Director - Rod Lurie
Cast - Scott Eastwood, Orlando Bloom, Milo Gibson, Caleb Landry Jones, Taylor John Smith, Jacob Scipio, Jonathan Yunger, Celina Sinden
Genre - War/Action/Drama
Streaming On - Amazon Prime Video
"War is hell"
A small unit of U.S. soldiers, alone at the remote Combat Outpost Keating, located deep in the valley of three mountains in Afghanistan, battles an overwhelming force of Taliban fighters in a coordinated attack. This movie is the true account of The Battle of Kamdesh. Which was later termed the bloodiest American engagement of the Afghanistan War in 2009, and Bravo Troop 3-61 CAV became one of the most decorated units of the 19-year conflict.
The Outpost is a war film that we didn`t want but genuinely needed, it doesn`t glorify war for and shows it in its true colours. Where the soldiers who are under attack at all times, question that "What really is our mission?", its a nerve shattering movie, which is factually correct and is more of a docu-drama. Filled with fear, tension, blood, bravery. The way the battle is shot is ripe with realism. In a lesser film such family ties and resemblances could be a distraction, but in this well-crafted, fact-based tragedy of errors, they provide the much needed emotional edge. The movie doesn`t speak of glamour or fun and it doesn’t deliver some things you’d normally expect from a typical war film, but it puts on display the ugliness of war that the suit-wearing decision makers would never have to face and thus fail to understand. Its a solidly made and well-acted film, with a better-than-average merging of technical craftsmanship, narrative coherence, and competent acting.
While as a war documentary it delivers in full style, it seems as less of a drama. It is a more of a realistic war film which is different from pretty much any other war film ever made. It has a few flaws typical of war movies, but this tense drama features an amazing, extended battle sequence that recreates The Battle of Kamdesh in such brutal and realistic detail, that some viewers watching it might feel as if they've gone through an emotional war zone just by seeing this movie.
JRating: 7.5/10
JRev: Even though not much of a cinematic experience, The Outpost may wind up being the defining movie of the USA - Afghanistan War.
Bonus -
The movie is based on the book, The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by Jake Tapper.
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