Outlander (2008)
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An alien warrior crashes into Iron Age Scandinavia and must team up with local Vikings to hunt down a predatory creature that destroyed his home.
The story
In 709 AD, a spacecraft crashes in a lake in Vendel-era Scandinavia. The only surviving occupant, a humanoid alien named Kainan, retrieves a distress beacon and a computer that downloads local Norse culture into his brain. Captured by a warrior named Wulfric, Kainan is taken to the village of King Hrothgar. Kainan reveals that a predatory creature called a Moorwen caused his ship to crash and is now hunting the local people. To protect the village, Kainan must prove his worth to the tribe and devise a plan to stop the beast.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 709 AD, a spacecraft crashes in Vendel-era Scandinavia. The survivor, an alien named Kainan, is captured by Wulfric and taken to King Hrothgar's village. Kainan identifies a predatory creature, the Moorwen, as the cause of his ship's crash. After proving his skills by killing a bear, Kainan helps the villagers defend against the Moorwen. He explains that his people destroyed the Moorwen's home planet, leading the creature to massacre his colony. Kainan and Wulfric lure the Moorwen into an oil pit, but it survives and kills several people, including Gunnar. Kainan, Freya (Hrothgar's daughter), and the newly crowned King Wulfric retrieve metal from the sunken ship to forge weapons. During a mission to the Moorwen's lair, Freya is captured. Kainan and Wulfric eventually defeat the creature with the new weapons. Before dying, Wulfric passes the kingship to Kainan. Kainan eventually destroys his distress beacon, stays as king, weds Freya, and adopts an orphan named Erik.
- First release year
- 2008
- Runtime (minutes)
- 115
- Production countries
- United States; Germany; France; Czech Republic
- Original languages
- English; Icelandic; Latin
- Directors
- Howard McCain
- Writers
- Dirk Blackman · writer; Howard McCain · writer
- Cast and characters
- Jim Caviezel · Kainan; Sophia Myles · Freya; Jack Huston · Wulfric; John Hurt · Rothgar; Cliff Saunders · Boromir; Ron Perlman · Gunnar; Aidan Devine · Einar; Bailey Maughan · Erik
- Genres
- science fiction; action; horror; fantasy; adventure
- Themes
- survival; cultural assimilation; sacrifice; alien invasion
- Tone and mood
- epic; gritty; tense
- Setting
- Vendel-era Scandinavia in 709 AD
- Premise and plot tags
- alien invasion; ancient astronauts; time travel; monster movie; fantasy adventure
- Source material / true-story basis
- Beowulf
- Reception
- The film received mixed to negative reviews, described as 'schizophrenic' in subject and 'lackluster' in execution. Critics praised the production and costume design but criticized the dialogue and direction.
- Production trivia
- The creature 'Moorwen' was a play on the word Morlock from H. G. Wells' The Time Machine.; The Viking village took three months to build.; The film was originally intended to be filmed in New Zealand but the plan fell aside.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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