Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 10
Duration: 55 min (per episode)
The Outsider (DVD) – Series Review
Stephen King’s work is probably the only writer’s work that has been adapted to television and the silver screen this much in history. While this also means there is a lot of room to ruin the source material, it also means it will occasionally spawn big-hitters that conquer the world. The Mist has had several renditions, the last being the canceled Netflix series, but we also have impressive tales such as IT’s. Other than that, Pet Sematary also saw a remake and we believe many more will follow. This time we’re taking a look at The Outsider, a very strange murder mystery that clearly involves the paranormal. We were intrigued by the series’ trailer, but the execution was not always what we hoped for.
We are taken to Cherokee City where we immediately see the body of a young boy, heavily mutilated and supposedly sodomized. This crime is quickly linked to Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman), and leading detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn) is determined to publically arrest Maitland, because of how vile his murderous deed was. He makes a public display of the arrest and basically drags him through the mud, as the proof seemed to be very conclusive. Shortly after that proof was discovered where he is seen on tape, at a teacher’s convention at the opposite side of the country during those events, making it impossible for him to have done such an evil deed. At the same time, they do have proof of other footage of him being in the neighborhood, even though that would be impossible as both locations are extremely far apart. When Bateman gets murdered as a result of the allegations, and more and more proof comes to light of him being at two locations at once, things take a turn to the bizarre.
The biggest issue with The Outsider, intriguing as it may be, lies with its flow and pacing. The series builds up towards a very interesting story arc and conclusion, but it takes ages for the initial events to be over with and the actual series to get started. While it’s interesting to see how everything evolves, certain scenes are highlighted too long, or irrelevant sequences get dragged out, just for the sake of it. It feels like they could have compressed the story into about seven episodes rather than the current ten. Nonetheless, when you get over the initial slow threshold, you’ll be quite hooked.
Acting performances are top-notch for this series. You will see many familiar faces from somewhat ‘older’ productions. We also see Jason Bateman appear in this series, and it’s actually quite weird to see an actor, who is often known for his appearance in comedies, become somewhat of the ‘villain’ in this one. Ben Mendelsohn plays the lead in this series, and he does so quite impressively. He steps away from the typical bad boy good-looking detective, or the down in the dumps one, to a more median version of those aforementioned stereotypes. He is somewhat a very balanced type who has to process several traumas, but also has loving care and support. More big names pass the revue, and it would certainly be our honor to mention them all, but all you need to know is that things are quite impressively handled in terms of the cast.
The DVD box of The Outsider has a lot of special content on it. Each of the discs comes with a few extras. These features often revolve around the episodes themselves, taking a closer look at certain items. Other than that, there’s a lot of content about the creative process, and we even see Stephen King himself commenting on the series. The special content is actually quite nice to plow through after the episodes on each disc.
Conclusion
The Outsider is a very good live-action adaptation of Stephen King’s work, albeit with a very slow first half of the series. It feels like there’s too much useless information being smeared around to serve as filling. While we understand certain creative choices, too much can kill whatever you’re trying to do. Nonetheless, this is a very good piece of cinema when it comes to Stephen King’s writing. We can wholeheartedly recommend this series, if you don’t mind the slower pacing at the beginning.
The Outsider (DVD) - Series Review,
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