Delayed Reaction: The Outpost

Premise: A group of soldiers at a remote, poorly located outpost in Afghanistan attempt to survive a Taliban ambush from all sides with overwhelming numbers.

 

A good last stand is one of the most immediately enthralling premises as far as I'm concerned. The Battle of Thermopylae has long been my favorite historical battle (although the stylized depiction in 300 didn't do a lot for me). We still remember the Alamo and Custer's Last Stand. Rio Bravo is probably my favorite Western. The Two Towers with the Battle of Helms Deep is my favorite of the Lord of the Rings movies. Black Hawk Down is pretty great. Hell, I even liked Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Last Stand. A last stand is an immediately compelling idea and even bleeds into another subgenre I love: putting a bunch of people in a small place and seeing how they bounce off one another. Honestly, the question wasn't if I'd like The Outpost but how much.

 

The answer is "a little less than I thought while still liking it". Once the bullets start flying, the movie is great. And the battle is almost the entire second hour of the movie. The movie does a great job capturing the chaos. The effects and explosions are great. The chaos is wonderful, and I regret not watching this on my big TV (since a theater was never really an option). It hits all the beats I needed it to. Earlier in the movie, I loved the shot when someone arrives at the camp and realizes they are surrounded by mountains on every side. It really is a bewilderingly bad strategic location.

 

I do think the first half of the movie suffers some from trying to do right by the troops more than by the screenplay. It all feels very authentic to what life was like there and respectful to all the soldiers, fallen or living, who fought and died there. But the characters aren't that engaging. They were all pretty generic. Perhaps that's a reflection of the actors hired for the movie. Looking back on Black Hawk Down, I suspect those characters would be pretty anonymous too if every one of them weren't actors who were or would be recognizable names*. Meanwhile, the only actor in The Outpost I could pick out of a lineup dies 20 minutes in. Regardless, once the battle came around, most of the soldiers were interchangeable G.I. Joes to me. Also, a director with either a lighter or heavier touch would've been nice. Like, could you imagine what Kathryn Bigelow would've done with an outpost where at all times every day you are likely to be dodging sniper fire from above? Or, give this to someone who plays with explosives as gleefully as a Michael Bay or Peter Berg? This movie is fine, but it does feel a bit like they got the B-Team to make it, and none of them did anything to exceed my expectations.

 

*Seriously, check out that cast list again.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend