Outland (1981) – Sean Connery Kicking Ass as a Federal Marshal – In Space

Let me start by saying that I like this movie. I first saw it as a kid, and found it boring and dumb back then, but am glad to say that my opinion has now changed.

Set in a titanium mine on Jupiter’s moon, IO, Federal Marshal William O’Niel (Sean Connery) is assigned to the stating to lead it’s security detail – something that should be routine. Well, if this was going to be a routine assignment then this wouldn’t be much of a movie, right? Luckily, things don’t stay routine – for us, at least.

Not a very fast moving film, it is filled with darkness and a foreboding feeling. This mine is not an overly happy place. Soon, miners start acting weird and doing inexplicably psychotic things that either cause death to themselves – There’s a problem on IO. Seems as though Marshal O’Niel has a drug problem in the mine to fight – and a bad one at that. Add to the fact that the drugs are being supplied by the leader of the mine, Mark Sheppard (played by Peter Boyle), who also starts a campaign to have Marshal O’Niel eliminated. A great performance is also had by Frances Sternhagen (you might not know the name, but you most probably will recognize her from countless roles) as the jaded, but ethical Doctor Lazarus. Also – look out for John Ratzenberger of Cheers fame – he’s in here somewhere…

Dark, moody and plodding may not sound like positive things to say about a movie, but in this case they are positives. This movie is supposed to be Dark, moody and plodding. If you’re looking for a sci-fi movie with a lot of action, well this isn’t it. If you’re looking for a sci-fi movie with depth and drama, watch this. Plus, it freakin’ has Sean Connery in it. Add a few exploding heads due to rapid decompression and you have a most watchable movie. That’s easy to do as I just discovered that the whole thing is available on Youtube – you’ll find that right after the trailer, below.

Check out the trailer here:

And the Whole movie right here: