Blu-Ray: Outland (1981)

raigraphixs

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Didn't see a thread for this, have not seen it in a decade. Blu-Ray was released on the 10th July 2012 (US)

Review - Outland Blu-ray





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I know the film has its fans but I always thought of Outland as Alien/s without alien/s. :D
 
I'm in the States in a fortnight, and I can't wait to pick this up.

Regards the look of the film. The same model team from Alien did the work for Outland. Got to meet one of the model makers, Martin Bower, a few times over the years and he told me a horrible story of what happened when they finished filming. The backed a a skip on the back of a truck up to the stage door and swept the entire lot into the back of the skip.

Quite tragically, to his regret, they did the same when they finished work on Alien.
 
Mines on the shelf. Remember really enjoying last time I saw it a few years ago. Gonna try and watch it over the weekend.
 
I got my copy last weekend and watched it on Saturday night. I haven't seen the movie since the late 80s so it was great watching it again and it has aged really well IMO as it uses the model shots sparingly. I've always thought of it as being set in the same universe as the Alien movies as the set design and look of the movie is very similar to Alien/Aliens IMO. The transfer is also very good. Shame about the lack of extras though.
 
Got my copy a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it, was actually my first time watching it and it definitely had that alien vibe too it, could have easily been set on a Weyland mining colony :)
 
A really great film, one of Connery's better performances (not his best, which is in The Offence I reckon), but he creates a really sympathetic and real character, not a superhero, just a guy who has just had enough and decided he is not going to toe the line any longer.

Despite the futuristic setting, it's just about the least 'sci-fi' of any sci-fi film I've seen. In may ways it could just as easily be set on an oil rig or an antarctic station, but somehow the extreme remoteness and isolation of the setting does come across and magnifies the tension, and the effects and model work definitely stand the test of time.

It looks great, has excellent acting and it thrills. If you never saw it, you have to check it out, it's a 'forgotten classic'.
 
I know the film has its fans but I always thought of Outland as Alien/s without alien/s. :D

Yes and even the score by Jerry Goldsmith was very Alienesque.
 
I remember this didn't get very good reviews at the time and I had a hard time persuading my friends to go and see it. My friends hated it and I found it very dull and never bothered with it again. I also remember the next film I had to twist my friends arms to go and see was Bladerunner, which I enjoyed more but my friends hated it as much as they hated Outland.
 
Wonderful review, mad mac. Thanks.
 
Despite the futuristic setting, it's just about the least 'sci-fi' of any sci-fi film I've seen. In may ways it could just as easily be set on an oil rig or an antarctic station, but somehow the extreme remoteness and isolation of the setting does come across and magnifies the tension, and the effects and model work definitely stand the test of time.

That's true but the deaths-by-vaccuum would have been a whole lot less interesting IMO as would the climax.
 
The_Wierd said:
A really great film, one of Connery's better performances (not his best, which is in The Offence I reckon), but he creates a really sympathetic and real character, not a superhero, just a guy who has just had enough and decided he is not going to toe the line any longer.

Despite the futuristic setting, it's just about the least 'sci-fi' of any sci-fi film I've seen. In may ways it could just as easily be set on an oil rig or an antarctic station, but somehow the extreme remoteness and isolation of the setting does come across and magnifies the tension, and the effects and model work definitely stand the test of time.

It looks great, has excellent acting and it thrills. If you never saw it, you have to check it out, it's a 'forgotten classic'.

Personally think Connery was at his best in the hill although saying that I've never seen this.
 
Personally think Connery was at his best in the hill although saying that I've never seen this.

Yep, that or Zardoz...

Zardoz_zed.jpg


...okay, maybe not.
 
The_Wierd said:
Yep, that or Zardoz...

...okay, maybe not.

Haha I'd forgotten that Connery was the leading influence in mankini's....
 
Despite the futuristic setting, it's just about the least 'sci-fi' of any sci-fi film I've seen. In may ways it could just as easily be set on an oil rig or an antarctic station, but somehow the extreme remoteness and isolation of the setting does come across and magnifies the tension, and the effects and model work definitely stand the test of time.

It looks great, has excellent acting and it thrills. If you never saw it, you have to check it out, it's a 'forgotten classic'.

That's exactly why I find Outland such a pointless film. In the wake of Star Wars, Alien, etc. there was a demand for big budget sci-fi, so they just ripped off High Noon and set it in space without a thought spent on how to properly make it work as sci-fi. Outland was set on Io for no other reason than to jump on the sci-fi bandwagon, but the sci-fi elements were just set dressing and not integrated into the plot. To make the film even less original, they ripped off from the art direction from Alien and got Jerry Goldsmith to compose a very Alien-style score. It really feels like an Alien sequel where the forgot to include the alien and substituted it with the lamest sci-fi menace ever: bog standard drug dealers. All Outland did was to invite unfavourable comparisons to a then recent film which became a genuine classic and the poor reviews and box office were justified.

The only thing I like about the film is seeing Frances Sternhagen, a great character actress, in a rare lead role.
 
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That's exactly why I find Outland such a pointless film. In the wake of Star Wars, Alien, etc. there was a demand for big budget sci-fi, so they just ripped off High Noon and set it in space without a thought spent on how to properly make it work as sci-fi. Outland was set on Io for no other reason than to jump on the sci-fi bandwagon, but the sci-fi elements were just set dressing and not integrated into the plot. To make the film even less original, they ripped off from the art direction from Alien and got Jerry Goldsmith to compose a very Alien-style score. It really feels like an Alien sequel where the forgot to include the alien and substituted it with the lamest sci-fi menace ever: outer-space drug dealers. All Outland did was to invite unfavourable comparisons to a then recent film which became a genuine classic and the poor reviews and box office were justified.

The only thing I like about the film is seeing Frances Sternhagen, a great character actress, in a rare lead role.

Sorry, is this prometheus you're talking about? It's a prequel not a sequel :facepalm:
 
Sorry, is this prometheus you're talking about? It's a prequel not a sequel :facepalm:


Yes, thanks we got it, Prometheus didn't live up to the hype and apparently it can't be mentioned often enough. :boring:

Not that it relates to anything I said about Outland btw: as Prometheus takes place in the Alien universe there is a legitimate reason by the director of Alien to incorporate many of its visual elements and motives and unlike Outland it does deal with sci-fi concepts as more than just set dressing. Whether it does so successfully has by now been discussed to death on the appropriate threads.
 
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You could say (and has been said) the same of Alien, though - that it's a horror film masquerading as SF. Outside of the alien morphology/life cycle, it's not really dealing with any hard SF concepts...
 
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You could say (and has been said) the same of Alien, though - that it's a horror film masquerading as SF. Outside of the alien morphology/life cycle, it's not really dealing with any hard SF concepts...

....but you answered it yourself already. The alien life cycle is sci-fi and it's a threat you'd only get in a sci-fi film. I have no problem with genre hybrids as long as they make something of both genres. In Alien the alien is the motor for the plot and it is something you'd only get in that genre. Unlike drug dealers, who push amphetamines.

BTW. nice to see you here, anephric. :)
 
Edit: double post!
 
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Thenk you.

But if you boil it down to that level, the threat isn't intrinsic to the life cycle - you could have, say, a rabid crew member stalking about the ventilation shafts. It wouldnt make much difference to the way the story plays out.
 
In which case 'Alien' aka 'Rabid Crew Member' deservedly would occupy the same corner of cinematic obscurity where Outland lingers.

I suppose 2001 could have been about a walk to the corner shop while tripping on acid, rather than be about a space exploration to Jupiter. ;)
 
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