The Outpost
Directed by: Rod Lurie
Written by: Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy - Based on the book The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by Jake Tapper
Starring: Scott Eastwood, Caleb Landry Jones, Orlando Bloom, Jacob Scipio, Taylor John Smith, Cory Hardrict, Jack Kesy, Alfie Stewart, Jonathan Yunger, Scott Alda Coffey, Jack DeVos, Chris Born, Henry Hughes, George Arvidson, Milo Gibson, Kwame Patterson, Bobby Lockwood
Drama/History/War - 123 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 1 Jul 2020
Written by: Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy - Based on the book The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by Jake Tapper
Starring: Scott Eastwood, Caleb Landry Jones, Orlando Bloom, Jacob Scipio, Taylor John Smith, Cory Hardrict, Jack Kesy, Alfie Stewart, Jonathan Yunger, Scott Alda Coffey, Jack DeVos, Chris Born, Henry Hughes, George Arvidson, Milo Gibson, Kwame Patterson, Bobby Lockwood
Drama/History/War - 123 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 1 Jul 2020
Army leadership gave the troops stationed at Combat Outpost (COP) Keating an impossible task; they were asked to defend the indefensible. Their frustrated feelings toward their chain of command for putting them there wasn’t based on insubordination or nihilism, they were realists. When they stood in the middle of the base and looked up, they were surrounded by mountains. Day One of military school teaches you the high ground has the advantage. Whomever decided to place an outpost in a valley cocooned by superior enemy fighting positions was negligent at best. Whomever decided to keep the outpost open after it received daily attacks was downright criminal.
The Outpost is the story of when the big attack came. Everybody knew it was inevitable, and these are the boys who happened to be there to fight it. I remember when what is now known as the Battle of Kamdesh happened. It was October 3, 2009, and I was in training in middle of nowhere Indiana getting ready for my year in Afghanistan. Like the soldiers of Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, I was also stationed in a makeshift, plywood fort right up against the Pakistani border, but whomever decided to place my outpost knew enough to put it on level ground.
The Outpost is the story of when the big attack came. Everybody knew it was inevitable, and these are the boys who happened to be there to fight it. I remember when what is now known as the Battle of Kamdesh happened. It was October 3, 2009, and I was in training in middle of nowhere Indiana getting ready for my year in Afghanistan. Like the soldiers of Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, I was also stationed in a makeshift, plywood fort right up against the Pakistani border, but whomever decided to place my outpost knew enough to put it on level ground.
They were there to win hearts and minds. Perhaps if the Americans could help the local Afghan population build sturdy roads suitable for commercial transportation, schools, and hospitals, not only would the locals stop taking potshots at them, but they would also stop colluding with the Taliban and sending them fresh recruits when they became of age. Offer them economic opportunities and maybe a life crawling over the spider trails of the Hindu Kush mountains would seem less enticing. 1st Lt Benjamin Keating (Orlando Bloom, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) was so effective at preaching this ideal, he not only convinced some locals to turn in their AK-47s, but he made the men he led feel safe - they knew the officer appointed over them cared about them and that they made it back home to their wives and families in one piece.
The enlisted men could feel not all of the officers cared as much as Keating. The brass who made them lug a gargantuan truck across mountain passes not wide enough for a goat and a cart didn’t care. The Captain who would rather hide out in the operations center, pee in a bottle, and make the soldiers carry it away for him didn’t care. Therefore, director Rod Lurie’s exploration of why these men fought so hard was not particularly for love of country or because higher ranking officers told them to; they fought for each other. Based on Jake Tapper’s book, “The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor,” we watch as Bravo Troop grunts don’t always get along and do their best to shoulder an impossible burden, but when all hell begins to rain down on their heads, they fought tooth and nail, almost hand-to-hand, to ensure their brothers survived.
The depiction of the monotony of a soldier’s life at COP Keating looks accurate. The torture of waiting for the daily attack and meeting with the local shura knowing full well half of them will shoot at you later is punctuated by satellite phone calls home, staring at the ceiling, and dreaming of dying of cancer instead of a bullet in the face. Like most war films, telling individual soldiers apart is challenging until the director pushes a few up front and distinguishes them with a third dimension. The most respected man on COP Keating appears to be Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha (Scott Eastwood, Suicide Squad). He is good at what we call “giving the business.” He will lay into a Private for his actions during the last firefight to ensure it won’t happen again. He will “advise” the Lieutenants and Captains on what he believes the most appropriate course to be is and make it seem like it was their idea all along.
The biggest puzzle piece is Specialist Ty Carter (Caleb Landry Jones, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri). Carter is different from the other soldiers, more aloof by choice. He’s done every job under the sun, doesn’t seem to be that great at any one of them, and has a peculiar way of getting under everyone’s skin. But Jones plays him for all he’s worth. Carter is the kind of soldier who will gladly endure the inevitable punishment after he publicly insults the higher ranking for their stupidity. Most soldiers are smart enough to keep those comments confined to the barracks. Caleb Landry Jones is so effective at showing Carter’s actions during the firefight and especially in a crucial scene at the end that I hope his name is remembered come awards season.
Lurie’s firefight direction, which is almost an hour long, is as frenetic and engaging as any you will see in other top-tier war films like Lone Survivor, Black Hawk Down, and even the documentary Restrepo. What these films all have in common is their candid authenticity. Soldiers are not idealized, leaders are fallible, and people frequently make the wrong decision and get people killed. But when the bullets, rocket propelled grenades, and machine gun fire fly, these boys morph into heroes coming together in a unified cohesion amidst the all-encompassing cacophony of madness. Lurie’s pacing often goes from zero to 100 because that is what happens when gunfire punctures the routine. The Outpost feels like a war movie classic while simultaneously employing innovative ideas. The visceral performances are unique and combined with the absurdity of COP Keating’s situation, it will leave you with a lasting impression.
Comment Box is loading comments...
