Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

dworldeater The much underrated Outland is a great sci fi thriller heavily influenced by westerns and Ridley Scott's Alien. The tone of the film is quite dark and is very realistic and gritty. Sean Connery is in top form here as leading man in pursuit of justice and he delivers one of his best performances in my opinion. The film is quite misanthropic actually. Even though humans have advanced technologically and have the means of space travel and mining colonies on Jupiter, people are still mostly rotten here. The film is a great subtext about corporate greed and capitalism and how it affects the populace at large. Even though this is in a futuristic sci fi setting, the message is still relevant in contemporary times. Jerry Goldsmith did the score and has a similar ambiance as Alien.(Jerry Goldsmith previously did the score on Alien as well) The special f/x are decent and the storytelling, performances and direction are excellent. Writer/director Peter Hyams made an excellent science fiction film, bravo!

Theo Robertson In the recognisable future mankind is colonising the Solar System . One of the moons of Jupiter is being mined for titanium . A series of accidental deaths leads law marshal William O'Neill to investigate these deaths . He finds that the deaths were caused by a psychotic reaction to a drug being used by the men , that this drug is being smuggled on to the colony and that the smugglers want him out of the way and no one is going to help him OUTLAND is the film that is forever known as being a HIGH NOON remake set in space which is somewhat disingenuous . It does mirror some of the plot turns of that Western where a man trying to enforce the law finds himself alone . Carl Foreman's Western screenplay has a rather explicit subtext that talks about Hollywood in the 1950s where by people found themselves abandoned by erstwhile friends because they might have had left leaning sympathies and didn't want to be accused by association .It was undoubtedly Hollywood's most shameful period but OUTLAND doesn't feel it's trying to ape that film and if there's a subtext to this film it's that drugs are bad On its own terms there's a lot to admire about OUTLAND . Connery gives one of his better and more commercial performances as tough and noble marshal O'Neill , a tough guy but at heart a family man whose wife and son feel the stress of the job . The film also benefits from some great set design which is both very convincing and functional without appearing too futuristic . You can honestly believe this is a colony on a satellite of Jupiter where titanium ore is being mined What the story differs suffer from slightly is that there are a couple of scenes where O'Neill knows who the bad guy is and the bad guy talks about his plan over video screens . Are we to take it that in this future world video monitors don't have recording facilities ? Likewise tough hit men referred to as " the best in the business " just happen to pull out and assemble guns in front of a video monitor which is very convenient for the plot . One also has to ask don't shuttle passengers get their baggage searched ?Regardless of a few flaws OUTLAND is a gritty and entertaining science fiction space Western that stands on its own hind-legs which unfortunately gets compared to HIGH NOON a little bit too much for its own good

rooprect Let me say up front that any film with exploding people advances to the head of the class. "Scanners" ...awesome. "Robocop" ...grossalicious. "Spinal Tap" ...ahh, a moment of silence for Mick Shrimpton."Outland" shines (or should I say 'pops') with the best of them. And it's a great film to boot. More of a western than a scifi--its story has been compared to "High Noon"--it might be light on spaceships and laser battles, but it's definitely heavy on mood and atmosphere. If you like tense, dark, claustrophobic mood films like "Alien", "Das Boot" or even the recent "Pandorum", this is worth checking out.Sean Connery plays a great character, not quite the perfect hero as James Bond whom he had played a few years prior, but instead he plays a very human, fallible and slightly vulnerable (if not scared) character reminiscent of the great Jimmy Stewart or Gregory Peck in their roles as reluctant heroes. So don't expect Sean to clean house the way Schwarzenegger might. Here he's clearly outnumbered and outgunned which adds to the chills of this suspenseful story.Director Peter Hyams was at the peak of his game. Films like this, "Capricorn One" and "2010", all filmed within a 7-year stretch, exhibit the same dark, heavy vibe perfect for science fiction. Again let me repeat, you won't get a ton of flashy action scenes, but what you will get is a thick, suspenseful mood.If you like old school scifi like the films I've mentioned, or if you like westerns, or if you like moody thrillers, I think you'll like this. You might like it so much your head will explode. And then you too will be awesome.

Scott LeBrun Yes, it can accurately be described as a Western in disguise, as "High Noon" in space, basically, but that doesn't mean that it isn't well executed and consistently entertaining. Written, directed, and photographed by Peter Hyams, it stars Sean Connery, as commanding a presence as he's ever been, as W.T. O'Niel, a federal marshal stationed on Io, the third moon of Jupiter, where a mining operation has been established. O'Niel discovers that the workers are being given a drug which greatly increases their productivity but also eventually drives them insane. He becomes determined to nail the person(s) responsible for this corruption, but comes to discover that he'll be mostly alone in his fight - even after his nemesis has two hired guns sent after him. "Outland" may be predictable, standard stuff script wise, but it's also a very good looking film, with impressive production design (by Philip Harrison) and sets, all built at Englands' famed Pinewood Studios. Commendably, O'Niel, despite his Dudley Do Right attitude, isn't portrayed as some infallible hero; rather, it's his tendency to make waves that has gotten him transferred from one depressing environment to another. Still, you do root for him all the way, and you also come to like Dr. Lazarus, winningly played by Frances Sternhagen. She's got plenty of sass, and actually comes to O'Niels' aid for the suspenseful finale instead of it being the other way around. Hyams, too, refrains from trying to create any sort of romantic or sexual tension between the two, keeping both characters professional. The back-and-forth chemistry between Connery and Sternhagen is a delight. Peter Boyle is excellent, too, as the company manager who only wants to see results. Other pros include James B. Sikking, a regular in Hyams's films, as the slightly shady Montone, Steven Berkoff, as the unhinged worker Sagan, and John Ratzenberger, in a memorable bit as another miner who goes off the deep end. Jerry Goldsmith supplies the atmospheric score, and the editing is courtesy of the talented veteran Stuart Baird. All in all, this sizes up as solid entertainment, moving along nicely towards its final showdown. Any fan of the genre or of Connery should be quite satisfied. Seven out of 10.