The Outpost is a 2019 production from Millennium Media. Rod Lurie directed the film, with Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson coming in to write the screenplay. The movie stars Scott Eastwood, Orlando Bloom and Caleb Landry Jones along with others. The movie received a 6.8/10 on IMDb and a 71 Metascore.
The Story
There is not much of a story. It is as simple as that. The whole movie ends up revolving around the single battle at the end, with everything coming before barely mattering. We meet new captains, who is almost immediately killed off or shipped away. We see regular attacks from the Taliban, which never have lasting consequences. And in the end, there isn’t a continuous story or character to follow, besides maybe Ty Carter.
But I have to admit I have a weak spot for based on true story-action movies. The fact that these events occurred gives them an extra edge over fiction. Most of these types of movies, and especially this one, manage to bring the viewer into the experience of these men.
The Characters
The movie introduces a whole lot of characters, like a lot. They even show us their names and all but I didn’t remember a single one. A few guys had recognisable faces that you could distinguish but most of the time I had no idea which character I was looking at.
And as I already touched upon, besides maybe Ty Carter, none of these characters seems important or has any kind of story behind them. None of them has any character development and quite a lot end up dying anyway.
The Production
The only department this movie shines. The director chose some very interesting and unique shots for this film. The long takes are especially well-chosen for this type of action movie as it brings the viewer more into the action. Maybe they went a little overboard with the very noticeable drone shot at the bridge but other than that I had no complaints about the production.