Outland - Film Review

Shakespeare once said "some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them." To be clear, I'm not talking about myself. I'm talking about my Amazon Video account as it recommended this film to me. I had never heard of this, and even once I had, I approached it with great trepidation as something that would probably under-deliver. Instead, I had "greatness" thrust upon me as I sat in for what turned out to be a pretty awesome screening. 

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Where You Can Find It: I saw this on Amazon Video where it is available for rent/purchase.

General Information 
Outland is a science fiction thriller film that was released on 22 May 1981. It was written and directed by Peter Hyams with the Ladd Company producing and Warner Bros. distributing. A noteworthy mention in the credits is that Academy Award winner, Jerry Goldsmith, is behind the music. For those unfamiliar with his name, he's done the music for tons of movies that span across the 70s, 80s, and 90s to include Air Force One, The Mummy, Logan's Run, and Gremlins. Outland unfortunately failed at the box office as it just barely fell short of its original estimated $18 million budget. It holds a middling 48 Metascore on Metacritic, with a similar 56% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite the poor reception, Outland was nominated for the category for Best Sound at the 1982 Academy Awards, however it was edged out by Raiders of the Lost Ark (kind of hard to beat that). Additionally, Hollywood has retained an interest in this film as Reuters announced in 2009 that Warner Bros. was interested in remaking it. Obviously this has not happened, but it remains interesting that this seemingly forgotten film managed to resonate 28 years after its initial release.

The Story

In the not-too-distant-future, Federal Marshal William O'Neil (played by Sir Sean Connery) is transferred to the mining colony, Con-Am 27, on Io for a seemingly quiet year-long rotation with his family. Things don't seem quite right on the cramped and uncomfortable colony though, as miners with no previous psychological issues are seemingly committing suicide for no reason. What's even more concerning is that no one, to include the station's general manager, Mark Sheppard (Peter Boyle), appear all that interested in investigating the mysterious deaths. O'Neil's investigation leads to a secret the colony has been hiding, which leads the marshal to a choice where he has to pick between survival or doing the right thing.

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You know things are bad when only the cops care

One of my favorite things about this film is how it blatantly subverted my expectations. The clunky, industrial appearance of Con-Am 27 distinctly calls back to Ridley Scott's Alien, while the inclusion of Sir Sean Connery made me expect to see a badass space lawman akin to his famous role as superspy, James Bond. Without going deep into spoilers, the first half of the film fully had me expecting some type of alien monster, mind control, or alien fungus, however it all ended up being far more straight-forward (I'm not necessarily saying there isn't a threat though). Beyond the actual mystery, I loved that O'Neil kind of sucks at his job. He's not completely incompetent by any means, but he's definitely not James Bond. It was refreshing to see Connery play a vulnerable character that misses jumps, gets beat up, and runs out of ammo at the worst of times.

If I had to sum up the overall theme of the plot, it would be a cross between the claustrophobic isolation of Alien mixed with the hopelessness of Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (another film Connery was in). Con-Am's packed with people, but none of it is comforting. The apathy that comes from the colony's management and corporate overlords only adds to the dread as it's abundantly clear that it's every man himself. The initial demonstration of this apathy is almost comical as an obviously crazed miner begins to howl and stomp on seemingly imaginary spiders before torching himself as multiple coworkers stand by and blatantly ignore his cries for help. The comical element is quickly left behind when we see this is honestly how nearly everyone is on the station.

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In this portion of space, they can hear you scream, they just don't care though

If I had an issue to raise with the story, it would be that sometimes the characters' capabilities aren't always clear. The chief physician, Dr. Marian Lazarus (Frances Sternhagen), is self-deprecating to the point of where I began to question her competence as a human being. O'Neil's authority as a marshal is also confusing as he avoids arresting a criminal aboard the station despite having a mountain of evidence that shows the scoundrel is doing wrong.  

Special Effects/Atmosphere

Although I'm a massive fan of Sir Sean Connery, it was the visual aesthetics of this film that initially drew me to it. Con-Am 27 looks like it was ripped straight from the mind of Ridley Scott, while the film's opening crawl and sound obviously emulate Alien. The fact that Jerry Goldsmith contributed the film's score only further enhances the comparison to Alien, as he also did the music for that movie as well. The mimicry of Alien really enhances Outland's sense of claustrophobia and industrial futurism. All the similarities make me imagine this as an unofficial entry in the Alien franchise, which makes me daydream about the epic possibility of seeing Sir Sean Connery go toe-to-toe with a xenomorph while Bill Paxton screams in the background.

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If they make movies in heaven, I hope they make an Outland-Alien crossover film

Beyond the bleak atmosphere and comparisons to Alien, I want to take a second to recognize the awesome set design. Con-Am 27 is pretty impressive to check out as we see plenty of it throughout the film's runtime. There's everything from a greenhouse and barracks to a shady nightclub where everyone keeps an eye out for the law. It all looks grimy and unwelcoming, which only adds the overall sense of dread leading into the climax. As much as I like it, the exterior shots make it somewhat confusing to know where everything is as it's never all that clear where everyone is in relation to one another (this becomes important to know near the climax).  

The Acting

Hyams got his money's worth by casting Connery as nearly every scene involves O'Neil. Connery delivers a solid performance as the marshal, with one of the later scenes being particularly excellent as O'Neil grapples with the morality of the choices before him. One of the things I enjoy most about his performance is that Connery carries himself as far more competent than O'Neil actually is, which I think is a deliberate decision. To be fair, O'Neil isn't comically bad at his job by any means, but he's also clearly an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances. 

We see Peter Boyle fairly rarely in this, but when we do, he practically oozes sleaze. Everything from his frumpy outfit and greasy hair to his complete lack of empathy for the people he's responsible for all gets reflected perfectly thanks to Boyle's acting. Considering I'd only ever really seen him from Everybody Loves Raymond and his guest appearance in X-Files, it was a joy to see him in something during his younger years. General Manager Sheppard is about as crotchety as Frank Barone, but has a bit more hair and potentially even less patience for shenaniganry. 

The Best of the Best: O'Neil chasing a knife-wielding psychopath across the entire space station.

The Worst of the Worst: O'Neil not arresting an obvious criminal despite the fact that the dude is a clear and present threat to society.

Calhooey Score: 9/10 - Fantastic

Would I Recommend?

The more I think about Outland, the more I enjoy and appreciate it. If you like Ridley Scott's earlier works, like Alien or Blade Runner, I think you'll get a kick out of this. Even if you don't, this is a hidden gem that deserves a viewing. I really liked this one, and I wouldn't mind watching it again at some point.

Spoiler Comments

• I totally understand that Carol might be tired of living in space, but it's only been two weeks! 
• A friend of mine pointed this out, but Outland actually has much more in common with an old-school western than Alien.
• According to both IMDB and Wikipedia, Hyarms wanted to originally make a country-western akin to High Noon, but was discouraged to do so due to the lack of appeal for such films in the 1980s. Instead, he adapted the story to a more futuristic setting with traces of the recently popular Alien film that had released only two years prior.
• The connections to Alien are still quite deep though. Beyond Goldsmith, Alan Ladd (who greenlit Outland) had also authorized Alien's production at 20th Century Fox. Nine production heads for Outland's production design had also worked on Alien as well.
• There are actually two James Bond alumni in this film. The first is obviously Sir Sean Connery, but the other is Steven Berkoff, who played the villainous Soviet officer, Orlov, in Octopussy. Berkoff plays the knife-wielding drug addict that holds a hooker hostage before Montone blows him away.
• I must admit that the secret to the colony's deaths being tied to illegal amphetamine trafficking was almost anti-climactic, but I'm kind of glad this movie wasn't ruined with a stereotypical monster.
• Sheppard was the criminal that I was annoyed that O'Neil wasn't arresting. O'Neil had the guy on tape setting up a hit on a federal marshal. I'm assuming he didn't have the authority to arrest Sheppard since he was the highest ranking person on the station, but it felt weird seeing O'Neil visit him on more than one occasion simply to leave peacefully.
• Although I'm glad O'Neil survived the assassins, it seems like the station is irrevocably screwed. The entire greenhouse has been destroyed, so I'm assuming everyone is either going to die from lack of oxygen or abandon the station as soon as possible.

References

(1) Rotten Tomatoes. (n.d.). Outland film image. Retrieved from: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/outland.

(2) FilmAffinity. (n.d.). O'Neil at the club image. Retrieved from: https://www.filmaffinity.com/us/movieimage.php?imageId=930321123.

(3) Robbinson, J. (2012, August 6). Dead space suit image. Film Freak Central. Retrieved from: https://www.filmfreakcentral.net/ffc/2012/08/outland.html.

(4) Alien Theory. (2020, November 12). Outland and Alien image. YouTube. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWD3FD8mpPE.