This Movie's Underrated: "Outland"

Every once in a while, I have to look at America's movie-going public and shake my head, muttering, "This is why we can't have nice movies." It happens when I see them overwhelmingly supporting a movie that may well have been picked out of Satan's buttcrack (lookin' at you, Smurfs). But it also happens when an amazing, inventive, cool, or just plain unique movie comes along and it fades into obscurity because nobody sees or supports it.

Outland, directed by Peter Hyams, is one of those movies. It was released right around when Star Wars, Alien, and Blade Runner were ushering in a more naturalistic, gritty, grimy, used-future take on science fiction. Aesthetically, it's got the griminess and claustrophobia of Alien. But thematically is where Outland really builds on Blade Runner and Alien.



Alien's really a big metaphor for the fear of rape and sexuality. But it's also got some interesting anti-corporate themes, too, as does Blade Runner. As much as the titular alien uses and then discards its hosts, the ominous Company of Alien (explicitly referred to as "Weyland-Yutani" in the sequels) is no less eager to deem its human workers expendable, as long as some profit comes of it. The theme is expanded through the Standard Slimy Yuppy (or S.S.Y.) character of Burke in Aliens. But Outland builds on this idea and runs with it, imagining that in space, the scariest creature won't be an alien, or an android...it'll be the guys in mission control...who don't always have your best interests in mind.

Hahahahah...naw, but...aliens are probably scarier.

What pisses me off, though, is when people simply dismiss it as "High Noon in Space". Now...I don't know if they've actually SEEN High Noon. Or Outland for that matter. Because while the latter...oh, half hour of Outland does resemble High Noon, the rest of the plot is really more of a thriller.

Not that that would be a bad thing. That would still be a realistic, awesomely production-designed space western with SEAN CONNERY as the Sheriff of Io. SEAN CONNERY In Space, laying down the law. Hell, I'd watch it. I'd watch it twice! 

But it's more than just a retread. The plot is an investigation: Connery's character, the Marshall of one of many corporate outposts mining minerals in the solar system, finds out that miners have been going insane, some killing themselves, and he can't for the life of him figure out why. In his pursuit of the truth, he gets caught up in prostitutes, smuggling, drugs, murder, and corporate corruption.

...and the dad from Everybody Loves Raymond.

It's a lot more gritty 70's conspiracy fiction than High Noon's old fashioned responsible stand-upping. Everyone in the movie is damaged in some way...from Connery's character losing his wife to his job early on, to the mining station's chief physician, Dr. Lazarus. And let me say, she deserves an Oscar. Her character may be the most memorable thing in the movie, and that's saying something. But what makes Outland awesome is that at the end of the day, it stays about Connery's character. He takes a cold, hard look at himself throughout the movie, and in the end, decides to see if he can be something better.

Something SHOOTIER!

And when he tells the assassins hired by his corrupt employers, "No, fuck YOU" it's an awesomely satisfying conclusion as they chase him, cat v. mouse, through the mining station.

See, that's the thing. Outland never defaults to or substitutes world-building for believable characters, dialogue, or emotions. And believe me, the world-building and production design IS top-notch, and you can definitely see why Duncan Jones took inspiration from it for Moon (which is spectacular, by the way). The mining station feels like a living, breathing shithole, some place you'd work if there were no other jobs around. And the whole thing is full of cool little touches that make it feel like a real place, filled with real characters. One of my favorite scenes is at the beginning, when two workers are shooting the shit while mining. They're in a moon millions of miles away from earth, in space suits, but they talk like they're at the water cooler, one worried about robots replacing them, the other complaining about his suit malfunctions. It all just feels so real, like even these guys think the future sucks.

Granted, some of the science is iffy. For example, neither heads nor space work the way that Outland seems to think they do.

But for every exploding head, there's a moody and intense character scene, and for every shotgun blast there's a logical character motivation. And that's more than you can say for a lot of movies today, let alone sci-fi movies.

And THAT'S why Outland's underrated.