Apparently in the future all boardroom extras have taken up smoking and they are too cheap to turn the lights on. Oh and that we are going to mine titanium ore from one of Jupiter's moons, Io. They are crap at painting too. In the end this film was just like Alien (1979) but without the alien in it. The sci-fi had parallels with earth that did not test the mind. Pretty straight-forward and watchable space action-adventure.

This thrilling picture tells the story of Marshall William T. O'Niel (Sean Connery as the ultimate and overwhelming hero figure) at a far planet standing against impossible odds , he is married to Carol (Kika Markham) and has a little boy promising to leave his risked job and settle down for a peaceful existence . In this distant future , the police marshal is stationed at the remote mining colony on the Jupiter moon of Io , there happens weird events when miners begin suffering from confuse visions and rare breakdowns , as well surprising outbreaks and spells of insanity . The marshal starts an investigation that threatens the colony's survival . Marshal William T. O'Niel uncovers a drug-smuggling conspiracy run by Mark Sheppard (Peter Boyle) , as the latter has sworn revenge against William . The security marshal gets no support from the populace when he later finds himself marked for killing and nobody is willing to help him . A team of bounty killers and will arrive in moon base at high noon . A doctor , Dr. Lazarus (Frances Sternhagen) , ultimately risks death to give him a hand .A particular rendition of ¨High noon¨ set in outer space on a volcanic moon of Jupiter , stars Sean Connery alone versus a planet-wide drug ring . In fact , this one is no more or less than a Western in space , replacing Gary Cooper by Sean Connery . This enjoyable Sci-Fi is plenty of suspense as the dreaded noon hour approaches and the protagonist realizes he must stand alone , but asking his base fellows for help , nobody is willing to help him . An agreeable Science Fiction movie full of emotional thrills , action and suspense , though the science is rather poor . It is a highly mysterious thriller , filled with non-stop action , including a spectacular denouement in its final part . The narration is adjusted in real time , from the beginning to arrival of the enemy aircraft , at a final showdown and it is approximately developed in ninety minutes as the many on-screen ticks clocks will check . It might make a catching double feature along with ¨High noon¨ . Connery is perfect as the flawed hero who faces off professional killers . He gives first-rate acting as a tough agent who takes on vicious hired killers , facing alone after being abandoned to his fate by the gutless population . Suppport cast is pretty well , giving brief but decent acting , such as : James B. Sikking , Steven Berkoff , Clarke Peters , John Ratzenberger , Angus MacInnes , Eugene Lipinski and Peter Boyle is just right as a heinous villain . And special mention for Frances Sternhagen as the veteran doctor who helps Connery , she steals the show , thanks to her sympathetic and valiant performance . The motion picture contains an excellent cinematography by cameraman Stephen Goldblatt . Rousing and suspenseful musical score by the great Jerry Goldsmith , performed by London symphony orchestra . The yarn was compellingly directed by Peter Hyams . Peter is an uneven filmmaker who has directed all kinds of genres with successes and flops , such as Adventure : ¨Musketeer¨ ; Terror : ¨The relic¨, ¨End of days¨ ; Action : ¨The Presidio¨, ¨Sudden death¨, ¨Timecop¨ , ¨Narrow margin¨ ; Sci-fi : ¨2010 , the year we make contact¨ , ¨Capricorn one¨, ¨Sound and thunder ¨; Drama : ¨The star chamber¨, ¨Our time¨ ; and Comedy : Running scared¨, ¨Stay tuned¨

I hadn't seen Outland since my teenage years, which is a good thirty years ago and frankly I wasn't expecting much. Well even by our 21st century expectations this is actually a decent film. Sci-fi is the chosen genre for the story but it could have been applied to our present time, in a research centre in Antarctica, on an off-shore oil rig or on a ship. Mind you, using one of those environments instead would have avoided us the cringe of hearing sounds, seeing sparks and smoke, and witnessing people and objects fall... in deep space? Fairly entertaining thriller if a bit slow in the first half by our current standards. It was also good to see the ex-007 middle-aged and fit again.

The best thing about this average Sci-Fi are the space shots of Jupiter and the mining colony and some bland if interesting sets of a gloomy but uninspiring interiors. All of the sets have more appeal than the story or the action.In fact, the violence and confrontations are pedestrian and sometimes pathetically dull. There is one elongated chase that goes on forever and ends, finally, with such lackluster that it is the harbinger of more to come. The final "gunfight" is also nothing much and it is rather mundane. The performances and characters are not bad but just can't breathe any life into this lifeless and flat story that has been done many times. There is also that one final punch that is laughably a lame ending to it all.