Outland (1981) Writer-director-cinematographer Peter Hyams was first and foremost a slick entertainer.....
He skimmed the surface of popular genres (thrillers, sci-fi-, horror, action-adventure) and made a pile of fun-to-watch, popcorn-gobblin' movies (The Relic, Star Chamber, Narrow Margin, 2010, etc, etc..)_
But you'd never waste your time searching for subtext in a Hyams film, or expect him to dig any deeper into his characters and storylines. He remained content to just hit the expected tropes of whatever genre he chose to coast through.
He could perk you up though, with his occasional talent for snappy dialogue.
As much as we enjoyed most of Hyams's films, they always left us with the feeling that if he'd only put in a little more effort, he could've raised some of them far above their standard boilerplate origins.......so they could stand next to some of the great, best loved , best remembered popcorn movies.
But throughout his career, he was content to pump out sturdy imitations of films way better than his.....
"Outland", his Sci-Fi mash-up of 'Alien' and 'High Noon' benefited enormously from the presence of Sean Connery, who as usual radiated that charismatic power so you'd never take your eyes off him. Sir Sean played a galactic Marshall in charge of peacekeeping at an ore mining colony on Jupiter's moon, Io.
As in 'Alien', the corporation in charge of the mine is greedy and corrupt beyond all measure. Its manager (Peter Boyle) increases the miners' productivity by dealing out a lethal hallucinogenic drug whose after effects cause their horrific delirium-induced suicides via decompressed airlocks.
In other words......they done blowed up real good.
With the help of the colony's feisty, ornery doctor (a scene stealing Frances Sternhagen), Connery uncovers the conspiracy. And he's forced, like Gary Cooper's lone Marshall in 1952's "High Noon", to face off against two bounty assassins that Boyle's shipped in to wipe him out......(plus the threat of a hidden surprise killer already in place...)
Naturally, the late Connery commands the screen like no other actor in history, and Hyams fills the movie with extravagant, meticulous production design and another superb, dynamic Jerry Goldsmith score.
But as we said when we started this post, by the time a Hyams film comes to an end, we can't help wishing that there was more meat on the bone.....
We longed for lengthier, better written and more frequent confrontations between Connery and Boyle, which could have prepared us for a classic Hero/Villain showdown to make the film a true Wild West battle in outer space that it promised to be.
Boyle, however, is reduced to a throwaway generic bad guy who's hardly used at all. And Connery's final confrontation with him is reduced to a fast, cheap laugh, a pathetic moment given the danger and near death experiences the Marshall's endured.
That final scene becomes the essence of our problem with Hyams.......every time he has the chance to lift the film up to something better, he blows it......the mark of a filmmaker who's only skimming the surface.
Don't let our griping put you off, though.......there's still plenty to enjoy here.....the vivid special effects, the powerhouse Goldsmith music, the sharp, droll Sternhagen performance and of course.....the always awesome Sir Sean Connery.
That's more than enough for us to blast off 3 intergalactic stars (***).......and watching it again made us realize how much we'll miss the legendary Scotsman.
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