The Outpost (new movie, Battle of Kamdesh)

[Celery Man 20970]

Apologies if there was a thread already. I rented this last night and watched it, regretted that I didn't buy it. 50% Restrepo, 50% Black Hawk Down. Really good, I thought, very well done. This is based around Combat Outpost Keating, a mountain surrounded base out in the remotest part of Afghanistan that was very nearly overrun by Taliban in 2009 during a battle where two soldiers earned the Medal of Honor. It's a bummer this came out during a cinematic dead period, I think this is one of the better war movies of this era.

 

[Celery Man 20970]

On a more "new movies in the time of COVID" thing I've been put off by new movies that are $20 to rent. I guess I get it, but I'm not going to do it. I had read good things about this one and only waited this long to check it out (it came out on the 3rd) because I figured it would be like that. I think it was $7 to rent or $16 to buy. I rented it but bet I end up buying it at some point.

[henrygandorf 29192]

based on the tapper book, yes?

[deadshank 24653]

Watched it last night.  Quite enjoyable.   Those were some brave and ballsy guys.   
 

I can only imagine being put in such a dangerous and terrifying place and surviving.   
 

Will watch again.  

[Js1 85426]

14 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

based on the tapper book, yes?

Yes

[Celery Man 20970]

23 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

based on the tapper book, yes?

palabra.

Made me want to read the book. Also, Netflix had/has a Medal of Honor series that I had watched a bit of a year or so back, one episode of which was with the Caleb Landry Jones character talking about the battle. That was a good watch.

The movie did a good job of showing how fucked that position was, and also broadly the futility of the effort.  I am curious to read more about the the third commanding officer guy who wasn't portrayed in a very positive light.

[deadshank 24653]

3 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

 I am curious to read more about the the third commanding officer guy who wasn't portrayed in a very positive light.

Judging by his treatment of dogs he must’ve retired and starters a career as a cop. 

[futureman 22488]

nm

Edited July 11, 2020 by futureman
nm

[Celery Man 20970]

Yeah that was a tad confusing (my comment re: restrepo)- this is a movie with actors (although actually one guy played himself, didn't realize that until the interviews after the credits). 50% Restrepo in that the part before the battle is very much that same kind of situation - guys at a remote base in bumfuck afghanistan constantly getting fired on doing god knows what really dealing with each other and their own shit and literal shit, etc.

Edited July 11, 2020 by Celery Man

[Helobious 9462]

3 hours ago, Celery Man said:

palabra.

Made me want to read the book. Also, Netflix had/has a Medal of Honor series that I had watched a bit of a year or so back, one episode of which was with the Caleb Landry Jones character talking about the battle. That was a good watch.

The movie did a good job of showing how fucked that position was, and also broadly the futility of the effort.  I am curious to read more about the the third commanding officer guy who wasn't portrayed in a very positive light.

There were 2 Medal of Honor episodes about Camp Keating. That was a great series.

[mbtex 683]

Also be sure to read Red Platoon by Romesha. This will give you even more incite to the deployment and final battle.

[Homesickhorn 2202]

I've actually read the book twice.  Romesha is a grown ass man.

One of my favorites from the book:

Romesha was finally able to make contact with a B-1 pilot who announced that he was coming on station with a three minute eta.

Romesha: "I need you to get rid of Hurmul (The Village above them)".

Pilot: "Say again your last"

Romesha: "You heard my last.  I want Hurmul gone.  Make it fucking disappear"

Pilot: (After a twenty second pause) "Roger that".

 

[Parliament 14261]

Is this the battle depicted in The Hornet's Nest (documentary?)  That thing was I.N.T.E.N.S.E.

[blacklab 11941]

It's on Nexflix now, can't recommend it enough.

I just want to know wtf the army was thinking putting that base there. Whoever approved that should get booted from the Army. Find a fucking high spot that doesn't leave the whole base exposed from above.

[RPM 26323]

I posted in a different thread, but this is an amazing film. Highly recommend.

[Celery Man 20970]

need to go back and watch again but I still feel like this is the best modern war movie since Black Hawk Down

[lateshow 1304]

Agreed with all above. Fantastic movie and some true bad asses. 

[jeevsie 3734]

This rec was in the Netflix thread.  Glad it has its own thread.  Just an awesome movie.  Balls of fucking steel.

[futureman 22488]

haven’t watched but my brother was watching it last weekend and I saw a little of a scene at the very beginning of the movie.  some guy talking about getting “footage” and another guy kicking him and calling him “junger”??  is that supposed to be sebastian junger?

[RPM 26323]

1 hour ago, futureman said:

some guy talking about getting “footage” and another guy kicking him and calling him “junger”??  is that supposed to be sebastian junger?

PFC Yunger

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

I think the story and heroes are incredible but found the movie to just be ok. A movie about great soldiers and heroism doesn’t make the movie great.

as an example, a small army unit shows up at the end to help secure the base. The movie seems to make a big deal of the captain leading the unit. His name is plastered on the screen a couple of time. His only other scene is hugging the lieutenant.

felt like a fair amount of the story was not filmed or cut out. I plan to buy the book to learn more.

 

Edited November 12, 2020 by Nice Guy Eddie

[mbtex 683]

1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I think the story and heroes are incredible but found the movie to just be ok. A movie about great soldiers and heroism doesn’t make the movie great.

as an example, a small army unit shows up at the end to help secure the base. The movie seems to make a big deal of the captain leading the unit. His name is plastered on the screen a couple of time. His only other scene is hugging the lieutenant.

felt like a fair amount of the story was not filmed or cut out. I plan to buy the book to learn more.

 

Read Romesha's book Red Platoon to get full story. As always cannot fit all that happened into 2 hour movie.

[kevwun 15799]

Excellent movie.  I am with blacklab. I hope whoever was involved in picking that base location suffered serious consequences and generally has a terrible life.  Those poor bastards were fish in a barrel.

Edited December 15, 2020 by kevwun

[RPM 26323]

It gets better with every rewatch. I'm particularly impressed with the job Caleb Landry Jones did. The guy has more chops than I ever gave him credit for.

[TwiceHorn 31501]

9 minutes ago, RPM said:

It gets better with every rewatch. I'm particularly impressed with the job Caleb Landry Jones did. The guy has more chops than I ever gave him credit for.

He is good.  One of his best roles may have been the crippled kid in Lawless.  Almost everything else has him as some form of borderline psycho, which was what looked like may have been coming in this.

[TwiceHorn 31501]

On 11/12/2020 at 6:38 AM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I think the story and heroes are incredible but found the movie to just be ok. A movie about great soldiers and heroism doesn’t make the movie great.

as an example, a small army unit shows up at the end to help secure the base. The movie seems to make a big deal of the captain leading the unit. His name is plastered on the screen a couple of time. His only other scene is hugging the lieutenant.

felt like a fair amount of the story was not filmed or cut out. I plan to buy the book to learn more.

 

Yeah it was choppy and wooden as hell at the beginning, or really until the shooting started.  Black Hawk Down was a much better film in every conceivable way.

While CO Keating and the other COs and OPs in Nuristan were maybe exceptionally bad, a whole lot of them in Afghanistan were just about as bad, including CO Restrepo.

The problem was similar to Vietnam:  military effectiveness took a back seat to the "hearts and minds" campaigns, so the outposts were along rivers and roads where there were villages and settlements, not up in the more defensible and remote hills.  They couldn't put one at the highest point in a valley or region and effectively continue the "humanitarian" aspects of the mission.

[RPM 26323]

Don't blame the film for bad COs. You ever been in the military?

[TwiceHorn 31501]

6 minutes ago, RPM said:

Don't blame the film for bad COs. You ever been in the military?

That post addressed multiple prior posts (in each paragraph) without quoting them.  Sorry for the confusion.

By CO, I mean "combat outpost," not commanding officer.  Similarly, OP meaning observation post, an even more indefensible position.

[kevwun 15799]

You could just as effectively argue that ain't nobody gonna have time to win any hearts and minds when they can't step outside to take a piss without being in an enemy's line of fire.

Edited December 15, 2020 by kevwun

[Guest]

On 11/12/2020 at 6:38 AM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I think the story and heroes are incredible but found the movie to just be ok. A movie about great soldiers and heroism doesn’t make the movie great.

as an example, a small army unit shows up at the end to help secure the base. The movie seems to make a big deal of the captain leading the unit. His name is plastered on the screen a couple of time. His only other scene is hugging the lieutenant.

felt like a fair amount of the story was not filmed or cut out. I plan to buy the book to learn more.

 

That's how I felt too.

The rope bridge scene made me turn it off the first time.  Nobody's that fucking stupid.  There's no way that's how it really went down( that particular scene.)

[TwiceHorn 31501]

3 hours ago, slorch said:

That's how I felt too.

The rope bridge scene made me turn it off the first time.  Nobody's that fucking stupid.  There's no way that's how it really went down( that particular scene.)

Apparently it pretty much was.  One problem, some boards on the tread of the bridge had been replaced by an unknown party, which probably should have indicated not to traverse it.  The theory was that it was remotely triggered and specifically targeted Yllescas as commanding officer and because he was having pretty good success with the local elders, gaining their trust, purging insurgents from the villages, and with little development projects.

[TwiceHorn 31501]

4 hours ago, kevwun said:

You could just as effectively argue that ain't nobody gonna have time to win any hearts and minds when they can't step outside to take a piss without being in an enemy's line of fire.

Not vouching for the theory, but a whole lot of those outposts were very dangerously disposed.  Nothing particularly special about CO Keating in that regard.

Another thing was that when they started with them, there didn't seem to be much but local insurgents with rifles and an occasional RPG.  Later on, Pakis and Paki-equipped "troops" with heavy machine guns, mortars, and lots of RPGs seemed to be the main opponent.

[Celery Man 20970]

trying to remember where all I know Caleb Landry Jones from and this was definitely not what i was thinking of

he's 31 now what the fuck

[TwiceHorn 31501]

Sidenote.  I'm reading Tapper's book about this.  It's decent.

Funny thing, though.  I've read "all" the popular military history from the 20th and 21st century wars.  Just recently read With The Old Breed.

It's funny how, reading accounts of/from military men in their 20s, I kind of read them at their current age.  Like the WWII stuff, they're like my father: older, wiser hero figures.  Infallible, almost.  Black Hawk Down is roughly my contemporaries in current age and seem more faillible, yet still serious.  And the Afghanistan/Iraq stuff seem like callow youth: young, dumb and fulla cum, if you will.  Yet, they're all more alike than dissimilar.  Maybe.  Or maybe not.

[Parliament 14261]

If you haven't read "Generation Kill," you definitely should. "American Spartan" is solid too

[blacklab 11941]

2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

It's funny how, reading accounts of/from military men in their 20s, I kind of read them at their current age.  Like the WWII stuff, they're like my father: older, wiser hero figures.  Infallible, almost.  Black Hawk Down is roughly my contemporaries in current age and seem more faillible, yet still serious.  And the Afghanistan/Iraq stuff seem like callow youth: young, dumb and fulla cum, if you will.  Yet, they're all more alike than dissimilar.  Maybe.  Or maybe not.

I know exactly what you're trying to say here.

I don't identify with the people in The outpost, Vietnam movies or WWII movies, but I completely identify with the people in Generation Kill and Jarhead because they took place while I was in the Navy.