Outland (1981)

 

After saying goodbye to the character of James Bond, Sean Connery had a bit of a downward slope in his career. Not that his body of work was suddenly awful or anything, but he just didn't seem to be hitting his stride anymore for some reason. What was interesting though, is that he diversified into various genres, which often led to surprising if somewhat underrated results. 

Take 'Outland' for example. This is in actuality a sort of science fiction remake of the western classic 'High Noon' and it is far better than one might expect. Is it an easy watch? No. But what it lacks in high octane, it makes up for in atmosphere and some pretty great performances.

On Io, one of the moons of Jupiter, there is a mining colony that works rather well even though life there is pretty boring and uneventful. O'Niel (Connery) is the new marshall of the law, sent there for a tour of one year. He pretty much got sent there after probably pissing off some of his superiors and this is far enough where he won't be a bother. It should be a boring run. O'Niel instantly dislikes the facility's administrator Sheppard (Boyle) and to make things even worse, O'Niel's wife and child are heading back to Earth as they can't take these deep space assignments anymore. 

Not the most ideal situation. 

But things aren't all rosy, as it transpires that more and more labourers suffer from a psychotic break and either commit suicide or have tragic accidents because of hallucinations. This wouldn't seem out of place, except the bodies are disposed of insanely quickly and nothing is ever mentioned again. This picques O'Niel's interest and he quickly enlists the aid of sarcastic doctor Lazarus (Sternhagen). They discover that the workers are given a synthetic drug that boosts productivity, yet creates psychosis after roughly 6 months of use. 

Of course, Sheppard isn't too pleased O'Niel has discovered this and asks for two hitmen to be sent to deal with the problem... 

'Outland' is a slow burn, just be warned. This film doesn't race through its story and takes its sweet time setting up the characters and the gruelling build towards the inevitable face-off. But it does make up for that with letting us get to know the characters and setting up a world that actually feels extremely real. Someone once made the observation that this story and the story of the original 'Alien' might even be in the same universe and it makes sense: this lived-in, industrial society and industry just touches a nerve that this is a possible future. The film is also still dosed with some of that 70s nihilism and despair, something which only 'Star Wars' managed to break, but grim futures that aren't truly apocalyptic are still a thing. 

Connery is great as always. His O'Niel is unassuming but he fervently goes after this case, maybe because his wife has left him for Earth and he has little else left. Peter Boyle is spot on as the slimy administrator who just wants his paycheck and is willing to do anything but too chicken to do it himself. But who truly steals every scene she's in, is Frances Sternhagen as dr Lazarus. She is pretty hostile and cynical towards O'Niel at first, but warms up to him, as she feels he is the only honest person left on the entire base, except for the workers, that is. She lights up every scene she's in. 

Oh, and Peter Hyams knows how to get lights and surroundings to work in his favour. The man has a very clear artistic vision and this film looks solid because of it. 

This won't be for everyone. The slow pacing, grim nature of the story and downbeat atmosphere can be tough to digest, but if you want your science fiction to be more grounded and gritty, this could very well be something you would enjoy. I perhaps wouldn't recommend it to others outside of more hardcore sci-fi aficionados, but it is worth checking out and absolutely an underrated entry in Connery's illustrious career.