OUTCAST (2014)

Genre: Action/Adventure
Director: Nicholas Powell
Cast: Nicholas Cage, Hayden Christensen, Liu Yifei, Bill Su, Byron Lawson, Jawed El Berni, Liang Shi
RunTime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Some Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 9 October 2014

Synopsis: Battle weary English knight JACOB (Hayden Christensen) wanders to the ends of the earth to flee the horror of the crusades. But when he agrees to bodyguard royal siblings LIAN (Liu Yifei) and ZHAO, once again he finds himself selling his sword in a faraway land. Lian's tyrannical brother SHING (Andy On) has seized the throne from rightful heir Zhao and his rule threatens to plunge the land into chaos. To restore peace Jacob must escort the two most wanted fugitives in the kingdom on an impossibly perilous cross-country passage. With only ragtag bandit GALLAIN (Nicholas Cage) to help them the outcasts will face a legion of assassins, a relentless nemesis who has vowed revenge on Jacob for his deeds in the Holy Land, and Shing himself, the greatest swordsman to have ever lived.

Movie Review:

Abruptly pulled out of general screenings in the Mainland and released without much fanfare locally, this China Canadian co-production stars Hayden Christensen (the Star Wars prequels) and Nicolas Cage as two jaded holy crusaders who manage to find redemption in 12^th century China.

Written by a presumably white dude James Dormer, Outcast is a generic action flick that embarrassingly promotes white supremacy. The Chinese fight among themselves for the Emperor throne and the white guys came in to save the day. This is the short version of the movie synopsis while the longer one sounds something liked this: Jacob (Christensen) and his mentor Gallain (Cage) two warriors tired of being constantly in war decides to flee to China for a better life. Jacob now opium-addicted unwittingly becomes the escort for a pair of royal siblings, Princess Lian (Liu Yifei from The Four) and the rightful heir to the throne, Prince Zhao (Bill Su) when their greedy elder brother, Shin (HK’s resident villain Andy On) wants them to return the Emperor seal. War is unleashed inevitably and yes a white-hot dude with perfect hairdo saves the day.

Despite its best intention to provide the story with a meaningful message, the often clunky and overused plotting easily overshadowed the message of redemption. We probably have seen it a thousand times about a dying Emperor being murdered by his loved ones for the throne in countless Chinese productions. Damn, even Ridley Scott’s critically acclaimed Gladiator uses it. But then Gladiator doesn’t have Andy On, the six-pack villain who fights as well as he looks. In addition to the fact that all the fancy Chinese swordplay is no match to the Western style of fencing enhanced the very fact that this is an unbelievable story.

Finally, Nicolas Cage can add to his long-running resume, a Chinese co-production to his list of award-winning arthouse dramas to blockbusters to indie flicks. You can’t seriously expect much from Cage nowadays since the role of Gallain marks yet another of his eccentric over-the-top performances. The return of Christensen to the big screen after a long hiatus is ultimately as memorable as his well-groomed tomahawk while Liu Yifei who perfectly nailed the predictable damsel-in-distress role becomes the movie’s biggest gag simply because her character throws herself at a complete Caucasian stranger at the shortest time.

Directed by veteran stunt choreographer Nick Powell (The Bourne Identity, X-Men: The Last Stand), Outcast entertains for the most part given the atrocious lazy story. It possesses beautiful cinematography and breath-taking locations for a start. It has plenty of wham-bang action though not significantly choreographed given Powell’s background. It has a hazy romance angle which speaks of white supremacy. It has also incredulous gags one in particular has Jacob shooting an arrow that travelled a mile; keeping in mind Jacob is actually a drug addict. It also reminded us that in the 12^th century, everyone from the Chinese to Muslims to Indian speak impeccable English. Most important of all, Cage’s 20 minutes quirky appearance that makes this a must-watch epic as the poster blatantly sold it as a Cage’s flick. 

Movie Rating:

(If you love white people saving the world, you love Outcast)

Review by Linus Tee