The Outpost

I only go off what I have read, what I know from people that served and had the chance to speak to and what I generally have seen in other films.

This is one of those films that depicts the chaos and brutality of war a bit too close to reality and it's not pretty so people tend to judge it harshly because it's hard to understand or accept something if you haven't experienced it. The battle sequences are nothing short of breathtaking. The filmmakers have meticulously crafted these scenes to make us feel as if we are right alongside the soldiers, experiencing every adrenaline-pumping moment. Great!

In terms of the cast, their performances add depth to the characters and make the emotional impact of the story more potent. As bullets fly by we see the extent of their bravery, determination, commitment and camaraderie. I also loved hearing the interviews at the end. Another reminder of the sacrifices made.

I thought this would be a bit of a B-movie when I sat to watch it; partly because there aren't many 'big' films coming out at the moment, but also because it does feel like it is dressed up as a rather generic war movie. This feeling is a little justified perhaps, but mostly The Outpost does perform, in particular in the second half where the famous 4-day battle to hold the camp is played out. There isn't a lot of character-building, or strong dialogue scenes, but to be fair the functional talk and focus on structure does fit with the military nature of the story, and actually moments where we do get little details added to the characters mostly feel a bit clunky and unnatural within the bigger film.

War is hell is clearly spelt out throughout the film, but in particular the second half sees a barrage on the camp and the viewer is effectively put in the middle of it. It is well-played so it is never 'exciting' like a war movie; heroics are not overdone but are just 'done' in a matter of fact way; deaths are not flamboyant or choreographed but rather they just happen, often with brutal suddenness. It all has an intensity that is befitting those that went through the real thing, and every aspect is targeted well to play to the chaos. The camerawork stands out during this. There are a few moments in the film where the camerawork is interesting but actually distracts from the moment because of how the camera moves (the bridge scene for example), but in the second half the mobility of the camera combined with the longer shots do work well to put the viewer in the midst of it all. The cast may not have a lot to work with in the detail, but they are wholly convincing in terms of their situation - you believe their lives are on the line and that they are under intense unending pressure.

It is not a flawless film by any means, but it does what it wants to do and does it well - particularly delivering in that intense second half.

I did two combat deployments to Afghanistan and one to Iraq. I can tell you without a doubt this movie is the most accurate representation of FOB/COP life, soldier lingo, and to an extent the combat.

Most reviews I've read complain of sub-par dialogue and not a clear story as to what was going on prior to the attack, but I bet that most of the reviews were from people who have never been to war. In war Dialogue between soldiers is not interesting, it's dark, unfiltered, and usually disgusting. We degrade each other, fight each other, we say things so offensive and disgusting that most people would think we have issues. In war you also don't always have a clear cut mission that you can make into some grand Hollywood story. When you deploy you are supposed to find bad guys and help locals, that's it. Those hoping war has some interesting story will be disappointed. You sit around bored, exhausted, missing home, working out, eating garbage food, piss in tubes/bottles (first movie I've seen that showed the bottles), burn your own crap, watch movies, go on patrol and hope you don't get blasted in an IED. Every so often you get a big mission where the combat gets intense. Then it's rinse and repeat, that's how it is and I'm sure prior to the attack, that's how life on Keating was. This movie depicts life in the military so accurately that I was like "my gosh finally someone did it, they got it right it". So to anyone reading this, this is as real as you'll find it until something else is made. All those who talk smack about it are idiot keyboard warriors.

The combat itself is good, explosions look real even the CGI ones were ok, none of that dumb fireball explosion crap, the dust and smoke generated from shooting and explosions to the point the soldiers in the movie were coughing from it was legit. Now I wasn't in this battle but I've been in my fair share of fights I can tell you that tracer rounds aren't as fruitful as you see here. Most of the time you get shot at and have no idea where it came from except maybe a general direction. Muzzle flashes also are hard to see unless it's at night and you could see them all over in this movie. Usually you just see dust or smoke from where they shot, not flashes. But Hollywood has to do this for the effect as it does makes firefights look cool and without seeing tracer bullets whiz by it takes away from the intensity.

Also the soldiers were able to yell and talk to each other from long distances. Yea that doesn't happen, war is ungodly loud, you have to be screaming in a dudes ear to hear you.

When the air support showed up finally, how it was being controlled didn't make sense, but that's just me being nit picky as not many people know what the hell is going on with that.

The tactics were decent, you could tell there was some military advising for sure but some things didn't make sense. Not sure if that's how it happened or just Hollywood though.

Overall if you want to watch the most realistic depiction of how the war in Afghanistan is, this is it. To all the naysayers saying this is garbage, hate the way the soldiers talk to each other, or wish there was a more clear story/mission, you obviously have never been there.

RIP to all the fallen in this battle.

11 year army veteran. This rates in my top 3 films for realism and truth to the combat experience. Uniforms to terminology, they nailed it. Thank you for making this film and putting in the research.

PREMISE - The Outpost depicts the battle of Outpost Keating, known as the Battle of Kamdesh, which took place on October 3rd 2009, close to the border with Pakistan in Afghanistan. The Outpost itself was located on the bend of a river in a valley, completely overlooked by high mountains on all sides. It was simply put, a nigntmare to defend and a prime target to over run. So it would be that 300 Taliban fighters would attempt to do just that over two fateful days that October. In addition to the harsh terrain the location had other issues. Helicopter re-supply was extremely challenging and dangerous and could only be conducted at night (A previous re-supply attempted killed 12 people, not depicted in the movie) meaning only night landings when there was no moon were possible. Due the nature of the base being located effectively in the bottom of a funnel, in-direct fire support from artillary was impossible and the nearest close air-support was thirty minutes away. Into this nightmare scenario 53 American Soldiers were expected to defend the worst position possible, so the stage was set for a modern day Zulu and one of the bloodiest close quarter conflicts of the war in Afghanistan.

THE CAST - Casting here is impressive and suspiciously full of the children and grandchildren of famous actors and directors. (Jagger, Gibson, Eastwood, Attenborough) Knowing full well that it is difficult to often tell men apart in uniform during depictions of conflict on screen, we have an interesting range of faces, the most easy to spot of which is SCOTT EASTWOOD, proving to be every bit his Father's son as Staff Sgt Clint Romesha, he and CALEB LANDRY JONES both give stand out performances but the rest of the cast are solid too, special mentions to: CORY HARDRICT, TAYLOR JOHN SMITH. and the ever dependable JACK KESY. Senior Officers are played by MILO GIBSON (Whose making a good name for himself despite the challenge of having to fill size 22 shoes) and ORLANDO BLOOM, who appears to have come full circle from playing PFC Blackburn in Blackhawk Down to playing Captain Keating here, whom the camp was ultimately named after. A number of younger British actors do incredibly well and even Producer JOHNATHAN YUNGER gets in on the action!

PRODUCTION - The film was predominantly shot in Bulgaria, as you would expect for a film being produced by Millenium Pictures, but the set up for the camp is convincing and adequately conveys the issues facing the defenders, although the depiction of the terrain is slightly different. The first half of the film tells the story of the various officers who were stationed at the camp before leaving the final third of the film to depict the battle. It is here where ex-soldier turned director ROD LURIE and DOP LORENZO SENATORE do a superb job of giving us a balls to the wall depiction of the final assault and place you firmly in the middle of it, making me regret I could not have experienced the sequence on the big screen. Several long takes (all the rage these days) give a very realistic depiction of following one character in the battle, then another. They also employ a clever techique of depicting the deaths of the real personnel involved, seen primarily form the third person, which felt like a sensible and sensitive approach to the issue in question. One of the most dependable sargeants is wounded early on during the firefight which has an impact on the battle morale of the soldiers whom find themselves fighting for their lives minute by minute. Enough screen time is given to depicting the local political problems facing the American officers, who did their best under extremely challenging circumstances to placate locals.

OVERALL - This film is one of the best depictions of close quarter fighting since Blackhawk Down and is extremely well handled. Some of the earlier dialogue between the soldiers lets the film down a little bit. Yes, we know soldiers do talk like this from time to time but some of lines are cringeworthy to say the least and I am sure this dialogue could have easily been improved upon, but minor gripes aside the film is a pretty gripping depiction of a stupid military blunder which cost the lives of several young men, completely unnecessarily. It does seem a shame however, that the release of this film, may have torpedoed a second film on the subject (RED PLATOON) based on the book written by Medal of Honour winner Clinton Romesha (Played by Scott Eastwood) - Eastwood was not able to speak to Romesha when researching the role he depicted due to this conflict which feels a real shame. So it is possible, we might see a second film depicting the battle. Bring it on.