The Last Outpost: A dusty, weird bit of WWI cinema

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, you probably know if you’re into this before you even hit play. If you like 1930s dramas where people stare intensely into the middle distance while wearing heavy wool uniforms in the middle of a desert, you’ll be fine. If you need your war movies to move like a modern thriller, you will be bored to tears within fifteen minutes.

It’s not a bad film, just a very heavy one. It feels like it’s carrying around a lot of baggage that it never quite knows how to unpack.

The desert heat is real

There’s a strange, claustrophobic energy to the scenes at the outpost. You can tell they filmed some of this under a brutal sun, or at least they really wanted you to believe that. The sand looks dry enough to choke on.

The interplay between the two leads is... well, it’s complicated. They seem to be constantly circling each other, like two boxers who forgot they were supposed to be on the same side. There’s a moment in the second act where they just stop talking and look at a map, and I swear that silence went on for an eternity. It was almost uncomfortable.

Things I noticed

• The uniforms look incredibly itchy. I kept wanting to scratch my own neck just watching them.
• Some of the extras in the background look like they’re having a better time than the actual leads.
• The lighting in the interior shots is very stage-play, which gives it this weirdly theatrical vibe compared to the exterior grit.

It doesn't quite have the polish of something like The Actress, but it’s got a weirdly specific charm. It feels like a relic from a time when movies were more interested in long, brooding conversations than actual plot progression.

The dialogue is thick. Sometimes it’s sharp, other times it’s just filler. There's a scene near the end that feels like it was written in a hurry. The stakes are supposed to be high, but the pacing just sort of... stops. It’s like the movie ran out of steam but had to finish the scene anyway.

Still, watching it reminded me of those weird, forgotten films you find in the back of a bargain bin. It’s imperfect, a bit clunky, and definitely showing its age. But there's a human pulse underneath the dust. It's not a classic, but it's not trying to be. And that's maybe why I didn't turn it off. 🏜️