content / criticism
It’s the time of the Crusades. After the two crusaders Jacob (Hayden Christensen) and Gaul (Nicholas Cage) are banished, both flee to China to escape their own demons. Once there, they get caught up in the conflict between two rival clans. From now on they have to decide on which side they stand in the enemy clans. They have their own agenda to bring about peace between clan leaders Zhao (Andy On) und Shalu (Liu Yifei) to recover and overcome their own past.
cultural fusion
The idea of Americanizing Asian cinema and vice versa is not new. Outcast With its part-American and part-Asian cast and swinging focus on honor, adventure and fairly classic (western) action, it’s a prime example of trying to bring disparate cultures together. The influences of the respective film cultures, be they of a technical, acting or narrative nature, are noticeable at all times. The question of whether these blend well with one another, however, is another matter. It’s not really true, unfortunately, as Nicolas Cage and Hayden Christensen (Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones) seem rather strange and out of place in the Asian setting and are probably interchangeable in every respect. However, the biggest problem of the film isn’t only here, but also in completely different places.
Technically a horror
The medieval action-adventure is impressive purely in terms of the cinematic equipment, which includes quite a few armor, weapons and film sets. However, it stays at an atmospheric minimum, since the editing makes it extremely difficult to take a close look and pay close attention to detail. With five cuts in five seconds (this is not an exaggeration in some scenes), it is more like an enormous sensory overload that you are exposed to. If this doesn’t turn out so bad, then the camera is either held at an angle or panned wildly back and forth – that doesn’t make it much better. The question that arises must Outcast put up with at all times: Why was such a complex equipment deployed here when it is atmospherically undermined on average? Not only in this respect does it appear as if the entire film team tripped over and over again.
The weaknesses are rounded off by the subplot of the crusaders, which was probably only integrated because of the potential mysterious expectations of the audience. Maybe one or the other thinks of this Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and combines it with a certain curiosity about what the film apparently wanted to take advantage of. However, this backstory of the protagonists could just as well have been deleted, it wouldn’t have made the movie worse in any way.
A classic emergency rip cord
The fact that the different cultural elements do not merge well may still be manageable, after all this may be a challenge that should not be underestimated. Director Nick Powell (Primal – The hunt is on) was probably also aware of this when he leaves everything behind at one point and maximizes the focus on the action. The narrative is only a nice accessory that is not really worth mentioning. Ultimately, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack if you want to work out the strengths of the film. Since neither the actors, with the exception of Hayden Christensen, nor the stunt choreography or the cinematic aesthetics are convincing Outcast all in all an irrelevant and in any case below-average film, which even with the action, whether it is intense or artful, is overshadowed by its great role models.
Credits
OT: „Outcast“
Land: Canada, China, USA, France
Year: 2014
Director: Nick Powell
Script: James Dormer
Music: Guillaume Roussel
Camera: Joel Ransom
Occupation: Hayden Christensen, Nicolas Cage, Liu Yifei, Ji Ke Jun Yi, Andy On
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2023-07-16 18:41:01
#Outcast #Knights #Templar #FilmRezensions.de
