Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

The Outsider Blu-ray Movie Review

An Englishman in L.A.

Reviewed by Michael Reuben March 6, 2014

In Steven Soderbergh's 1999 puzzler, The Limey, a Cockney who regretted his estrangement from his daughter came to Los Angeles to solve her murder. Soderbergh fractured the narrative, played games with chronology and used the expressive features of star Terence Stamp to convey more than words could say. Director Brian A. Miller and his star, Craig Fairbrass, who co-wrote the story of The Outsider, follow the same general outline, but their artistic aims are much less ambitious. The Outsider wants to be nothing more than a genre exercise about a tough guy on a personal quest who mows down every obstruction in his way, human or otherwise. The problem is that such stories work best when they move relentlessly forward in a straight line, and Miller makes the mistake of taking several sharp turns, each of which requires him to crank up the narrative machinery all over again. Despite the presence of the reliably villainous James Caan, the film quickly goes slack.

Fairbrass is an interesting presence, who has both the physique and the acting chops to play the kind of one-man army that a film like The Outsider requires. He made a strong impression as one of Jane Tennison's cops in the first two installments of Prime Suspect. He was a memorable villain on the British evening soap EastEnders (and unlike most villains on that show, he lived to tell the tale). And he has provided solid supporting work in such diverse films as Cliffhanger and The Bank Job. But Fairbrass is ill-served by his director, who hasn't mastered the particular pacing required by the action/revenge genre to maintain an audience's suspension of disbelief. Miller slows down when he should be speeding up, and the worst thing a filmmaker can do when a wild man is tearing through L.A., whether he's from London's East End or Axel Foley's Detroit, is give the audience time to reflect on the absurdity of the situation.

Two L.A. detectives, Klein (Jason Patric) and Miller (William deVry), are called when a young woman's body is found beneath a bridge in San Pedro, possibly a homicide, possibly a drug-related suicide. All her ID and credit cards list her name as "Samantha Walker". Her next of kin is a former British soldier, Lex Walker (Fairbrass), now working for a private military contractor. As soon as the news reaches Walker, he quits his job and returns to London to arrange for his daughter's funeral. Only when he reaches home does he learn that the U.S. authorities will not release the body without a positive identification.

A bigger shock awaits Walker upon his arrival in Los Angeles. The body in the morgue isn't Samantha. No one has any explanation. They all think he's a grieving father in denial. Walker begins his own investigation, starting with Samantha's former place of employment, a sleek corporate operation run by one Schuuster (Caan), who is both evasive and surrounded by thugs. (He might as well have a sign on his door that reads "Chief Crook".) A fistfight in Schuuster's office lands Walker in police custody, where Det. Klein eyes him suspiciously but with the look of a street-smart cop who knows there's something "off" about the body in San Pedro. Walker is shortly free to resume his search for Samantha.

As it turns out, the search doesn't take that long, because The Outsider abruptly shifts gears into a story about why she disappeared, what Schuuster is up to, and a Mission Impossible-style operation to stop him. Much mid-film exposition is required, and that's never a good sign when a director is trying to build tension. Inevitably, people talk fast, explanations are compressed, and at some point viewers begin to ask themselves, "Wait—why are they doing that again?" Along the way, Walker is joined by a cocktail waitress named Margo (Shannon Elizabeth), who has just enough attitude to suggest that she'll eventually become a love interest, but surely that can't be, since she's about the same age as Samantha. (If you really want to know, you'll have to watch it for yourself.) And then there's Ricky (Johnny Messner), who runs a club where Samantha was frequently seen and who . . . well, it's hard to spoil something if you're still not entirely sure who did what to whom and on whose behalf.

This being a modern thriller, much computer technology is involved. This being a witless script, our heroes decide to get what they need from Schuuster's server by infiltrating his well-guarded and very secure mansion while the sadistic, paranoid mastermind is home for the evening, surrounded by guards—because that's so much less risky than breaking into the company headquarters at night, when all the staff has gone home. Still, the plan does give Walker more victims to shoot, punch, knife, etc., plus it ensures that he'll eventually have a chance to take revenge on Schuuster in person.

Miller's handling of the action sequences is adequate but unimaginative. His camera angles don't show off Fairbrass to best advantage as a soldier, and he misses the best opportunities to capture the actor's reactions. When the confrontation between Walker and Schuuster finally happens, Miller races through the moment without even allowing the audience to savor the villain getting his just desserts.

The Outsider Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Definitive information about the shooting format was not available, but all of Miller's previous features were shot digitally, and there's nothing about the appearance of The Outsider to suggest that he switched to film for this production. The cinematographer was Eduardo Enrique Mayén, who photographed Greystone Park and shot second unit on We Bought a Zoo. Whatever camera

Mayén used, the image was obviously captured through anamorphic lenses, because the film is filled with telltale blue lens flares stretching across the frame. (Examples can be seen in screenshots 10 and 13.) Presumably this is deliberate and intended as a stylistic effect, as in the case of, e.g., the original Die Hard . Also, anamorphic lenses are an established method for softening the edges in digital photography to create a more film-like appearance.

RLJ/Image Entertainment's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray features a clear, noiseless image with the kind of muted, brown-tinted palette that has become common in contemporary features where the director and DP are seeking an urban, noirish look. Occasional expanses of cool colors appear around the villainous Schuuster, whether from the pool in his home or the modern decor in his office building—and of course the morgue is as cold as its occupants. For the most part, though, the film's lighting is much like its script: tepid.

With no extras to compete for space, Image has achieved a respectable average bitrate of 25.98 Mbps, which is more than enough.

The Outsider Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The gunshots are loud and the punches land squarely on The Outsider's lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack. There are several environments with distinctive ambiance, but on the whole the film's mix is as generic as its action. The dialogue is perfectly intelligible, and the score by Patrick Savage and Holeg Spies (The Human Centipede ) gets the job done and is instantly forgettable.

The Outsider Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The disc has no extras. At startup it plays trailers for The Numbers Station, The Colony and Evidence, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

The Outsider Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The most frustrating aspect of The Outsider is that it has the cast, setting and premise to be a minor but satisfying revenge thriller, but these things are always harder to write and direct than they look. The old studio system chewed up a lot of writers, but at least it had writers. Today's independent filmmakers may or may not know how to construct an efficient narrative. On the evidence to date, Brian A. Miller might want to consider letting others write his scripts. Not recommended.