The Outpost

It has a few flaws typical of war movies, but this tense drama features an amazing, extended battle sequence that's harrowing yet coherent. It also has an appealingly hard, terse quality to its dialogue. That said, The Outpost -- which is based on journalist Jake Tapper's book -- has many characters, and, with the roving camera and identical military gear and helmets, it's often difficult to tell them apart. Director Rod Lurie tries to make up for this with an extended epilogue in which many of the real men who were there are interviewed, but that still doesn't provide much context. The movie also sometimes leans too far toward seriousness and honor, but fortunately it pulls back frequently enough.

The actual storytelling during the movie's first half focuses on little moments -- such as one scene involving a soldier admiring his girlfriend back home -- and the exchanges between characters have a classical snap, recalling "tough guy" war movies of the 1950s. The final half of The Outpost focuses on the big battle, with Lurie's camera darting and dodging between buildings and barriers, ducking bullets, and getting up to move again. These scenes are composed of several long, dynamic takes that capture the chaos and the action perfectly and with clarity. It's suspenseful but also horrifying and heartbreaking. Ultimately, this is a portrait of men in war whose top priority is to look out for one another.