Warner Bros. has released a variety of older movies, mostly science fiction or action, over the last few weeks, with names like Patrick Swayze, Dennis Quaid, and others highlighting “first time to Blu!” packaging. Outland, Sean Connery’s feature as a Marshal sent to a moon of Jupiter, is one of these films which seems elegant in terms of idea and story, but which fails to fully captivate us in its high definition glory. Still, it’s worth noting that it is a space Western, and one which focuses fully on Connery, giving fans an opportunity to look back at the epic years.
Marshal O’Niel (Connery) finds himself alone in his battle to clean up the mining operation on the moon Io. He’s up against the mining manager Sheppard (Peter Boyle), who prides himself in the production levels that his company has brought to the operation, even while ignoring other human necessities like appropriate behavior. But when things begin to go haywire in O’Niel’s stint there, he realizes that it’s more than problematic: there is a conspiracy that threatens the safety of everyone on board.
We know that O’Niel is motivated to get back to Earth, because his wife has basically given him an ultimatum (leave space, come back home). But we don’t really get a Braveheart-like speech about why he’s fighting Sheppard when no one else will. Instead, this is epic “code” material: O’Niel knows something bad is going on and he is morally obligated to stop it because it’s his job.
I don’t want to say that the movie is boring, because it’s Connery in a space Western. But the pacing is a bit slow. In 1981, in the height of James Bond fame, Connery probably blew people away but this one isn’t going to draw in people with no background to the movie. Still, it’s the crusading Connery character: the one who will put anything and everything on the line, risk it all, and not look back, just because someone has to stop the evil. It’s the kind of hero we want to be, and it’s the kind of sacrificial grace that each of us hopes we’ll discover in the right time.
July 24th, 2012 at 8:20 am
I actually saw this in the theatre. It fit in very nicely with the original Alien vibe, a classic story that just happened to be set in a very post-utopian and lived-in space setting. Once James Cameron arrived with Aliens — which I also loved — space movies changed completely. I still like going back to Outland for nostalgia.
July 27th, 2012 at 9:04 pm
Outland is one of my all time favorite films. Yeah. Let that sink in for a minute. It is one of a very few movies I recommend to people. And high among its many qualities is its many qualities is its pacing. There is none of the hyperkinetic frenzy that attends so many modern films. I LIKE that the director uses silences and non-action to build the suspence while dragging front & center the crushing boredom that would be endemic to such a place. No one, not even the Marshall, is there because it is a lively place. They are there because there is nowhere else for them to be. Many a desperate person has taken themselves to the edges of society to a self-imposed exile like these folks. So, of course it’s filled with long silences. A big part of the reason I recommend this film is because it has the clear stamp of reality upon it, the SciFi aspects notwithstanding. It could be ANY hopeless place. And then the Light enters in the form if the Marshall. For any who can see, like Sterhagens’ character does, Connery’s character is a last chance for a kind of redemption. If only they will a accept the offered opportunity. So, THAT’S the film I saw.
July 27th, 2012 at 10:45 pm
hey Greg and Steve,
I am obviously of the post-Aliens sci-fi movie generation. I can appreciate what both of you saw here; Steve, you’ve definitely added to what I took away from the movie. I think you’re giving it more credit than I did, but maybe I judged it unfairly. It’s hard for me to watch it without the High Noon comparisons coming into it; when it comes down to it, it felt more like a remake of a Western set in space than something original. I do see Marshall as redemptive– like many of the “good guys” in Westerns that I still appreciate. Thanks for weighing in with your insights!
July 28th, 2012 at 8:44 am
Well, it IS High Noon in space. But it’s not romanticized; it’s a spaghetti Western High Noon in space. And, as Steve pointed out, the pacing allows for subtlety — and allows it to function as a true Science Fiction story (a la Ray Bradbury or Theodore Sturgeon) in that it only requires one or two “nova,” unique science-based ideas, rather than the contemporary trend of lading things on and burying the story with innovations, worm holes, and supernovas. Here, it’s enough that, as Steve says, space is boring — and the way in which the assassin gets his comeuppance. I think even today it would come as a surprise to viewers. Even though it’s High Noon in Space, it’s an art film.