The Outpost

Based on true events, The Outpost follows a team of American soldiers, including Orlando Bloom’s Ben Keating and Scott Eastwood’s Clint Romesha, as they eventually find themselves under attack by dozens of Taliban fighters. Filmmaker Rod Lurie, working from a screenplay by Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson, delivers a technically accomplished yet rarely involving endeavor that suffers from an almost total lack of compelling protagonists, and it’s clear that Lurie’s inability to wholeheartedly (or even partially) develop the myriad of characters results in a movie populated by uniformly macho, essentially interchangeable figures – which, it goes without saying, diminishes the impact of the progressively tragic bent of the narrative’s action-packed second half. The picture’s failure is especially disappointing given the pervasive atmosphere of authenticity that’s been hard-wired into it by Lurie, and although the eclectic cast delivers strong, convincing work, The Outpost leaves its actors trapped within the confines of backstory-free characters that are ultimately unable to engender much sympathy or interest from the viewer – with the only emotionally impactful stretch here an closing-credits sequence focused on the actual men behind the real-life events. It is, in the end, the film’s inability to bring anything new or innovative to an exceedingly well-worn genre that cements its downfall, which is a shame, certainly, given its raft of strong, grizzled performances and an almost documentary-like approach to the material.

** out of ****