action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include l ...
, directed by Nick Powell in his
directorial debut
This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...
and written by James Dormer. It stars
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...
,
Hayden Christensen
Hayden Christensen (; born April 19, 1981) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader in the ''Star Wars'' media franchise. He first appeared in the prequel trilogy films, '' Star Wars: Episode ...
,
Liu Yifei
Crystal Liu (born An Feng; August 25, 1987), better known by her stage name Liu Yifei (), is a Chinese-American actress, singer, and model. She has appeared multiple times on ''Forbes'' China Celebrity 100 list and was named one of the New Four D ...
, Ji Ke Jun Yi, and
Andy On
Andy On () (born May 11, 1977) is an American actor and martial artist.
Life and career
On was born on May 11, 1977, in Providence, Rhode Island. He is a native of the US, and can speak English, Mandarin, and a bit of Cantonese.
Andy On did no ...
.
The film was slated for release on September 26, 2014 in China, but was postponed to April 3, 2015. The film received negative reviews from critics.
Plot
During the Crusades, young commander Jacob (
Hayden Christensen
Hayden Christensen (; born April 19, 1981) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader in the ''Star Wars'' media franchise. He first appeared in the prequel trilogy films, '' Star Wars: Episode ...
) leads an army including Gallain (
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...
) in the slaughter of an Arab city. Gallain pleads with Jacob to leave the people alone, claiming killing them is not God's will, and go East. Gallain witnesses Jacob become increasingly violent and leaves.
3 years later in
Song China
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
, a dying Emperor chooses his young son Prince Zhao to be his successor, giving him the imperial seal and sending him away in the care of his older sister, Princess Lian. Shortly thereafter, their sadistic older brother, Prince Shing, murders the King in a fit of rage after having been passed over as heir. Shing assumes command of the Emperor's Black Guard, ordering the deaths of his siblings in order to obtain the seal and the legitimacy of the throne. The guards and army only cooperate under fear of retribution.
Zhao and Lian make it to a tavern before their horse dies. Inside they ask for help, but the Black Guard catch up to them. Jacob, though high on opium, defends them and kills the guards before moving on, refusing to escort them. Later on, remembering the horrors of combat, he decides to assist them. Traveling through a village destroyed by the Black Guard, they rescue a girl, Xiaolei. They attempt to take refuge in the desert city Jingshao. They are betrayed by their hosts, who summon the Black Guard, hoping to win the price on their heads. This forces them to fight their way out and escape by boat to the Silver Mountain, where some bandits Jacob originally sought take refuge.
Jacob is injured and the others are captured by the bandits. Jacob awakens to find Gallain saved them, though he is now known as the White Ghost. Jacob sought out Gallain to explain to him that he did not murder women and children in the Crusades as Gallain believed, and they reconcile. Shortly thereafter, Shing and the Black Guard corner them at the bandit hideout. After intense fighting, Gallain is killed. Jacob duels Shing; as Shing gets the upper hand, Lian intervenes and is stabbed by Shing. Jacob, enraged, overpowers Shing and kills him. With Shing's threat eliminated, the leader of the Black Guard swears loyalty to Prince Zhao.
Jacob and Lian survive their injuries and they, Zhao and Xiaolei are escorted by the Black Guard to the city, where Zhao is recognized as the new Emperor. Jacob, however, still tormented by his past and fearful of the future, leaves Lian and buries Gallain before he resumes traveling on his own.
Cast
*
Hayden Christensen
Hayden Christensen (; born April 19, 1981) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader in the ''Star Wars'' media franchise. He first appeared in the prequel trilogy films, '' Star Wars: Episode ...
as Jacob
*
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...
as Gallain
*
Liu Yifei
Crystal Liu (born An Feng; August 25, 1987), better known by her stage name Liu Yifei (), is a Chinese-American actress, singer, and model. She has appeared multiple times on ''Forbes'' China Celebrity 100 list and was named one of the New Four D ...
as Lian
* Ji Ke Jun Yi as Mei
*
Andy On
Andy On () (born May 11, 1977) is an American actor and martial artist.
Life and career
On was born on May 11, 1977, in Providence, Rhode Island. He is a native of the US, and can speak English, Mandarin, and a bit of Cantonese.
Andy On did no ...
as Shing
* Anoja Dias Bolt as Anika
*
Byron Lawson
Byron Lawson (born August 26, 1968) is a Canadian actor of Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent. He portrayed gangster Eddie Kim in the 2006 film ''Snakes on a Plane''.
His past credits have included the television series '' These Arms of Mine'' ...
as Captain Peng
Production
In 2013, the film was officially announced on the Arclight films website.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...
started in April 2014 in the
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...
province of China.
Release
Box office
The film grossed $5.1 million in other territories.
Critical reception
On the
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, ''Outcast'' holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of .
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which uses a weighted average, assigned ''Outcast'' a score of 33 out of 100 rating based on 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
Glenn Kenny
Glenn Kenny (born August 8, 1959) is an American film critic and journalist. He writes for ''The New York Times'' and '' RogerEbert.com''.
Biography
Kenny attended William Paterson University, where he majored in English literature.RogerEbert.com centered his review on the performances, primarily that of Nicolas Cage. Of it, he said it marked a career shift from Cage's "entertainingly eccentric phase" into his "genuinely befuddling and perhaps sad phase", and noted his "peculiar (of course)", "near-
British accent
Spoken English shows great variation across regions where it is the predominant language. For example, the United Kingdom has the largest variation of accents of any country in the world, and therefore no single "British accent" exists. This a ...
"; he also criticized Hayden Christensen's performance as "lifeless". Jeanette Catsoulis of
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
called the movie a "loony", "wannabe epic rattling with swords and clichés". She chiefly criticized the "barnacle-encrusted plot" as being "dumbed down to the studs", along with the performance of Christensen, while praising photography and "surprisingly classy" battle scenes. Gary Goldstein of the
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
had kinder words to say, calling the movie "visually arresting, smartly paced, well-edited", but otherwise "unremarkable". He said the film may best be remembered for Cage's "warrior coif", saying it was "perhaps his most unflattering movie hairdo yet — and that's saying a lot" and that Cage could "pinch-hit for Gene Simmons at a
KISS
A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
concert". And Sebastian Zavala, writing for ScreenAnarchy.com, said that the movie "could certainly have been a better vehicle for an unleashed, energetic Cage", but that "what we end up with is a lifeless, slightly-entertaining-yet-ultimately-disappointing action “epic”."
Sequel
On April 15, 2014, producer
Jeremy Bolt
Jeremy Bolt (born 1965) is a British film producer. After co-founding Impact Pictures with Paul W. S. Anderson in 1992, Bolt has produced the majority of Anderson's films. He is most well-known for producing the ''Resident Evil'' series and '' D ...
announced plans for a
sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...