• You have to probably go back to 2000’s The Contender for something this good in Rod Lurie’s filmography. The Outpost is a sturdy entry in the 21st century war film genre- here about a group of soldiers pinned down outnumbered against the Taliban. It is a true story of the 2009 Battle of Kamdesh.
  • The casting of Orlando Bloom may make you think of Black Hawk Down. The Outpost is a fine film- but not quite on the level of Ridley Scott’s work
  • Still- Lurie and his team (including the impressive handheld camerawork from Lorenzo Senatore) deserve credit for creating a frightening, visceral, authentic, depiction of war. It is very immersive- loud, longer takes using a POV or reverse POV Go-pro attachment-like cameras
  • Lurie drops the titles of the characters right on them (like The Irishman) in the film and from a formal standpoint I admire the use of the different commanding officers as the chapter titles
  • Bloom is perfect as the boy scout type, young Scott Eastwood looks and sounds like his old man—and he comes off well as the cool-under-pressure-hero, and the most talented actor in the film is Caleb Landry Jones – nice to see him continue his streak going after his breakout in 2017 (if you remember he was in Get Out, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and The Florida Project in one year). He gets a chance to display his chops near the end when he meets with a grief counselor
  • The film is nothing revelatory- I’d question anyone that had it in their top 10 of 2019
  • Recommend – but outside the top 30 of 2019