OUTLAND now on Blu-Ray

HBO in the early 1980’s.  It was a major part of my childhood (& so was MTV – remember when they used to play music videos?) “R” rated films were shown “only at night”, and that meant that my parents were home.  I remember asking (begging) my father if I could stay up and watch the Home Box Office premiere of, Caddyshack, because I loved Chevy Chase (yeah, I watched the “Not Ready For Prime Time Players” on SNL when I was 9 or 10 years old!)  After listening to me go on & on about how cool the gopher looked in the commercials,  he agreed to let me watch it with him.  Excitedly, I constructed a make-shift movie theatre box-office (by cutting two holes out of a cardboard box & taping the HBO guide to the front of it, featuring Caddyshack) & then charged my Father fifty cents to enter the living room.  Well, I think my Dad got his money’s worth, I had fifty cents … and I got to see boobs. 

So, what does HBO, Caddyshack (& boobs) have to do with my Blu-Ray review of Outland?  Not a whole helluva lot, but, like Caddyshack, it’s rated “R”…and I first experienced this Sci-Fi thriller on … you guessed it, Home Box Office!  Back when certain movies seemed to be broadcast almost every other night on the cable network, over and over … Outland was one of them.

What’s it about?

Marshal W.T. O’Neil (a bearded Sean Connery) is assigned to a mining colony on one of Jupiter’s moons, where some of the miners are dying violent deaths. When O’Neil begins to snoop around, he discovers that the fatal incidents all have one thing in common, a lethal amphetamine-type drug, which allows the miners to work continuously for days, until…they go mad! (ever see Scanners or Total Recall?  Yeah, it aint pretty.) You see, the harder the men work, the more money they’ll have in their space-bank accounts … and, of course, more profits for the mining company.

Makes sense, right?

Our hero’s investigation takes him from one drug dealer to the next, & ultimately leads him to the guy that’s in charge of the colony, Sheppard (a bearded Peter Boyle!)  It goes without saying that Sheppard (and everyone else) doesn’t like the new Marshal shaking things up.

Sean Connery illuminated.

Sheppard makes a few calls and now some nasty assassins are going to land on the Jupiter moon and take out the thorn in their side, the pain in their #%*, the wrench in their … yeah, you get it.

With the aid of his ONLY friend, a kooky gopher (kidding!), I meant, a cranky space Doctor (Frances Sternhagen), O’Neil must race against the clock (no, really, there’s a clock), ala High Noon, and figure out a way take down the bad guys one by one and put an end to the drug ring!  The film’s tense finale takes the Marshal outside, into outer space!

Sounds cool, eh?  Well, it IS.

It’s literally been light years since I’ve last watched, nay, experienced, Outland. As a kid planted in front of my television set back in the 80’s, I didn’t really care for the story, I just liked the dark, cramped sets of the mining colony space station, the space suits & the naked dancing chicks in the space bar (now I’m just coming off as a perverted kid, but hey, boys will be boys!)  Truthfully, having not seen this film for some time, it was a completely different movie experience for me (this happens when you get older).  Obviously, you look at things differently after a long time and it’s usually refreshing, as was my recent Blu-Ray viewing of this 1981 Sc-Fi thriller.

OUTLAND featured some great sets, worlds apart from what you see in ‘Star Wars’.

From its eerie opening title sequence, which I give full credit to the film’s ominous Alien-like music by the late, great composer, Jerry Goldsmith (who coincidentally, created the haunting score to the original Alien), to the first glimpse of Jupiter and the shot of the mining colony space station, I was hooked. I found the first frames to be bittersweet, because I miss the days of miniatures and in-camera special effects.  Yes, sometimes they look like little models on Blu-Ray, but that’s part of the charm of films like these … it was the effort that went into making them, and hell yes, they look so much more realistic than most of today’s CGI space-crap!

The ship’s interiors look dark and cramped, as they should be on a Jupiter mining colony, I suppose (I’m not a miner, but I feel this movie puts the viewer smack dab in the middle of a work day – or night? … who knows, it’s outer space?!) and it’s lighting (courtesy of the amazing cinematographer, Stephen Goldblatt) lends itself beautifully to the story & holds up extremely well in Hi-Def.

Director Peter Hyams, who is no stranger to this genre (Capricorn One, 2010), keeps it real … as real as it can get in a sci-fi flick.  I liked the fact that this film looks & feels (as I mentioned earlier) like the original, Alien, and a dash of Blade Runner thrown into the space-mix … and there’s nothing wrong with that.  I rather enjoy moody, tense action flicks set in space, and this one, while not having aliens, replicants or laser guns, gets the job done.  This is a thinking space-man’s movie … and even though I’m not known for my thinking, I ate it up.

OUTLAND – ‘High Noon’ in space.

I mentioned no laser guns – that’s right – shot guns are the weapon of choice here. Hell, even the one-sheet has Sean Connery brandishing his shotgun.  It really is a mystery/western in space … mixed with corporate greed.  Movies like this probably wouldn’t get made today, unless there was less talking, more human heads exploding (love it!) & more shooting … with laser blasters!

As much as I miss old school special effects, I miss the old school acting as well. Sean Connery come back, we need you!  Sean plays O’Neil as Sean Connery playing a Marshal, whether he’s on earth, or in space … and that’s why we love him.  We get what we pay for, and that’s Connery kicking space-ass!  I love his scenes with the great, Frances Sternhagen.  Think of her character, Dr. Lazarus, as the female equivalent to Dr. McCoy.  She’s crusty, bull-headed and knows her s*%#.  Watch the sparks fly when the Marshal meets her … and she’s on HIS side!

DO I even need to mention how good Peter Boyle is?  Well, he is.  He’s a nasty corporate stooge, hell bent on keeping the Marshal out of the way, no matter what the cost.

Peter Boyle as Sheppard – One of the actor’s smarmier roles.

How’s the Blu-Ray quality?

I gotta hand it to the folks at Warner Bros., Outland looks pretty damn good for a catalogue title.  You’re not gonna get a sharp, glossy look like it was made yesterday, but a VERY film-like transfer worthy of this title.  When I say ‘film-like’, I’m talking about a fine layer of grain that isn’t overly intrusive, but makes it look like you are watching a cleaned up 35 mm print.  Simply awesome for film enthusiasts like myself and fans of the film … like myself.

How about the sound?  Well, here’s what REALLY impressed me about the DTS-HD 5.1 surround sound mix … it’s Incredible for it’s age!  This title actually has a better stereo mix than even some of my newer Blu-Ray titles!  I couldn’t believe it!  I thought the bass was booming so loud that it would wake the neighbors!  When we see exterior miners at work in outer space, you can hear the individual welders, drills & various other mining tools coming from different directions that had me constantly whipping my big Irish head around from speaker to speaker like I was at a tennis match, or like a dog who was just thrown an invisible tennis ball!

I was impressed.  Nice job, Warner’s!

Obviously some thought and care was put into this title’s picture transfer and sound mix.  It shows … and is very much appreciated.

I gotta add, Jerry Goldsmith’s score was the real treat here.  Any film the late maestro lent his baton to, elevated it .  To be honest, without his masterful score, the film wouldn’t be half as moody, atmospheric and yes, space age.  Thank you, Mr. Goldsmith.  You are missed.

The Outland Blu-Ray also features a commentary track from Director, Peter Hyams.  I found it to be everything a film-lover would want to hear … very informative and interesting.  Worth checking out!

All in all another winning Blu-Ray review from yours truly.  For fans of great Sci-Fi, make sure to pick up Outland on Blu-Ray.  Just don’t expect Star Wars. You gotta let this film take its time and you will be rewarded with an experience that will last with you for days after you watch it.

Now I’m going to go and make a box-office out of a cardboard box for my next movie night!  Some habits are hard to break.