Outland

Name: Outland
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Crime, Western
Released: May 22, 1981
Duration: 109 min
Rating: 48
Cast: Clarke Peters, Frances Sternhagen, James Sikking, John Ratzenberger, Kika Markham

1981

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Ratings

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6.5

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6.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Ratings

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Outland

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Movie Details & Credits

The Ladd Company | Release Date: May 22, 1981 | R

Starring: Clarke Peters, Frances Sternhagen, James Sikking, John Ratzenberger, Kika Markham, Manning Redwood, Nicholas Barnes, Peter Boyle, Sean Connery, Steven Berkoff

Summary: In the distant future, a police marshal stationed at a remote mining colony on the Jupiter moon of Io uncovers a drug-smuggling conspiracy, and gets no help from the populace when he later finds himself marked for murder.

Director: Peter Hyams

Genre(s): Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Crime, Western

Rating: R

Runtime: 109 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Empire Ian Nathan

This gritty sci-fi is undeservedly neglected and underrated. Read full review

Vincent Canby

Outland is what most people mean when they talk about good escapist entertainment. It won't enlarge one's perceptions of life by a single millimeter, but neither does it make one feel like an idiot for enjoying it so much. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

While there are several mile-wide plot holes and one key under-developed main character, the film emerges as a tight, intriguing old-fashioned drama that gives audiences a hero worth rooting for. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

Connery and Boyle are fine, but the wholesale lifting of High Noon's plot (there's even an on-screen digital readout periodically displayed, counting down the minutes until the big confrontation) certainly undermines interest. Read full review

David Ansen

It doesn't help matters that Connery has been given a cardboard wife and child who--fed up with dingy space colonies-abandon him early on. They're ingredients, not characters. Once again, Hollywood's superlative technology has been squandered on an undernourished screenplay. [01 June 1981, p.91]

Staff (Not Credited)

Because both dialogue and direction are none too exciting, one's tired eyes wander endlessly over the space base sets, where there has been an overuse of that potent sci-fi movie convention which conveys 'realism' by showing that life on the outer limits will be as dingy and badly lit as a suburban subway, with all the usual vices. Read full review

Dave Kehr

The failure of director-writer Peter Hyams to put any weight whatever behind the moral issues (crude as they are) makes this merely violent nonsense. Read full review

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User Reviews

Thorntonp1

Jan 21, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Good older sci-fi movie with a legend Sean Connery well worth a watch. A down on his luck space cop on a mining station fine a couple of crew members going crazy and the Marshall played by Sean Connery finds out it's from drugs being brought in so the miners can work longer hours ( aka Crystal meth) so he stands up to the people bringing the drugs in and they try to kill him and him whoops their asses with the help of the miner space station doctor. Like I said a good Syfy action police jn space it’s good… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

peterf28

Nov 4, 2020

Lol this is a exact copy of Alien movie but with other story - instead of monsters there are drugs ...

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Broyax

May 22, 2023

On sent l’influence d’Alien dans les décors réalistes et l’absence de gadgets trop éloignés de notre réalité (on n’est pas dans Star Trek ou Star Wars…!) et à cet égard ‘Outland’ restitue une atmosphère assez froide qui n’est vraiment pas pour déplaire. Tout est mal éclairé, ça ne ressembleOn sent l’influence d’Alien dans les décors réalistes et l’absence de gadgets trop éloignés de notre réalité (on n’est pas dans Star Trek ou Star Wars…!) et à cet égard ‘Outland’ restitue une atmosphère assez froide qui n’est vraiment pas pour déplaire. Tout est mal éclairé, ça ne ressemble plus à une station mais à un Alcatraz spatial…

Sean Connery se débrouille mais sans plus dans ce remake du train -ou de la station- qui sifflera trois fois… Le problème est que le film reste assez lent, un peu trop lent quand même. Heureusement, la fin a quelques bonnes idées…

Mais l’ensemble reste clairement trop mollasson (et prévisible !). La réalisation bien que très classique reste efficace… mais trop classique ; la musique de Goldsmith fait le boulot et l’ambiance sinistre est un atout. A noter que pour l’époque bien sûr, les décors et les effets spéciaux sont impressionnants.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

drlowdon

Aug 2, 2021

When Federal Marshal William O'Niel is assigned to a titanium ore mining outpost on Jupiter’s moon Io, he is soon witness to a series of miners suffering from psychotic attacks that cause them to commit suicide. Setting out to discover why, he soon finds himself caught up a corporateWhen Federal Marshal William O'Niel is assigned to a titanium ore mining outpost on Jupiter’s moon Io, he is soon witness to a series of miners suffering from psychotic attacks that cause them to commit suicide. Setting out to discover why, he soon finds himself caught up a corporate conspiracy. In terms of effects Outland holds up fairly well for a forty year old movie, and Sean Connery is able to ring as much depth out of a fairly mediocre script as he possibly can, but ultimately this is a fairly forgettable slice of 80’s sci-fi.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

HellHoleHorror

Feb 16, 2022

Apparently in the future all boardroom extras have taken up smoking and they are too cheap to turn the lights on. Oh and that we are going to mine titanium ore from one of Jupiter's moons, Io. They are crap at painting too. In the end this film was just like Alien (1979) but without theApparently in the future all boardroom extras have taken up smoking and they are too cheap to turn the lights on. Oh and that we are going to mine titanium ore from one of Jupiter's moons, Io. They are crap at painting too. In the end this film was just like Alien (1979) but without the alien in it. The sci-fi had parallels with earth that did not test the mind. Pretty straight-forward and watchable space action-adventure.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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