Film: Outpost: Black Sun
Director: Steve Barker
Actors: Richard Coyle, Clive Russell, Michael Byrne, Catherine Steadman
Release: August, 2012
My Rating: 5/10*
What could be better than an influx of Nazi Zombies to the film industry? The answer, my friends, is nothing and Outpost II follows the first as we join our favourite group of stab-happy Storm Troopers be, well, stab-happy. I was tingling with excitement bordering arousal when I stumbled across it in a local shop. I found the first one, despite a few niggling flaws, intensely enjoyable. So how did it's descendant get up and shamble?
It certainly carries the torch for the first: unstoppable Nazi Zombies? Check. Horribly stereotypical (this time British) soldiers? Check. A hog-tied, slapped-around-a-bit version of the Unified Field Theory to explain this conundrum? Yeah that's still in there! There's a fantastic return to that damned bunker that makes me think of World At War and even that creepy bitch from Insidious makes an appearance.
It deserves a quick mention that Outpost: Black and it's predecessor are both relatively low-budget films but as the audience you won't notice; the costumes, sounds and scenes are all brilliantly built and modelled to be intense but believable.
I think I'll just cut to the chase with this one - I didn't like it. I wanted to, really I did, but I didn't. And I can tell you why. I think, if you completely removed the female lead and her storyline from every scene, even the ones with dialogue, it would be a better film. Her part in the grand scheme of things was tacked on. It didn't drive the story regarding our very hungry bros. She was looking for the mastermind behind it all. A man who gets possibly two minutes of screen time at best. The only use to come of that plot line is the nice cliffhanger and how it paves the way for another film. Well, kind of paves the way. I didn't care enough about her crap to be excited for things to come... I'm not saying I don't care about Nazis... And the holocaust... I'm just saying that... She... Urgh damn it! I know I could say this in a number of ways and I'd just be burying myself (point of information: get cremated) further but the point I'm trying to make is that she lacked the presence to be the main character...
Oh, and expect a cameo from Darth Sidious.
Bottom line: If you're a fan of the first one, watch it, but don't hold out too much hope. I've found from my feedback that this film is definitely hit and miss. For me it was miss but who knows, you might love it.
