be unlikely to have shotguns on a space station for precisely the reasons shown in the film (I like the neat way Babylon 5 dealt with that). And of course there would be low gravity everywhere, not just outside. But ultimately all of that doesn't matter because it's all about character. It also helps that it's a remake of one of my favourite Westerns, High Noon.
Now, how about a sci-fi version of Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven?
Yes. I love it too. I always hoped they would make a sequel. Maybe 'somthing' happens on the flight back to Earth?
Are you going to pull those pistols or whistle "Dixie"?
[deleted]