Outland (Limited Edition)
(Arrow Film UHD Blu-ray)
Given all the gadgetry of James Bond, maybe it’s no surprise that Sean Connery would wind up in science fiction? In Outland (1981), Connery plays O’Neil, a U.S. Marshal posted to a remote outpost on Io, a moon of Jupiter where a corporate behemoth has established a mining colony. Two miners die, apparent suicides. People sometimes “go wacko out here,” O’Neil is told. The newly arrived marshal has reason to believe them. After all, his wife departed after only a few weeks on Io, leaving a video message about her sense of confinement on a planet uninhabitable beyond the walls of the mining complex. And yet, something isn’t adding up.
Director Peter Hyams sets up the scenario with brisk efficiency, laying out the basic information in the opening credits: population of the colony, a shuttle arrives weekly, etc. Io’s corporate general manager is proud of his high production numbers, even as miners grumble about broken union contracts. The other marshals tell O’Neil to not make waves. With a dismissive shrug reminiscent of the last scene from Chinatown, they say, “It happens here.”
Io’s harsh landscape is rendered beautifully, and the mining colony is given the grungy future realism of Alien. Jerry Goldsmith’s score channels Holst’s planetary awe. The new Blu-ray release comes with many extras. (David Luhrssen)
David Luhrssen
David Luhrssen lectured at UWM and the MIAD. He is author of The Vietnam War on Film, Encyclopedia of Classic Rock, and Hammer of the Gods: Thule Society and the Birth of Nazism.
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Dec. 11, 2025
3:54 p.m.
