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113 reviews in total

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65 out of 74 people found the following review useful:
under-estimated sci fi western,, 31 July 2006

Author: Raegan Butcher from Rain City, Pacific Northwest

After leaving the James Bond franchise in 1971, Sean Connery gave a number of notable performances in films such as The Offense and The Man Who Would Be King but Outland is really the film that started him on the comeback trail that culminated with his Oscar acceptance speech 6 yrs later for The Untouchables. No one seems to recall this but at the time of Outland's release, no one had seen or heard from Connery for a few years and most of the reviews, while not kind to the film for a variety of reasons--chief among them being the fact that most movie critics (at least back then) harbored serious prejudice against sci fi--the main comment was "Its good to see Sean Connery back in action again".

This film has one of the best production designs ever. Obviously the look was copped from Alien--blue collar workers in space--but it works remarkably well. I was often reminded of OUTLAND during my seven year prison term; the housing was remarkably similar--as was the company. But I digress...

Nothing special about the plot-- it's routine cop show or western movie stuff--but who cares? Sean Connery gives a splendid performance and the whole film moves at a nice clip. Very enjoyable.

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48 out of 54 people found the following review useful:
Yes, it's high noon in space. And what's wrong with that?, 28 August 2001
Author: ProfessorPeach from Stourbridge, England

Sean Connery. A man's man, a woman's sex symbol. Good start! Now let's put him on a remote moon of Jupiter. So how many other films have Io as their center of action? Absolutely excellent in combining the effects that were available at the time with a darn good plot. Well overshadowed by the likes of Alien, this is late 70's/ early 80's sci-fi at it's best. No more is the future in space a Utopia, it is a grimy, nasty everyday world where people carry on their sordid business as they ever did. Except there is always a hero; a flawed hero, as is Connery. A personal crusade, a battle almost against the odds (but not unbelievably so, at all) and the true hallmark of a good sci-fi story: That is, the story would work just as well anywhere, any place, any time, as it does in space in the future. What more do you want (Just check out the shuttle landing)? Essential viewing!

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36 out of 43 people found the following review useful:
Realistic space mining movie, 24 May 2005

Author: lightfeather from Germany

The movie is amazingly realistic in regard to the technology used and in regard to the human characters.

I totally agree with OP Voutilainen, who wrote a very good comment on this movie on 24 October 2001.

The movie is never superficial if you look at its characters: The bad are not simply bad but realistically brutal. The good are not simply heroic, they rather strive to survive and struggle to keep what's left of their personal dignity and values after the school of life.

People of the future will possibly wonder why anyone ever liked such a "normal life"-movie. The answer is: Simply because of the everyday life dignity that people emanate in the movie.

Really a great positive movie !

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39 out of 52 people found the following review useful:
Outland is outstanding!, 24 October 2001

Author: Olli Voutilainen (olli-pekka.voutilainen@luukku.com) from Vantaa, Finland

What a great movie! Outland is without a doubt one of the best sci-fi movies ever made.Or perhaps sci-fi is the wrong term for this one, because where's the fiction? Everything is so realistic.No monsters,no gizmos-just space and man.

Mood is just right,nothing looks too good.Mining community is dirty and dangerous,people are deceitful. Models and sets haven't really aged at all.They were once accurately made,and beat computer effects 6-0.

Connery acts well and Peter Boyle's role as a twisted manager fits him. All in this movie could well occur in the future,and this is the fact which makes it so enjoyable.I'll give 9/10

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22 out of 26 people found the following review useful:
not underrated, but rather ignored, 10 August 2004

Author: brett smart from northumberland, England

I first watched this movie not expecting much as i had never really heard much about it and it didn't seem to be particularly acclaimed, but I was pleasantly surprised by it, Connery's performance is solid and the rest of the cast do a good job, there are some exciting scenes in this movie and the settings (outer space,mining colony) are convincing enough to keep you emersed in the story, the story is like a western in space, (which is about all I heard of this before I saw it),though its not particularly original and doesn't try to be spectacular, it is an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours and good fun for Connery fans to see him kicking arse back in the days.

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20 out of 24 people found the following review useful:
Very well crafted and entertaining film with a good Sean Connery, 18 July 2003
Author: tharsis-1 from Paris, France

In the near-future, in a space mine set on the Jupiter satellite Io, the new Marshall O'Niel (Sean Connery) discovered a mortal drug trafic. This amphetamine-like drug drives the addicted miners mad and makes them committed suicide. O'Niel encovers the conspiracy, involving the director of the mine, but becomes the target of hitmen, with almost no body helping him. The film is a Science Fiction remake of "High Noon"("le train sifflera trois fois" in French). The train is here replaced by a shuttle from a space station and the Far West by the set on a deep space mining outpost (Not Deep Space Nine).

This a well paced film with a solid acting from Sean Connery. The pursuits, especialy the first in the corridors of the space habitat, are gripping. The film was made in 1981, when the CGI effects were not as prevalent as today. For exemple scenes where humans are dwarfed by huge metalic structures, were executed thanks to a then traditional play of mirrors. I have seen this film at the cinema when it played for the first time in 1981. I have recently watched it again on cable TV and I think it has not aged much. Because it is set on a makeshift sleazy outpost and not a shiny white place as too often in science fiction film, it remains realistic enough, twenty two years later. The themes,a bit overlooked, dangerous mind drugs, greedy multinational (or multi-planet, here) companies, the will and courage of one man against the cowardice of all the others, resonate still in our mind, nowadays. But make no mistake, it not a heavy political film but a good suspense and action film with a science fiction flavour.

Despite some scientific oddities like heads exploding and weightlessness in a zero pressure atmosphere, where as inside the habitat the gravity is normal (by Earth standards), the script remains coherent enough. The strong performance of Sean Connery is helped by those of a serious Peter Boyle and a pre-ER Frances Sternhagen. Rent this film on your local video store or watch it on TV, it is worth seeing it.

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18 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
It's Not Exactly High Noon In Space, 17 February 2007

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Both in the Citadel Film Series book The Films of Sean Connery and a quick survey of the user comments here, everyone seems to be conceding that Outland is simply High Noon transferred to outer space. It's not really, but there are certain plot similarities. Of course there were enough similarities that Fred Zinneman stated that Peter Hyams had ripped off his western classic.

For one thing Gary Cooper is a newlywed in High Noon, Sean Connery is a married man with a 12 year old son. His wife however wants him to give up the futuristic law enforcement business, but it's what he knows and because he's such an independent minded fellow who speaks his mind he gets one garbage assignment after another.

Here he's on a mining colony on the Jupiter satellite Io. It's a frontier town, not unlike some in the west. But Hadleyburg in High Noon is passed the wild and woolly frontier days and the impending gunfight is not wanted because it will bring those days back. Gary Cooper dealt with ingratitude, what Connery is dealing with on Io is systemic corruption.

The boss of the place is Peter Boyle the head of mining operations. One of the things he provides are illegal synthetic narcotics which make the men work like mules and increase his productivity. They also eventually fry your brain and you turn paranoid.

Connery notices several suspicious deaths have occurred in the past two years after he's had to deal with some miners who've gone haywire. The presence of narcotics is confirmed by station doctor Frances Sternhagen during an autopsy.

When Boyle's confronted with this, bribery doesn't work so he puts out a contract on Connery. His deputies are all on the pad and the miners won't help either. His one friend in the place is Sternhagen.

In fact acting honors in Outland go to Frances Sternhagen as the tough old bird of a doctor who's also in a kind of exile on Io.

Outland has good special effects and the mining colony on Io is marvelously created with the use of miniatures, much like the Himalayas were in Black Narcissus. But it is better known for a good story and some fine acting by all, especially Sternhagen. It's one of Sean Connery's better films and shouldn't be missed by science fiction fans or Sean Connery's many fans.

So what if it took a few bites out of High Noon.

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15 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Worth a look...a different take on sci-fi, 6 August 2004

Author: medic249a2 from Langley, Canada

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I remember wanting to see this when it came out in '81, on the heels of sci-fi classics such as 'Star Wars', 'Alien', and 'The Empire Strikes Back'. Of course because of its 'R' rating I could never see it until it came out on video. I found it offered a different take on sci-fi films as it had no involvement with sinister aliens, and the only alien world explored is the Jupiter moon.

***WARNING! POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!***

'Outland' is set on Io, one of Jupiter's moons, in a mining colony. Marshal W.T. O'Niel (Connery) is assigned to the moon colony. Shortly after he arrives he discovers that several miners have been committing suicide in bizarre and ugly ways, such as walking into zero-atmosphere minus a pressure suit. When he investigates he finds that the dead men have been taking an amphetamine-like drug. According to Dr. Lazarus (Frances Sternhagen) the drug enables the miners to go for days without sleep and work at extended intervals, thereby increasing the mine's productivity. When O'Niel follows the dealers' trail he discovers that it leads to the head of the mining operation. These men have no intention of letting O'Niel stop their dirty work, and now the marshal has to watch his back at every turn, as a hit contract is put out on his head. O'Niel also finds that his own men are willing to turn on him...

***END SPOILER ALERT***

Like someone else mentioned, the production design does not show space as a shiny, clean environment - space is 'dirty' here. The mining colony looks like a real operation, in a similar way to the way the Nostromo appeared in 'Alien'. Jerry Goldsmith's music also sounds much like the low, sinister tones of 'Alien' which he had written only 2 years before. While it lacks most of the spectacular effects of the 'Star Wars' trilogy it gives a believable sense of the awesome size of space. The story is not unlike a western set in outer space, only that the crime the marshal is trying to stop is drug-dealing as opposed to train or stagecoach robbery. Not a bad movie, not on the scale of 'Star Wars' or 'Alien' but definitely worth looking into.

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20 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
An impression of the films style, 22 August 2001
Author: jimbee23 from London, England

Outland is brilliant. So many good moments in the movie -the first time you see someones head explode from change of pressure, the bloodied elevator as it returns from the bottom of the mining shaft and the overall excellent visionary style of the mining colony. Connery is perfectly cast as the marshall who cannot be bought and Frances Sternhagen brings much needed warm relief from the terror with her smart, down-to-earth manner. Hyams directs the film with excellent vigour and his choice of filters and lighting, (especially the scene in the prostitues room which is blood red from the emergency lighting), gives an instant impression of heat, fear and so cool relief from the space shots. It could quite easily be overlooked as just another sci-fi flick but I think it established much more the benefits of bringing earth-realism to outer-space than any other film in it's day.(Probably best to watch it, as I did, when you are 10 years old!!)

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9 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
A superbly gritty and exciting science fiction action thriller, 1 January 2007

Author: Woodyanders (Woodyanders@aol.com) from The Last New Jersey Drive-In on the Left

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

There's something sinister afoot on Jupitor's third moon of Io. The workers of a bleak mining colony are becoming crazy and killing themselves because they are being fed an amphetamine which not only increases their productivity, but also causes them to become psychotic. It's up to stalwart, morally sound and responsible Marshal William T. O'Niel (a characteristically strong and personable performance by the always dependable Sean Connery) to lay down the law and put a stop to things before they get any worse.

Writer/director Peter Hyams creates a plausibly grim'n'grimy future where greed and profit take precedent over morality and human lives, expertly generates plenty of tension from the absorbing premise, maintains a steady quick pace throughout, and deftly stages one cracking corker of a rousing last third with two assassins arriving at Io with the specific intent of killing O'Niel. Connery effortlessly carries the picture with his considerable charismatic presence, receiving terrific support from Frances Sternhagen as a cranky, sarcastic doctor, Kila Markham as his fed-up, long-suffering wife, Peter Boyle as the blithely corrupt general manager, James B. Sikking as a cynical, wisecracking on the take deputy, and Steven Berkoff as a crazed miner who flips out. Jerry Goldsmith's beautifully moody and stirring score, the first-rate special effects (the miniatures in particular are amazing), Stephen Goldblatt's rough, grainy cinematography, and the grungy set design are all likewise uniformly fantastic. Moreover, the film earns bonus accolades for neatly avoiding certain tiresome clichés. For example, the villains never threaten to either kidnap or murder Connery's wife and son. In addition, Sternhagen comes to Connery's aid instead of the other way around. Intelligent, engrossing and above all exciting, "Outland" sizes up as one of the best and most shamefully underrated adult science fiction movies made in the early 80's.

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