Emmanuel Chayer
If you go on and read most of the reviews, you'll probably skip this movie thinking that it's a rotten tomato.. But in reality it is surprisingly good. It's is not a marvel of cinematography, but the action is good, the story holds itself, and the acting is actually good. So do yourself a favor, and skip the reviews and make your own mind about this movie on your own. Cage is not the main character of this movie although he's show as being an important piece in the puzzle that is the mind of the main character, who holds him in high regards. We slowly, but clumsily see a man torn by his past break free and become the hero of the story. This could have been made better and focused on it more during this film, which is mostly action related. It is probably the only downside of this movie as they could have made it more about his coming back from his self-made nightmare toward becoming the one that would save the day.
Paul Magne Haakonsen
First of all, I must say that I didn't expect much from "Outcast", given the fact that it starred both Nicolas Cage and Hayden Christensen. But still, I decided to give it a chance, as I do enjoy movies, and they could for once actually prove me wrong.But alas, that was not to be. "Outcast" is not a great movie by any means. Sure it was adequately entertaining and had some good enough fight scenes. But the storyline was as holed as Swizz cheese. I don't know what writer James Dormer really wanted to accomplish with this movie, but it was just a tad too far out there.The story in "Outcast" is about two Templar crusaders, Gallain (played by Nicolas Cage) weary of the carnage and falsehood of the crusade and Jacob (played by Hayden Christensen) wholly sworn to the cause. After the crusade, Jacob finds himself in China, where he is killing his personal demons with alcohol, when he happens to help an heir to the Chinese empire by random luck. He musters up and sets out to return the heir to the rightful throne. But they need the assistance of the fabled White Ghost that lives on the mountain.Right, well the idea was there and the heart was in the right place. But it just didn't make much logic sense most of the time. And the storyline was a bit too shallow, taking you from point A to point C, without actually letting you see what was at point B.And it was also a slap to the face that everyone in ancient China were speaking English. That sort of thing in movies just kills off so much authenticity. Sure, it might appeal to a larger audience as a whole, but it just kills the mood.As for the acting, well with hand on heart then I can say that Hayden Christensen actually performed quite well and carried the movie nicely. However, Nicolas Cage must have delivered his most stale and generic performance to date here in "Outcast", and it was done with a very hilarious accent."Outcast" is a mediocre movie by all means, and it is hardly a memorable notch in movie history. "Outcast" came and went quietly, and once you've seen it, it will be bagged, tagged and left on the shelf to collect dust. It is hardly a movie that sustains more than a single viewing.My rating of "Outcast" is a mediocre five out of ten stars.
yukinokourei
To start of with, this film is terribly awful, and bless such English accent, it is not well adjusted to each of its Asian player - it feels off and extremely weird. Quite disappointed of how the film turned out, it lack of the ability of story-telling, basically, every scenes does not fit on a precise time-line, it's all messed up (like the one when Jacob back to Lian and Zhao, when the scenes shows them on run to hide, where? and how did they get the horses? They didn't explain this, it should have been a short explanation yet, the film didn't). The fighting scenes was not cut to be exist, how I would really like if the scene when Nicolas Cage tried to fend of the black guards were made to be more epic, y'know, that scene, is very boring. It's like, it was made in messed up plot to make Nicolas Cage's Character die (more like a rushed scene that supposed from my view, without that scene, it will be fine). Anyway, Hayden Christensen's fighthing scene with Shing was awful... The first time i saw Jacob's (a.k.a Hayden) sword, I was like 'ooo... this sword looks heavy' and when he fight with Shing, I was expecting a good fight but no - it was simply horrible. Dual blade and long sword battle? it should have been an "epic" fight but, this fight was rushed to be finished quick. Shing looks so "majestic and arrogant" at first, same at the fight but what, he's dead - just by a stab (a really deep stab).Each of the character have poor background story, having east and west being combined is already a terrible idea and now the characters. The kingdom itself (where Zhao, Lian and Shing came from) was not clear, like, normally there would be name (depends on what time-line does the kingdom existed) and it seems to be forced, from west heading to east, the film does not explained the year which makes this whole film have a very poor setting. All you can see is that, they are escaping, with a (suddenly) pop-up designated area. English accent, (this makes me regretted for watching this film), why don't just let the Asian be for what they are. Like, HEY! THEY COME FROM THE EAST, NOT WEST! Plus, from my view, back then, even a well educated royals doesn't speak English (especially) that fluently (I do not discriminate anyone here, I am talking about the film here, please do not misunderstand for what I speak of) All the west + east is horrible, then there's the English accent, sometimes, if you blink an eye, you wouldn't suspect anything - everything seems fine. But, when you listen while watching carefully, you will find that the character's talking were off from the rod, they way they talk did not match their voice tone. Like Lian's, her voice was so soft and light, and sometimes did not match the dialogue she was talking in particular scene while Xiaoli's were much like an adult rather than a kid. (If this was made by casting, I would say, there is no need for it, it is much enjoyable to hear as what they are)Lastly, maybe they should learn to organize scenes, everything were jumbled. The King's death, like it was designed to inflict conflict of whether who's fit to be in the throne. Meeting the white ghost (a.k.a Nicolas Cage) at the mountains, seems like it was created to extend the story further like, temporary shelter and help. Do the followers of white ghost were made for nothing? They seems to appear for a sec and die at the next plus, May, she's dead for "nothing", all those followers seems to be placed as a figure and lack of their own background story.
