The stuff that shows up in Netflix's Top 10 Movies list every day really runs the gamut of quality, and that's just been proven true again as a huge flop from 15 years ago has somehow been clawing its way up the list.
Back in 2008, before the likes of The Hobbit and the MCU ad Morbius had come out, the cinematic landscape was very different. That must explain why Outlander (the film, not the popular American romance TV show) was an absolute bomb, making back only a fraction of its hefty budget, yet has somehow now in the streaming age become one of Netflix UK's most-watched films.
Outlander is set in Viking-era Scandinavia, and it stars Jim Caviezel, Sophia Myles, John Hurt and Ron Perlman. It's about an alien from another planet who crash lands on Earth as he's hunting a creature, and has to team up with the Vikings in order to defeat it once and for all. Hence our comparisons to the classic Norse saga Beowulf and the classic 1980s actioner Predator.
Since you've read the headline and opening of this article, you'll know that Outlander went down about as well as an actual alien crash landing would: not so well. Of the movie's $47 million budget it reportedly made back around $7 million, and it was torn apart by critics who called it "entertaining nonsense" and "cheerfully silly".
John Hurt, who plays the real Danish king Rothgar, was singled out as giving a performance that's too good for the movie. One of Hurt's other movies of 2008 was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull so it really wasn't a good year for the actor.
A fun piece of trivia for the movie: the director wanted a replica Viking village and ship built. To make them, the crew turned lumberjacks to cut the wood and build the constructs themselves — just like the Vikings would have done. Nowadays, in our "everything is green screen" age, that seems like a fun and authentic way to make a movie.
All sorts of bombs, flops and forgotten lumps of coal become big on Netflix's Top 10 Movies list, but of all the rogues' gallery we've seen hit the streamer's rankings, that plot synopsis and the reviews make it sound like one of the most fun to watch. If you're looking for something silly to watch tonight, make it the one you turn on.
