“The Outpost” (*** out of four) was a trenchant war melodrama about a group of American soldiers (Scott Eastwood, Orlando Bloom, Caleb Landry Jones, and others) who are stationed in Afghanistan on what initially seems like a routine mission but escalates into warfare in which the soldiers must put their differences aside as they face sudden death at every turn and try to stay alive. Opening scenes don’t quite gel, as you begin to think film is another conventional war drama, but film soon detonates (literally and figuratively) as its scenes of explosions and gunfire and random brutality are nerve-wrackingly well-captured and put you right there in the midst of action! Eastwood is rock-solid as usual and Bloom is almost unrecognizable in a change-of-pace role.