Remember Avatar? Billion dollar movie? Blue aliens? Sigourney Weaver? Outriders is that, but you’re the militaristic villains. Unknowingly so, but the villains regardless.

Imagine jumping into a war after an extended coma, siding with those you first meet, then slaughtering 5,000+ indigenous based on that alone. Not even John Wayne and John Ford were so bold in their native-shooting westerns.

At the end of Outriders, there’s a twist, showing why the planet Enoch – meant as a post-Earth salvation – is like it is. Yet, that’s only a shock in how brazen the “heroes” were for the preceding 20 hours, keeping the violent normalcy after a simple communication breakdown led to a civilization’s fall. It’s grotesque, really, where the thrills come from shooting things – a lot – and celebrating a new gun or gloves or just new colors. Satisfying in a traditional point/shoot videogame way, but then flailing while trying to reconcile the wholesale massacre in the final 15 minutes. For the record, that doesn’t work. At all.

2/5