THE OUTPOST : Tuesday 13th October 2020.

'THE OUTPOST' which I saw this week is an MA15+ Rated American and Bulgarian Co-Produced war drama film that is Directed by Rod Lurie whose previous feature film making credits take in the likes of 'The Contender', 'The Last Castle', 'Nothing But the Truth', and 'Straw Dogs'. This film is based on the 2012 book 'The Outpost : An Untold Story of American Valor' by Jake Tapper about the Battle of Kamdesh during the war in Afghanistan. Due to see its Premier screening at South by Southwest in March of this year, when the festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, it was released through Premium VOD and in selected US theatres in early July this year. Last week it saw its cinematic release in Australia having earned just over US$1M at the Box Office so far and generated largely positive Reviews.

As the film opens we are introduced to a troop of soldiers being helicoptered in to a remote outpost in Afghanistan located some fourteen miles from the border with Pakistan and at the base of three steep mountains. This is Combat Outpost Keating. Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha (Scott Eastwood) is amongst the new arrivals late at night. He settles in taking a lower bunk and as he stretches out he notices that a previous occupant has inscribed the words 'it does not get better' on the underside of the upper bunk. In the camp there is a complete mix of personalities, backgrounds and ethnicities, all led by Captain Benjamin Keating (Orlando Bloom). The next morning following a quick briefing by Keating, the newly arrived troops are shown around the camp ground when they are attacked by Taliban insurgents. The short lived skirmish results in an exchange of gun fire and mortar rounds aimed at a cluster of Taliban perched on a narrow escarpment just within range.  Such skirmishes are almost a daily occurrence with Keating's men generally gaining the upper hand even though they are disadvantaged by being on the lower ground, but they have far superior weaponry and trained soldiers. 

After being introduced to various other soldiers, including Specialist Ty Michael Carter (Caleb Landry Jones), Staff Sergeant Justin T. Gallegos (Jacob Scipio), Private First Class Zorias Yunger (Alfie Stewart), Private Ed Faulkner (Will Attenborough), and following that skirmish these men all had disagreements with one another or with Captain Keating, revealing the amount of pressure and stress the men collectively were under. The next day Captain Keating meets with a group of local tribal elders during which time he states that they must all work together with a shared sense of trust and respect, and he agrees to pay them and offer contracts for projects to help support and grow their communities, including the construction of a local school. He also advises them that the United States will compensate them for anyone who agrees to lay down their arms. After some reluctance the gathered Taliban all lay down their weapons at Keating's feet, and as a show of gratitude one of the English speaking elders embraces Captain Keating.

The next day Captain Keating announces that they are to return a big truck to another military base located just thirteen miles away. But the narrow unsealed mountain roads are too precarious for a vehicle of that weight and size, and so none of the men want to go because it's seen as being way to dangerous a mission. Captain Keating volunteers to drive the truck even though it will take all night to travel the thirteen miles, and Romesha and Carter ride with him in the cabin, with army patrol cars up front and behind. On a narrow stretch of road with a sheer drop to the left, the small convoy comes to halt having spied something in the road up ahead. Romesha and Carter go to investigate and discover that it is nothing, and turning around to go back and join Captain Keating, the truck gives way with its weight on the crumbling roadside and plunges down the mountain side and erupts into a ball of flame a couple of hundred feet below. Keating is thrown free, but has sustained severe head injuries and dies a short time afterwards where he lay. After the soldiers have held a funeral and a gun salute to their deceased Captain Keating, they are introduced to Captain Robert Yllescas (Milo Gibson). 

As he is being shown around the base on his first day, the Taliban insurgents attack, and afterwards Romesha leads his men on a patrol of the surrounding area. Looking down on their camp they see for the first time just how exposed and vulnerable the outpost really is. Sometime later Sergeant Josh Kirk (Jack Kesy) observes a man with a mobile phone taking photos and video footage of the camp. The man does a runner but Kirk give chase and catches up with him, knocking him to the ground. The man advises Kirk that the elders paid him to take photos of the camp. The next day Captain Yllescas is in discussion with the elders wanting to know more details surrounding the covert photography. The elders respond asking about their arrangement with Captain Keating as they feel it is now not being honoured. Captain Yllescas withholds money from the locals which was to be used for the school and to bring clean water and power to their community. As relations with the elders begin to deteriorate the US troops are warned by a local translator Mohammed (Sharif Dorani) of an impending mass attack by the Taliban. The US troops laugh it off and do not take the warning seriously saying that Mohammed cries wolf to them almost everyday, and nothing ever eventuates from his dire warnings.

On a patrol mission headed up by Captain Yllescas, a lot of chatter is picked up over the radio. Mohammed claims that the chat is about nothing really, not realising that it is probably coded. As Captain Yllescas is crossing a narrow rope bridge over a river and talking to Yunger behind him, he is blown up and killed outright. Yunger escapes being wounded but is traumatised after the incident and goes into shock. Later that night Yunger is talked out of shooting himself in the head by Romesha, and is the next day helicoptered off camp for treatment. 

Captain Sylvanius Broward (Kwame Patterson) arrives at the camp and when it is attacked he delays the orders for his troop to fire back when engaged in gunfire by the Taliban, and subsequently berates Romesha for engaging with the enemy when they are not seen to be holding any firearms. So many changes in their leadership over such a short period of time is only adding to the tension and stress the men are feeling. Captain Broward offers to pay the men an extra US$1,000 per month for their troubles. The relationship with the elders and the locals continues to deteriorate. Mortars come raining down on the base at night. The next day at the village, Broward is confronted by the villagers with a corpse of a young woman who claim that she was killed by mortars from the camp the night before, even though it is obvious to the soldiers that she has been dead for two or three days at least. The elders demand money for the loss of one of their daughters and further state that everyone knows the troops are leaving soon. Captain Broward gets upset and questions why they think they are leaving soon? As Captain Broward tries to get an answer to his question, the sniffer dog companion of one of the US soldiers bites a local man's hand. Mohammed explains that in their culture it is extremely disrespectful to get bitten by a dog. Captain Broward then pulls out his sidearm and shoots the dog, which only serves to alienate him even more from his own men. As he turns to walk away he orders one of the men to pay US$3,500 out of the Captains discretionary fund to compensate for the loss of the young woman. 

The next day as the soldiers are letting off some steam in their quarters, Captain Broward enters and announces that he has been relieved of his duties. Broward also advises that they are scheduling the birds to come pick them up with a Captain Stoney Portis and that the Saudi's will then close up the base on October 6th and ultimately blow it to kingdom come. Broward appoints First Lieutenant Andrew Bundermann (Taylor John Smith) to assume command until then. Bundermann's first order is to remain silent on all outgoing communications about leaving as they do not want to give the Taliban the heads up. He instructs the soldiers not to talk about leaving the base to anyone on Skype, email, the radio, or over the phone.

Early morning on 3rd October, Mohammed runs around the camp screaming that the Taliban are here. In the mountains, hundreds of Taliban soldiers are seen advancing on the camp as they begin their attack using mortars, rocket propelled grenades and gunfire. Soon the soldiers find themselves in a life or death battle at a base that is fully surrounded by mountains and the Taliban have the advantage of the high ground. The attack is one of the bloodiest battles and is known as the Battle of Kamdesh, that raged through the entire day until early evening when air support finally arrived dispensing with many of the remaining attackers. 

Eight U.S. soldiers were killed and twenty-seven wounded; eight Afghan soldiers were wounded, along with two Afghan private security guards. The US military estimated that 150 Taliban militants were also killed as a result of repulsing the assault. The US soldiers killed in the battle were Staff Sergeant Justin T. Gallegos, Specialist Christoper Griffin (Alexander Arnold), Private First Class Kevin C. Thomson (Bobby Lockwood), Sergeant Michael P. Scusa (Scott Alda Coffey), Staff Sergeant Vernon W. Martin (Cory Hardrict), Specialist Stephan L. Mace (Chris Born), Sergeant Joshua J. Kirk and Sergeant Joshua M. Hardt (Jack DeVos). Twenty-seven soldiers were awarded the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in combat. Thirty-seven soldiers were awarded the Army Commendation Medal with 'V' device for valour, three soldiers were awarded the Bronze Star Medal, and eighteen others the Bronze Star Medal with 'V' device for valour. Nine soldiers were awarded the Silver Star for valour. Staff Sergeant Justin Gallegos and First Lieutenant Andrew Bundermann were ultimately awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha and Staff Sergeant Ty Carter were both subsequently awarded the Medal of Honour in 2013.

'The Outpost' presents the viewer with a truly immersive rendition of the Battle of Kamdesh underpinned by a sense of urgency and hopelessness by being overcome by a group of marauding insurgents who outnumbered those US soldiers in Camp Keating eight to one. This is a realistic retelling of one of the bloodiest and boldest battles of the nineteen years of the Afghan War, that pays tribute to the brave soldiers who stood their ground and won the day against the odds, but not without sacrifice. The cast are all to be commended for their authentic depiction of the soldiers they portray with a particular stand out performance by Caleb Landry Jones, and the Director here has crafted a surprisingly visceral, gritty, intense, no holds barred depiction of the horrors of the battlefield, its bravery, its failures and the true cost of war on both sides. 'The Outpost' reminded me in some ways of Ridley Scott's 2001 'Black Hawk Down' - another true life account of American soldiers a long way from home fighting for their lives amidst seemingly impossible odds. Certainly worth watching on the big screen if you can. 

'The Outpost' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI : Tuesday 2nd January 2018.

'THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI' which I saw earlier this week, following its Australian release on New Years Day, is a black comedy crime drama film Written, Directed and Co-Produced by British/Irish playwright, screen writer and film maker Martin McDonagh whose previous feature film credits are 'In Bruges' and 'Seven Psychopaths'. The film Premiered at the Venice International Film Festival back in early September and then TIFF later that month taking out the top prize - The People's Choice Award. Since then the film has been shown at numerous film festivals and has received widespread critical acclaim, so far picking up 49 award wins and a further 140 nominations including six Golden Globe nominations, four SAG nominations and five AACTA International nods with the winners & grinners yet to be announced. The film opened in the US in early November, went on general release in Australia on 1st January and in the UK on 12th January. Having cost US$12M to make, the film has so far grossed US$24M. Apparently, McDonagh gained inspiration for the premise of the film after seeing billboards about an unsolved crime while travelling 'somewhere down in the Georgia, Florida, Alabama corner'. Of the event that inspired the film, McDonagh stated 'the rage that put a bunch of billboards like that up was palpable and stayed with me'. Eventually he was inspired to create the fictional scenario around such a situation, into the film we have today.

The film follows a mothers plight, who after seven months have passed by without a culprit in her daughter's violent rape and murder case, Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), a small town shop assistant, makes a bold move and rents three abandoned roadside billboards close by to her home in Ebbing, Missouri. She rents the billboards from Ebbing Advertising managed by Red Welby (Caleb Landry Jones) who states that these have not be leased since 1986, and as the new highway cut off that part of town where the billboards are located, anyone driving along that stretch of road would either have to be lost, or be a complete retard! But she proceeds and lays down an initial one months rental fee of US$5,000 and then orders that each sign in bold lettering portray a specific message directed at William Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), the town's revered Chief of Police. Each of the signs reads, in sequence, 'Raped while dying', 'And still no arrests?', and 'How come, Chief Willoughby?'. 

Willoughby's second-in-command, Officer Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell) an immature Mummy's Boy with a leaning towards violence, is the first person to come across the billboards as they are being finished off early one evening. He calls Willoughby while he is having dinner with his family, and the next day the pair visit the roadside billboards. It is revealed that Willoughby has terminal pancreatic cancer which only heightens their disapproval of the signage, and the Police Chief thinks this is a personal attack against his character and his standing within the local community. Meanwhile, the towns folk have also become increasingly upset by the three signs, and Mildred and her son Robbie (Lucas Hedges) are threatened and harassed. Mildred however, is unwavering in her stance.

Willoughby visits Mildred at her home and the two talk. He is sympathetic to her cause, but does his best to explain that their investigations into Angela's murder all led to dead ends and for now there is very little else he can do, except to offer her some hope that at a future date something may come to light that will lead to a conviction. Willoughby confides in Mildred that he is terminally ill with cancer, hoping for some sympathy, but he gets none. She replies that his 'secret' is not nearly the secret he believes, and that the whole of Ebbing knows. She further states that the buck stops with him and that he is ultimately responsible for finding her daughters rapist and killer, and if the signs gel him into action then so be it. They won't be much good after he 'croaks'!

Dixon is frustrated and angered by Mildred's lack of respect for the Chief and retaliates by threatening Red, who rented the billboards to her. After discussion with his mother too, Dixon begins getting back at Mildred through her friends and supporters, and arrests her colleague in the shop on exaggerated marijuana possession charges. Mildred confronts Dixon in the Police station.

After an altercation with the vastly overweight town dentist that involves a wobbly tooth, hastily administered anaesthetic, a drill and a fingernail Willoughby brings Mildred in for questioning and threatens to tie her up in red tape for years, when the dentist wishes to press charges against her for assault with a deadly drill. While waiting to be questioned over the incident, there is another heated exchange with Dixon over his alleged beating and torture of a coloured man held in custody. When Dixon is discharged from the interview room and Willoughby is chatting to Mildred, he coughs up blood unexpectedly over her, signifying to them both that his condition is worsening. He is taken by ambulance from the Police Station to the local hospital.

Willoughby discharges himself from hospital as soon as he can, and goes home and takes his two young daughters and his wife Anne (Abbie Cornish) out to the lake for a picnic, where they spend a near perfect afternoon. Later that night, Willoughby goes out to the stable to attend to his horses, and shoots himself in the head, dead. He leaves several suicide notes - one for his wife explaining his actions, and for Mildred which is delivered that day by a distraught Anne to her place of work. In his letter to Mildred he explains that she wasn't a factor in his suicide, but he paid a further US$5,000 in secret to keep the billboards going for another month, finding amusement with the antagonism they would continue to cause her after his death.

Dixon is shocked and distraught by the news of Willoughby's suicide, and violently takes his anger out on Red Welby and his assistant, by forcing entry into the premises, beating him up, and throwing him out of the first floor window onto the street below, and then further beating him on his way back to the Police Station just across the road. All of this is witnessed in broad daylight by Abercrombie (Clarke Peters), Willoughby's replacement, who promptly fires Dixon. Later, the billboards are destroyed by fire in an arson attack, believed to be by Dixon.

Mildred retaliates by fire bombing the Police Station with molotov cocktails under cover of darkness. Believing the Station to be deserted at night, she is unaware that Dixon has gained entry to retrieve a letter left to him also by Willoughby and to return his keys to the place. In the letter Willoughby explains to Dixon that he should learn to let go of his anger and his hatred and be forgiving, loving and see the good in people - the only way of following his dream of becoming a detective. Dixon is able to escape the fire with Angela's case file, but is badly burned in the process. A friend James (Peter Dinklage) witnesses the incident, and fronts up immediately with an alibi for Mildred, claiming that the pair were on a date.

In time, Dixon is discharged from hospital having recovered sufficiently from his burns. Feeling sorry for himself one night and drinking alone in a bar, he overhears a conversation from two guys talking about an incident that one of them was involved in that sounded suspiciously similar to Angela's rape and murder. Dixon takes note of the interstate car number plate and engineers a fight in which he scratches the mans face to gain a DNA sample under his fingernails to compare to the forensics collected at the time of Angela's murder. In the meantime, Mildred is on a dinner date to thank James for his intervention with the alibi, when her abusive and volatile ex-husband Charlie (John Hawkes) enters the restaurant with his nineteen year old bimbo girlfriend Penelope (Samara Weaving) and siddles up to the pair. Charlie admits that in a drunken stupor he set light to the billboards.

Sometime later, the results of the DNA tests come back, but prove that their new suspect is no suspect at all, as he wasn't even in the country at the time of Angela's rape and murder, and was overseas on military service. However, the pair conclude that the man must be guilty of some rape crime otherwise why would be be bragging about it in such a cavalier way to his friend in the bar that night. Mildred and Dixon agree to join forces and drive interstate to where the man lives and kill him anyway, but show some reservation in their mission shortly after leaving. They resolve to have made their final decision by the time they reach their eventual destination.

In this film McDonagh has crafted a great story, fine dialogue and captured memorable performances most notably from Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell, but Woody Harrelson deserves a special mention too. McDormand owns this film with an equally best performance that is up there with her Marge Gunderson in 'Fargo', as the determined, unwavering and relentless woman who's on a mission and she really doesn't care who she steps on along the way. Rockwell plays the racist, discriminating, violent and dumbass cop who you really don't want to cross that comes good in the end so much so that your earlier opinion of him is reversed. And Harrelson plays the approachable, warm hearted, forgiving local pillar of the community who is the big fish in the small pond and with whom you can't help but feel sympathy. Imbued with the darkest humour that starts out with a clever and witty moment of inspiration, and gives way to the deep rooted anger and frustration that drives the human spirit to extremes and in particular some of those residents in small town USA. The film offers twists and turns aplenty and explores on many levels anger, frustration, grief, injustice and the power of forgiveness with a number of laugh out loud moments along the way. One of the best films of the year and a worthy contender come Academy Award time and deserving of the accolades already bestowed upon the film, McDonagh, McDormand and Rockwell. A truly original film, you won't be disappointed.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

GET OUT : Tuesday 9th May 2017.

'GET OUT', made for just US$4.5M this comedy horror film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Jordan Peele in his debut in the Directors chair, and has so far grossed US$207M and has received much critical acclaim. Jordan Peele is one half of the Comedy Central sketch series pairing of Key & Peele. His film, seen as a satire on racism in the United States in the present day, points at the underbelly of middle class conservatives interwoven with an effective horror story, stands now as the highest grossing film Directed by a black film maker, and has also claimed the spot previously occupied by 1999's 'The Blair Witch Project' as the highest grossing debut film based on an original screenplay in Hollywood history. Not bad credentials at all!

The film opens up with a black guy, Andre Hayworth (LaKeith Stanfield) speaking on his mobile phone while walking down a leafy suburban street late at night. A white car approaches him, with loud music blaring out of the window, and an unseen driver. The car circles around and approaches from behind a nervous looking Andre, who is clearly out of his comfort zone. Andre crosses the street keen to avoid any confrontation, and is then beaten over the head by an unknown assailant and dragged back towards the white car - drivers side door and rear boot open. Bundled up, unconscious in the boot of the car, it speeds off into the night.

Some months later, we are introduced to black photographer Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) and his white girlfriend Rose Armitage (Allison Williams). They have been together for five months now, and they are preparing to visit Allison's parents at their country estate for the weekend. Chris expresses some concern that Allison has not yet told her parents that he is black, but quickly dismisses his concerns when she reassures him that they are non-racial progressive thinking types who would have voted for Obama a third time given the chance. They load up the car and head on out driving in the clear light of day, chatting, laughing and joking most of the way.

Upon arriving at the country estate of parents Dean Armitage (Bradley Whitford) a retired neurosurgeon and Missy Armitage (Catherine Keener) a psychiatrist and hypnotherapist and brother Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones) the family  attempt to allay any fears that Chris may have about their concerns of an inter-racial relationship. Pretty soon, however, Chris notices the black groundsman Walter (Marcus Henderson) and black housekeeper Georgina (Betty Gabriel) and how their behaviour seems very strange and distant, let alone the fact that an all white family have black servants about the place, in this day and age!

Later that night when Chris can't sleep, and craving a cigarette, he ventures outside. Upon re-entering the house, attempting to be quiet, he walks past a lounge room in which Missy is sitting drinking tea. She invites Chris in to sit down opposite him, holding her cup and saucer in one hand and stirring it with a teaspoon with the other. The sound of the spoon stirring is repetitive and Missy keeps on stirring, while she questions Chris about his mother who was killed in a hit and run accident when he was just eleven.

While they talk, although Chris doesn't realise it, he is hypnotised by Missy to the rhythmic sounds of a spoon stirring a tea cup. He is paralysed to the chair, and Missy orders his conscious mind to a place she refers to as 'the sunken place'. Chris wakes up the next morning from a deep sleep, not knowing how he got fully clothed into bed, realising that Missy had hypnotised him to get him off the cigarettes, or so he at first believes.

The next day at the Armitage household is an annual lawn party held for all white close friends to attend. The guests are all mostly elderly and they take more than an active interest in Chris, asking blatant questions about his ethnicity, race, culture, which needless to say uneases Chris. He notices a black guest who introduces himself as Logan King and who is accompanied by an elderly white lady. Chris notices some bizarre behaviour by Logan and senses that the two have met before, but chooses to say nothing. He secretly attempts to take a photograph of Logan with his mobile phone but the flash from the camera sets Logan off with a nosebleed and then a hysterical confrontation at which Logan yells 'get out' at Chris. Dean shrugs off the episode as a epileptic seizure and when Logan re-emerges from a room with Missy, it is as though nothing ever happened! Chris however, is not so sure.

As the afternoon wears on, Chris and Rose walk the grounds away from the party guests. Chris has become concerned about the strange goings on and persuades Rose that they should leave that night. Meanwhile, Dean holds an auction in their absence, with a large framed portrait sized picture of  Chris by his side. The winning bid for Chris goes to Jim Hudson (Stephen Root) a blind art dealer who is aware of Chris' keen eye for photography. Meanwhile Chris has been able to reach out to his good friend Rod Williams (Lil Rel Howery) who works for the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) and who is also dog minding and house sitting for Chris and Rose while they are away.  Chris tells Rod of his observations and sends the photograph of Logan over for Rod to do some investigative work.

While packing up in readiness to leave, Rod advises Chris that Logan (LaKeith Stanfield) is in fact Andre Hayworth who vanished mysteriously six months ago, and who is both known to them. While Rose's back is turned, Chris notices a closet door left ajar and sticks his head inside to investigate. Inside he uncovers a shoe box of photographs of Rose up close and personal with what appear to black boyfriends - lots of individual pictures of her and black men. Chris's need to leave takes on a new sense of urgency. As he attempts to do so and Rose seems to fumble for her missing car keys, so his exit from the house is blocked by Dean, Missy, Jeremy, and Rose. Missy gives a simple command and Chris crashes to the floor totally incapacitated.

Chris comes round strapped to a chair, in front of a old television screen, which blurts out a video explaining why he is tied to the chair and the next steps for him. It seems that the family have developed a method of transplanting the brains of their older family and friends into the bodies of younger black people, that are pre-selected by Rose and prepared by hypnosis by Missy. Hence Walter, Georgina and Logan's strange behaviours. Jim Hudson purchased Chris for this purpose, so that he can be the host and regain his sight.

Whilst Dean is prepping Jim Hudson for the brain transplant in his own private home surgery, Jeremy is sent to collect Chris. Chris however, has an ace up his sleeve and is able to out fox Missy's hypnotic commands when Jeremy least expected it and is able to effect his escape, but not before dispensing with several family members. As Chris exists the house in Jeremy's car, he mows down Georgina, and in his childhood guilt over the death of his mother in a hit and run accident, goes back to check on the downed housekeeper. He loads her into the car, and she quickly comes round turning on Chris, causing him to crash the car into a tree, so killing Georgina on impact.

Rose who has been locked way in her bedroom, surfing the internet for her next unsuspecting black boyfriend, hears the commotion and appears at the front door brandishing a shotgun as she and Walter go in pursuit of an already injured, shaken and unhinged Chris. For what happens next, you'll just have to watch the film.

It's easy to see why this film has garnered so much positive press and the record breaking Box Office receipts it has. The film is at once a smart and relevant satire coupled with sharp wit and a modern horror story that delivers a thought provoking, effective and entertaining package. The first half of the film slowly sets the tone amidst racial jibes and effective hints that something may be amiss at the Armitage Estate, or maybe Chris is just over reacting being the minority in the room and therefore on edge anyhow. But the second half lets loose with the nightmare that awaits Chris as the tension builds to its bloody, brutal and emotional climax, at which point the comedy drops away to full blown horror, ending with a comedic note as the screen fades to black. A clever film, very well told, that sets Jordan Peele up there as a Writer/Director to watch out for based on the calibre of this inaugural offering.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-