OutlanderMovie Reviews

Poster art for "Outlander."

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Avg. Critic Score: 40 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
15 Iffy for 15+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 70
    The Hollywood Reporter | Ray Bennett

    It's entertaining nonsense with major league special effects, larger-than-life characters and inventive monsters that draw on the "Aliens" and "Predator" models, being terrifying but also vaguely sympathetic. Read full review

  • 67
    The Onion A.V. Club | Tasha Robinson

    Surprise number one: It's smarter than it looks. Surprise number two: That doesn't entirely ruin it as an action film. Read full review

  • 63
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Steven Rea

    An enjoyably goofy hybrid of extraterrestrial sci-fi and Iron Age action, Outlander boasts a super-serious Jim Caviezel in the title role Read full review

  • 50
    Chicago Tribune | Michael Phillips

    The nuttiest hunk of junk in many months. Read full review

  • 50
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    By taking nonsense seriously Outlander never achieves camp. It's a comic book that's mistaken itself for scripture. Read full review

  • 50
    Seattle Post-Intelligencer | Sean Axmaker

    If only Outlander was as fun as the premise makes it sound on paper. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Derek Elley

    Not helped by a wooden perf from Jim Caviezel as a humanoid alien who accidentally imports a real alien to eighth-century Earth. Read full review

  • 50
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Outlander is interesting as a collision of genres: the monster movie meets the Viking saga. You have to give it credit for carrying that premise to its ultimate (if not logical) conclusion. Read full review

  • 25
    Miami Herald | Rene Rodriguez

    There isn't a single scene in this story about a traveler from another planet (Jim Caviezel) who crash-lands on Earth during the Iron Age that doesn't remind you of another, better movie. Read full review

  • 25
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    In its second half, Outlander falls apart completely, becoming nothing but a violent, mindless monster movie along the lines of "Alien vs. Predator." Read full review

View more reviews for Outlander on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 15+ Beowulf with aliens and lots of gore, violence.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this sci-fi action-adventure has plentiful bloody violence and gory killings, committed against alien and earthlings alike. Children are stated to be among the casualties of the monster. There is plentiful liquor use and manly bonding over a Viking drinking game. There's one f-word as well.
  • Families can talk about the monster's motivation. Is the ravenous moorwen truly a villain, or the victim? Does that make Kainan a hero or guilty of genocide?
  • Outlander clearly has a notion to be a science-fiction movie takeoff on Beowulf. There have been others (including an R-rated Christopher Lambert one with more severe gore and eroticism), but parents might use the gimmick to try to get kids to read the original epic-poem. Or John Gardner's novel Grendel, which tells the doomed monster's side of it, or Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead, another clever re-imagining.
  • Study up on the actual Vikings and the mystique that surrounds them. Local "Norsemen" ethnic clubs are proud of their traditions and heroes. Does Outlander get the cultural details correct?
The good stuff
  • message true2 Positive messages: Humanity committed an unforgivable crime by destroying a species. But Kainan has no choice but to fight against the moorwen and stop its killing spree. In a connected note of taking responsibility, Kainan gives up his chance of escape and links to his past history to stay and help his new Viking friends.  
  • rolemodels true2 Positive role models: Kainan is a brave, heroic type, with the qualifier that he's also wiped out an entire species (he's suffered for it, but can't or won't atone). In contrast to stereotypical "barbarians," the Vikings here, though spirited warriors, are fair-minded enough to give Kainan a chance and accept him. A Viking princess demands to be a warrior-equal of the males.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: Humans slashed, clawed, decapitated, dismembered, bitten, and killed by the monster. Swords, spears, arrows, and fiery infernos are deployed against the beast. The hero is chained up and beaten.
  • sex false0 Sex: Not an issue
  • language false3 Language: One f-word.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false2 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Lusty liquor imbibing and tribal drinking games create a "bonding" between the foreigner hero and the Vikings.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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