'Outlander' review

James Caviezel (Credit: Third Rail)

Norwegians in 709 A.D. are getting along just fine—aside from the constant, savage swordfights, of course—until a spaceship crashes and the lone survivor, Kainan (Jim Caviezel of "The Passion of the Christ"), explains that he's accidentally brought with him giant, killer alien creatures called Moorwen. After some initial (and understandable) disbelief, the Vikings join up with Kainan to take down the massive, fast-moving beasts. Co-starring Sophia Myles as Kainan's love interest, Jack Huston as Kainan's rival/partner, Ron Perlman as an enemy warrior and John Hurt as the King.

The buzz: "Outlander" apparently took 13 years, 5 producers and a rotating slate of cast members and locations to finally make it to the big screen, which is a long journey for something that seems like a relatively basic low-budget sci-fi flick. The added bit of intrigue is the story's similarity to "Beowulf"—with, you know, the addition of aliens.

The verdict: You'd think mythological dragon hunting would be a B-movie slam dunk, but not when it's executed with so little ingenuity or zest. "Outlander" could have been a serious, scary action pic or an over-the-top cult classic. Instead, it's just a straightforward, dully average monster movie—with the requisite ickiness but without the fun. You'll care less about who gets slashed and/or chewed to pieces than about several of the Vikings' stylish beard pigtails.

Did you know? Kainan gives a young boy a deadly sword merely so the kid will divulge his name. This seems like an extremely fair and simple way—take a hike, background checks!—to determine who gets to own a weapon.

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