Complex sentence: For many viewers, the canal network offered an unfamiliar environment, a sense of "otherness", cut-off from the modern world, reinforcing the impression of Lomax as both a deracinated outsider and an alternative action hero.
Split into simpler sentences: For many viewers, the canal network is an unfamiliar environment, offering a sense of "otherness". It is somewhere which might be seen as cut-off from the modern world, reinforcing the impression of Lomax as both a deracinated outsider and an alternative action hero.