Hwaet a Movie - Episode 7: Outlander (2008)

Hwæt a Movie! returns with yet another adaptation of the epic Old English poem Beowulf.

This time, we've got Outlander, a surprisingly fun tale of an alien crash-landing in 8th century Norway as he hunts down the monstrous Moorwen that killed his family. Of course, the Moorwen had some cause to be angry after a genocidal attack on the Moorwen planet. But let's not dwell on how it all started. Outlander is also a Beowulf story wrapped up in a neat little sci-fi package!

This time around, Jim Caviezel stars as Kainan (our space Beowulf). You might know Caviezel from 2002's The Count of Monte Cristo or from 2004's The Passion of the Christ. He's joined by the beloved John Hurt as Rolhgar (I legitimately thought he was called Hrothgar through the whole movie and I'm only learning as I write this that he was Rolhgar...), the talented Sophia Miles as Freya, the dreamy Jack Huston as Wulfric, and the inimitable Ron Perlman as Gunnar.

As always, we provide an extensive summary (prepared with exhaustive detail by John) and discussion, a brief Q&A inspired by the film, and then our final ratings categories for the film's take on Beowulf, Grendel, and Grendel's mother. We conclude by rating the film for its faithfulness to the source material and then for its overall entertainment value.

Like some of our other Hwæt a Movies, this one runs a bit long. There's just so much to talk about as we get deeper and deeper into the Beowulf movie swamp.

As of right now, you can watch Outlander for free on YouTube here.

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