Outcast (2014)

Let's be realistic.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

This will be a quick review. Nothing and I mean NOTHING was good about this movie. I tried to think of one funny part, action part, whatever. Nothing. I was gonna rate it a 2/10 but again almost every part of this movie was so hard to watch. The acting was awful. I know Nicolas Cage can act and has been in decent movies. But this was one of the worse movies I've seen Cage in. The accent throughout the movie distracted me from the movie at times. Hayden Christensen was also terrible. Also giving another bad accent and I just kept seeing the same role he gave in the prequels for Star Wars. The rest of the cast was something to complain about as well.Movie was slow and just felt like they didn't even attempt to make it decent. And the movie only got worse as it went on. I was even complaining about the deaths. It didn't make any sense on how the smallest wound killed but others lived with stab wounds all over. It had me so confused. A movie that was so slow and too long. After I complained about Cage's accent, his outfit and scar he had was so bloody bad. Wait bad isn't the right word, it was shameful. Cheapest way and attempt to make it a scar.Skip this movie, so many worse movies out there that still beat this by a long shot. I had to add this movie to my HORRIBLE MOVIES list, and I feel like I made a correct choice. I'm sure I can go on about what else is bad about this movie but I'm just going to stop here. In short, SKIP!!

What I liked about this film was that it was clean and fun. I enjoyed seeing Hayden Christensen do something different. Some parts were a little silly, but it was enjoyable. There were some historical elements to it, and a lot of action. I also liked the conflicts of different perspectives.This is my favorite role of Hayden Christensen's of late. Nic Cage's character was a little over the top for me. It is not the best film ever made, but it wasn't that bad either. I watched it back to back the first time.I also enjoyed the interviews and making of in the special features section.

The acting is good enough to be believed, i.e. all the emotions and interactions are real enough that you can forget it is acting. There are some editing decisions which leave gaps in the story but not enough so that you cannot deduce what has happened. Just enough to keep you interested. (e.g. how did Jacob get from the middle east to the far east?) The jealous son kills his father when he learns he has been passed over in the line of succession, then sends soldiers to kill his brother and sister. They happen upon Jacob who is in the far east smoking opium to forget the horrors of battle in the middle east. He sees them about to be slaughtered and saves them, then agrees to escort them to safety. Much adventure follows, heroic actions, unbelievable fight scenes and escapes. You can guess it is going to be something like this just from the advertisements and previews for the film. So I was not surprised or disappointed when that was what I saw. It is the kind of entertainment I expected and it was enjoyable.

I have watched a LOT of really bad movies, and this isn't anywhere near the bottom of the barrel. In fact, it's kind of enjoyable. The bad guy is sufficiently bad that we he drives the story and justifies our anger. He has just enough complexity that he escapes being one- dimensional. Hayden Christensen is acceptable as basically the fallen hero, and Nicholas Cage is, well, a little off the wall.Some people complain about the action, and the first sequence is not that great. But the later action scenes are decent, and the last sword- fight is pretty good.Some of the story is sort of sketched in instead of really told in depth, but it's not inconsistent or riddled with plot holes. What story there is moves along at a good pace.