The Outpost is a 2020 war movie directed by Rod Lurie, starring Scott Eastwood, Orlando Bloom, and Caleb Landry Jones, and based on the nonfiction book The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by Jake Tapper. It tells the true story of The Battle of Kamdesh, the bloodiest battle of the war in Afghanistan, when Taliban forces engaged the American troops staged at Combat Outpost (COP) Keating in October 2009. Originally scheduled to premiere at the 2020 South by Southwest Film Festival, the movie was instead moved to a limited theatrical and video-on-demand release on July 3, 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Not to be confused with the fantasy/adventure TV series of the same name.
Tropes Associated With This Movie Incluce:
- The Ace: Kirk is by and large considered to be the best soldier on base.
- Anyone Can Die: As befitting a true-life story.
- Artistic License – History: The movie heavily condenses the events surrounding Combat Outpost Keating.
- The movie gives the impression that Black Knight Troop (the unit that fought the battle) was stationed in COP Keating from 2006 to 2009. They actually only arrived in 2009, replacing a completely different unit.
- Black Knight Troop was never commanded by Captain Keating (or even ever met him), as he died in 2006. Keating was also only a first lieutenant when he died and was posthumously promoted to captain.
- Captain Broward is a fictional character likely based on Captain Melvin Porter, the officer who commanded COP Keating before it was attacked and was reprimanded for its lack of preparedness.
- The movie completely omits Observation Post Fritsche, an extension of the camp that was specifically established to provide early warning against Taliban attacks (the Taliban attacked it in conjunction with their main attack on COP Keating).
- The Taliban set fire to nearly all the buildings inside the camp when they breached it, forcing Black Knight Troop to fall back into a tight defensive perimeter. This is not shown in-film and Sergeant Romesha is instead shown convincing Lieutenant Bundermann not to order the withdrawl.
- The in-film airstrikes quickly turn the tide of the battle. In real life, nineteen aircraft (including helicopters and fighters) delivered airstrikes for nearly eight hours that only gradually wore down the attackers.
- Cassandra Truth: Mohammed, the camp's interpreter, repeatedly warns the soldiers of an impending attack by the Taliban, but he is rebuffed because they think he is crying wolf.
- Caught with Your Pants Down: One soldier is caught masturbating to a picture of another soldier's wife.
- Crying Wolf: As noted above, Mohammed repeatedly insists a Taliban attack is imminent, only for nothing to happen. Inevitably, no one believes him when he is actually correct.
- Dead Star Walking: Orlando Bloom is the biggest name in the cast, and his character dies only a third into the movie in a vehicle accident, though this is about how the man his character was based on really died.
- Dirty Coward: Mohammad is terrified of the Taliban and constantly claims an attack is incoming. After the battle is over, it is discovered that he spent the entire battle hiding in the latrines.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Keating is the only character whose death wasn't at another's hand; he dies when the truck he's driving falls off of a cliff...but this is indeed what actually happened to the real man.
- Elites Are More Glamorous: Carter isn't well liked by the other soldiers because he repeatedly compares his experience in the Army negatively to when he previously served in the Marines.
- A Father to His Men: Keating is both highly respected and beloved by his men for his warm, compassionate personality. This is ultimately deconstructed, however, as neither of his successors are able to live up to his example.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: When Yllescas is on patrol with the soldiers in the hills surrounding Camp Keating, their radios start to pick up chatter from the locals, which Mohammad roughly (due to it being in an unfamiliar dialect to him) translates as being about scarves. Yllescas is the only soldier wearing a scarf. Minutes later, he's killed in a bombing.
- Foreshadowing: Early in the movie, when Staff Sergeant Romesha is on patrol in the hills surrounding the Outpost, he talks to the other soldiers about the vulnerabilities of the camp and what his strategy would be to attack if he were the Taliban. Later, when the Taliban finally attacks, they use his strategy almost to the letter.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Almost no one in Outpost Keating likes Carter because of his arrogance, incompetence, and his refusal to join the other soldiers in their crass behavior.
- Full-Frontal Assault: One soldier is shot at by the Taliban while he's getting ready to shower, leading him to pick up his rifle and fire back while in the nude.
- Gay Bravado: Invoked. Two soldiers are made to hug and tell each other "I love you" for an extended period before they begin a wrestling match.
- Hollywood Tactics: In real life, natch. COP Keating is situated at the bottom of a "fish bowl" valley, where any attacker from the surrounding highlands would have a clear line of sight (and fire) to every part of the base. It's also too remote to be accessible by ground vehicles (as Keating's truck accident tragically demonstrates) and only barely gives Black Knight Troop enough access to the surrounding villages to enable their purported security mission.
- Hope Spot: Carter, at great risk to himself, retrieves the wounded Mace and is eventually able to bring him to the medics. They then proceed to jury-rig a blood transfusion and get soldiers who are compatible to volunteer and donate their blood to him. He doesn't make it.
- Implausible Deniability: The Kamdesh elders' insistence that they're not backing the insurgency is revealed to be more and more blatantly untrue as the story moves along, from one of their youth being caught with gunpowder residue on his clothing to the insurgent radio traffic being in a local Nuristani language.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Neither Yllescas nor Broward prove to be as competent as Keating. While Yllescas is able to gain his men's respect, he is unable to replicate Keating's success in negotiating with the Kamdesh elders, and Broward is almost universally despised by his men.
- Ironic Echo: For most of the movie, the soldiers tell each other "Thank you for your service" sarcastically. Later, after air support saves them from the Taliban. Romesha says it totally sincerely.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Broward is an asshole, but he regularly makes the technically correct call.
- As a commanding officer, Broward must be kept alive because his death could cause chaos and confusion, so of course he travels with a guard and makes sure to avoid being in the open.
- He refuses to let the Outpost Keating soldiers investigate the man they believe responsible for Yllescas' death, because it's not their mission, it's the local authorities responsibility, and US soldiers functioning as police would be a bad look for the U.S. as a whole.
- His insistence on obeying the laws of engagement do make sense. If a civilian is killed, then the base's already strained relationship with Kamdesh would fall apart.
- He allows the Kamdesh elders to falsely claim that a teenage girl was killed by one of their mortars and even kills the base's dog, since he can't prove the girl wasn't killed by his men since they were treating the rules of engagement lightly before his arrival, lied to him about having PID, and Afghan superstitions towards dogs mean that a dog biting a man has to die, and it is Broward's job to forge good relations with the elders.
- Last Stand: The battle is the example of one - an isolated base surrounded by hostile forces, with the soldiers noting that they seem to just be waiting for "The big one". Early in the movie it is noted that the base was explicitly compared to Custer's Last Stand. They actually survive, but the base has to be abandoned.
- Manly Tears: After the battle is over, Bundermann starts to report to The Cavalry, only to break down in tears.
- Men Don't Cry: Defied. After starting to cry, he apologizes saying "I know this isn't the time." His superior assures him "This is the time", and the tears continue.
- The Neidermeyer: Broward is condescending, cowardly, incredibly strict with the rules of engagement, and is unable to gain the men's respect.
- The Oner: Used repeatedly during the battle scenes, following soldiers as they move across the Outpost. It does a remarkably good job of highlighting the geography of the camp.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Orlando Bloom appears to be struggling to keep his British accent hidden under a slight Southern American accent.
- Pass the Popcorn: As a way of illustrating how commonplace ambushes are at the Outpost, early in the movie Keating is seen marking the location of the latest attack on a giant Bingo board posted on the wall.
- Pyrrhic Victory: On both sides. The Americans drive back the assault, at the cost of heavy casualties and most of the base destroyed, forcing them to abandon it anyway. The Taliban ultimately succeed in driving their foes out of the valley, at even heavier human costs to themselves.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Captain Keating and Captain Yllescas both count as this.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Captain Keating, played by the biggest name actor in the cast, dies rather arbitrarily early on in the movie as a way of demonstrating the stakes...though the actual Benjamin Keating did indeed die like this.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran:
- Specialist Carter isn't exactly stable when the movie begins, but he gets worse when Captian Yllescas is killed in front of him and is barely able to hold himself together during the final battle.
- It's also implied that Captain Broward's cautious nature comes partially as a result of his experiences in combat in Iraq.
- Shoot the Dog: Literally. Broward kills the base's dog to appease the Afghan locals after they claimed it bit one of them.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: As expected in a war film, many deaths are such. Yllescas gets blown up by an IED out of nowhere, and during the final battle, Kirk, Scusa, and Gallagos are all cut down by bullets with no warning.
- There Are No Therapists: Averted. The last scene features Carter breaking down while speaking to an Army counselor about his experiences in the battle.
- You Are in Command Now: As Bundermann is the base's second-in-command, he's in charge whenever the base's commaniding officer is away. Since the final battle occurs in between Broward and Portis' times as comming officer, Bundermann is forced to lead the battle.
