Nicolas Cage has
always lived on the border between passable performer and over-acting hack,
often making it impossible to believe that he is the same person that starred
in Leaving Las Vegas. Many of these
performances were just lackluster enough to be unintentionally entertaining,
and his ridiculous spending habits that led to massive debt have resulted in an
increasingly atrocious series of choices these last few years. Unfortunately, Outcast is just bad enough to be
forgettable without reaching the level of awfulness to make it laughably
atrocious, and the biggest mistake may be the entire middle section of the film
which is missing Cage chewing scenery with a bad British accent. More awful may
not have saved the film, but it would have made it a more memorable trainwreck
to sit through, and more of Cage would have guaranteed that.
Even the most
seasoned of directors have a difficult time retrieving a convincing performance
from Cage (not that he has worked with any of them lately), so it should come
as no surprise that first-time director Nicholas Powell struggles. The fact
that Powell has over 100 screen credits for his stunt work also explains why
the fight choreography is the only thoughtful aspect of his filmmaking. The dialogue
and story constantly feels secondary to Powell’s vision, resulting in some
adequate action sequences in which nothing is at stake because of how little we
care for the characters.
In a disjointed
prologue to the film’s primary narrative, we begin with two crusaders named
Jacob (Hayden Christensen) and Gallain (Cage) struggling to retain their
humanity throughout the endless killing of battle. Despite Gallain being the
more sympathetic throughout this sequence of carnage, it is Jacob we must follow
as the primary protagonist when the film jumps forward to China China
In a predictable
and contrived narrative twist, Jacob is given the opportunity to redeem his
past when coincidentally crossing paths with the rightful heir of the Imperial
throne being pursued by his corrupt older brother (Andy On). This means endless
sequences of pursuit and battle, with a series of forgettable dialogue scenes
in-between. The action is mostly bloodless, though well choreographed, and is
the closest thing to a reason for watching this easily forgettable mini-epic. Although
Christensen has not been onscreen since 2010, he actually manages to carry the
lead role without too many troubles. Unfortunately, that does not mean he is
engaging or enjoyable enough to make the film anything better than your
run-of-the-mill straight-to-home-video release. I found myself longing for Cage
to return onscreen, because bad acting can occasionally be surprisingly more
enjoyable than a bland performance.
The Blu-ray
release for this forgettable film includes a generic making-of featurette,
interviews with the cast and crew mildly promoting this average piece of
entertainment, and a theatrical trailer.
Entertainment Value:
4/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 3.5/10
Historical
Significance: 2/10
Special Features: 4.5/10
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