Rent The Outpost (2019)

Poor start, gripping end - The Outpost review by Alphaville

It’s the in-yer-face approach to war movies, using hand-held shaky-cam to put you in the heart of the action as interchangeable American soldiers swap sweary banter while fighting off the Taliban in Afghanistan. All this, together with a lack of plot, is alienating. If it stopped after one hour it would be a one-star film, but the second hour of battle ramps up viewer engagement. Director Rod Lurie, with the aid of drones, comes up with some stunning five-star single-shot camera work and we become more involved in the plight of the outnumbered soldiers.

It’s based on a true story of the Americans’ most decorated battle of the war and the real soldiers involved testify to the film’s authenticity. This makes it hard to find fault but, judged purely as a film, its whole is less then some of its parts and it won’t be for everyone. To prove you don’t need shaky-cam to capture visceral action, see the similar but superior 12 Strong.

if you like war films with action youl like this - The Outpost review by sw

great film, if youl like war films similar to black hawk down then im sure youl like this. the second half is pretty much none stop action. on edge of your seat action. the first is getting to know people and how the situation was there.

acting was good and decent budget.

Gung-Ho War Film - The Outpost review by GI

This is another of those modern macho American war films based on real events where a heroic group of outnumbered soldiers overcomes a horde of enemies in this case the Taliban in Afghanistan. It does exactly what it says on the tin, loads of shooting following the usual scenes of immature banter by a group of young men where there is an attempt to introduce the characters. There's too many to remember here even though the film kindly puts their names up on the screen to help. Like all these films the enemy are nameless and just figures in the distance to be shot and/or blown up. This is all a big modern dose of the heroic American holed up in his fort from where he brings civilisation to the wilderness all the while harangued by savages. From an action point of view this does what it says on the tin but character wise it's an empty film and you get the end credit look at the real faces of those that were killed and/or decorated. Scott Eastwood sort of leads the film as the NCO who knows what he's doing but Eastwood is as wooden as ever here. The two interesting characters are Caleb Landry Jones as a soldier who is unpopular but saves the day and Orlando Bloom supports as an officer. There are better films of this ilk, not least of course Black Hawk Down (2001) and the excellent Siege of Jadotville (2016) and I have to say even Michael Bay's 13 Hours (2016). If you like this sort of thing it'll entertain but overall it offers nothing new.