The Outpost | 2020 | R | – 4.8.10

Why is “The Outpost” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “war violence and grisly images, pervasive language, and sexual references.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes sexual references and implied masturbation, a fully nude man shown from the back, many scenes throughout the movie of a military outpost being fired on by enemy fighters on a hillside with increasing levels of weaponry that kill and wound many with bloody wounds shown, and over 350 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Based on true events described in the book “The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor” by Jake Tapper, about the Battle of Kamdesh during the Afghanistan war: In 2009 53 US soldiers were forced to defend Combat Outpost Keating, located at the bottom of three steep mountains, against 400 Taliban fighters. With Scott Eastwood, Caleb Landry Jones, Orlando Bloom, Jack Kesy, Cory Hardrict, Milo Gibson, Jacob Scipio, Taylor John Smith, Jonathan Yunger, Alexander Arnold, George Arvidson, Will Attenborough, Chris Born, Ernest Cavazos and Scott Alda Coffey. Directed by Rod Lurie. Several lines of dialogue are spoken in Pashto or Dari with English subtitles. [Running Time: 2:03]

The Outpost SEX/NUDITY 4

 – A man yells, pulls a man outside a tent and makes him do push-ups when he finds him looking at a photo of his wife (masturbation is implied). Two shirtless men dance together while repeating, “I love you,” as part of a reconciliation.
► Soldiers ask each other as to which famous man they would have sex with if a gun were held to their head. A man talks about remarrying the woman he divorced and that she is pregnant with someone else’s baby. A man talks about letting someone kiss him all over when he gets home and we see that he is talking about his dog. Men laugh at another man when he repeats a phrase that sounds sexually suggestive several times and in a couple of scenes. A man uses sexual terms to greet an elder from an Afghani group when the words he says are in English but sound like the greeting in Dari or Pashto.
► A man wears a towel wrapped around his waist outside a shower (we see his bare chest, abdomen and back); when gunfire erupts, the man drops his towel and shoots back and we see him fully nude from the back (his bare back, buttocks and legs are evident). Soldiers wearing boxers run through a camp and some are shirtless when gunfire erupts in a few scenes.

The Outpost VIOLENCE/GORE 8

 – Two men walk across a rope bridge and an explosive strikes them; one man is thrown and we see a bloody leg wound and the other man is blown into the water below (we see charred clothing and missing limbs and the man is dead). A man drives a transport truck along a very narrow dirt road and it slips off the edge, tumbles down and catches fire; we see the man with a bloody head wound and we understand that he dies from his wounds. Gunfire hits all around an outpost repeatedly and in many scenes causing soldiers to scatter to find shelter and fire back; gunfire is exchanged and RPGs are fired causing explosions that leave several people dead or wounded with bloody wounds shown. A soldier spits out a piece of tissue and has a lot of blood splatter on his face and mouth after another man was blown up. Mortar fire lands in a camp throwing men and dirt and other men are shot and they fall to the ground motionless; one man is shown with a very bloody leg wound and we see what looks like bone through the flesh. After a firefight a man is shown with a very bloody face and head wound and we hear later that he got through surgery OK; one man quips that he lost half his face. RPGs are launched during a firefight and we see men on a hillside being thrown into the air (presumably killed) and one man on the ground is shown with a bloody wound on his arm. Soldiers run out of a truck and are shot dead (we see one fall with no blood evident). A soldier is struck and has a bloody leg wound; another soldier wraps a belt around his leg as a tourniquet, and he carries the soldier to the medic tent. Two soldiers carry a wounded man on a stretcher through a camp while being shot at and the first man collapses on the floor among puddles of blood when they reach the medic tent. A man is shown lying dead on the ground with blood on his face and clothing. Helicopters fly over a camp and drop explosives in the hillside surrounding it. Many men are shot down as they run through the entrance to a camp and down a hillside (we don’t see much blood). We see a dead man with a bloody bullet hole in his forehead.
► A soldier is shot at as he runs through a camp carrying a stretcher to retrieve a wounded man. A soldier carrying ammunition runs through a camp as he is shot at and explosions blow dirt and smoke around him. A man holding a cellphone is interrupted by a soldier, he chases the man with his gun drawn, fires a warning shot, the man runs into another soldier knocking them both to the ground (no injuries are shown), and he is held at gunpoint and shown restrained with an armed soldier standing over him.
► A man yells, pulls a man outside a tent and makes him do push-ups when he finds him looking at a photo of the first man’s wife (masturbation is implied). A man kicks a man in the chest and knocks him to the ground, straddles him and yells at him about arguing during a firefight. A soldier is reprimanded for calling a commanding officer a disrespectful name. A commander tells a soldier that he is demoting him to private after he is caught smoking hashish. Two men prepare to wrestle as the scene ends. A soldier slips on a narrow dirt road and nearly falls over a ledge.
► Soldiers waterboard each other as a dare and time how long they can last. A man sleeps on the ground, surrounded by body bags with bodies. A body in a bag is loaded into a helicopter and a soldier boards the helicopter to be sent home after suffering a breakdown. A helicopter lands and several soldiers are unloaded and left at an outpost.
► Several of the actual soldiers talk after the film about what took place during their time serving during the battle and describe the dangers. A man describes a place as being the gates of heaven and the gates of hell all in the same place.” A soldier shakes while holding his gun near his face and says, “I had a piece of his brain in my mouth” after witnessing a man being blown up; another man unloads the man’s weapon and talks to him about watching his own best friend die. We hear that 27 men were injured and 7 men were killed at the camp before they were taken out and the camp was destroyed. A soldier talks to a mental health professional about his experience in a camp; he stammers and cries, unable to talk about it. A commander is told, “There’s a price on your head.” A voiceover says that a military outpost was nicknamed “Camp Custer” because “everyone was going to die.” Soldiers banter back and forth with friendly name-calling and insults. Men talk about whether they call their loved ones at home and they discuss thinking about home as being a distraction. A man talks about self-harming and we see healed cuts on his arm as he talks about having drunk a bottle of carpet cleaner. A man yells at another man about “crying wolf.”
► A dog bites a man on the hand (off-screen) and we see the man’s bloody hand, as he demands retribution; another man shoots the dog below the frame while other men yell in protest. A man holds a gun on a dog and other men intervene before he shoots. Several armed men in a negotiation lay down their weapons as part of an agreement between the two parties.
► We hear a man urinating in a few scenes and see bottles filled with urine being carried out of his quarters to be taken to the “burn pile.” Two men are shown burning large containers filled with feces and one man says, “This will give you cancer.” Two men find a dead chicken lying on a road (we see a bit of blood on the bird). A man spits on the ground (we see saliva leave his mouth). Several men donate blood for a wounded soldier in need of blood (we hear that he had been bleeding out for 45 minutes and we later hear that he died).

The Outpost LANGUAGE 10

 – About 355 F-words and its derivatives, 6 sexual references, 62 scatological terms, 32 anatomical terms, 26 mild obscenities, 1 derogatory term for African-Americans, name-calling (sitting ducks, retarded, dog, stupid, dirty bastard, buzzkill, Hajis, frat boys, white trash, malarkey, weird, gay, light in the loafers, fat Hobbit, Afghan cowards, Broward the Coward), exclamations (freaked, huh, ow, uh-oh), 18 religious profanities (GD), 28 religious exclamations (e.g. God, Amen, Jesus, Jesus Christ, My God, God Bless, God’s Plan, Lord’s Work, God Help Us, Holy [scatological term deleted], people say a prayer after a man dies, men talk about one man being Mormon). | profanity glossary |

The Outpost SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man reprimands a soldier for “smoking hash” again and having a substance abuse issue. Men smoke cigarettes in several scenes.

The Outpost DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – The Taliban, war, pointlessness, meaninglessness, murky missions, Afghanistan, tribal warfare, European invaders, respect, negotiations, honor, peace, using force for good.

The Outpost MESSAGE

 – War is chaotic and often meaningless and military brass can make infuriatingly incompetent tactical decisions.