During the reign of the Vikings, Kainan (Jim Caviezel) a man from a far-off world, crash lands on Earth bringing with him a deadly alien predator known as the Moorwen. On Earth he meets King Hrothgar (John Hurt) and his people who he tries to convince that something a lot deadlier than warring tribes is out to get them.

Outlander is one of those films I’d seen pop up on Netflix for ages before I finally decided to watch it, and admittedly I thought it’d be pretty rubbish based on the premise. I mean, guy from a place with far superior technology has to deal with primitive Vikings? It sounded cringey. Luckily, instead of being condescending towards the townspeople, Kainan is actually a pretty chill and adaptable guy and looks for a way to work with these people, even if they don’t believe him straightaway.

While you might think that there may be humour derived from the culture clash between Kainan and the Viking people, that’s not the case at all. In fact, Outlander is serious and gets straight down to the action and it is often bloody action too.

The tension in Outlander comes from two places, the suspense of waiting to see the Moorwen and the conflict between Kainan and warrior Wulfric (Jack Huston). The two of them butt heads over how to deal with the threat facing them all as they struggle to trust one another. Surprisingly, while Wulfric is set up as an antagonist for Kainan the film does allow him some growth and their dynamic becomes interesting. The film makes you wait to see the Moorwen, showing you glimpses of the large creature and flashes of light as Kainan and the others go hunting. It also throws in a few red herrings as well, making you wait even longer for the big reveal.

The blend of sci-fi monster and Middle Age aesthetic works surprisingly well, and though sometimes the film does drag, Outlander ends up being an unexpectedly engaging monster movie. 3/5.