Outpost II: Black Sun (2012)
Directed by: Steve Barker
Written by: Rae Brunton, Steve Barker
Starring: Ali Craig, Catherine Steadman, Clive Russell, Johnny Meres, Michael Byrne, Nick Nevern, Richard Coyle
OUTPOST II: BLACK SUN (2012)
Directed by Steve Barker
Outpost II: Black Sun is set just days after the events of Outpost, after DC and his men are wiped out and a unit are sent in after them. The film follows Lena (Catherine Steadman), the daughter of war criminal hunters, who’s vocation in life is to continue her parents work of hunting war criminals. Travelling across Eastern Europe, Lena plans to hunt down Nazi scientist, Klausener, who at the end of World War II had developed dangerous technology that could reanimate the dead and unleash an immortal Nazi army. With the need to access the re-animator generator located deep inside the Nazi’s bunker in Eastern Europe, several armed units are sent to recover the machine and destroy what’s left of the bunker. Lena, having acquired information on Klausener’s whereabouts, descends upon the war-torn country and bumps into Wallace (Richard Coyle), a physicist and researcher who’s goal is also to find the machine in order to destroy it once and for all. Together, Lena and Wallace head for the bunker but their journey lands them in the middle of a warzone. A plucky Special Forces Unit, consisting of calm and collected Macavoy (Daniel Caltagirone), cocky Carlisle (Nick Nevern), hot-headed Hall (Ali Craig) and cool-as-a-cucumber Abbot (the amazing Gary McDonald), allow the the twosome to tag along with Wallace providing the vital knowledge on how to dismantle the Third Reich’s machina. Armed with their brains, guns and an EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse), the team descend upon the bunker, but will they have what it takes to defeat the Fourth Reich?
Unlike the first Outpost movie, Black Sun’s undead Nazi army breach the woodlands into the neighbouring villages regardless of whether it’s daylight or night time. The power of the magnetic field grows stronger by the minute, expanding the ground coverage in which the SS soldiers can attack undefeated. The formidable opponents no longer hide in the shadows but intimidate in full view, mercilessly executing anyone who gets in their way. Unfortunately the supernatural edge in the first film is lost in this sequel as we see much more of the Nazi soldiers than we ever did in the first film. Rather than an immortal army, they appear more like unstoppable zombies, lacking the strategy and stealth first shown in Outpost.
Protaganist Lena has a quality much like Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw in this year’s sci-fi blockbuster, Prometheus. Both are kind natured but determined, so whilst they might not be ‘guns blazing’ all the time, their determination to succeed and stay alive allows them to put up a fight when needed. A stand-out scene for me in Black Sun is the opening sequence where Lena visits a ‘relative’ by the name of Neurath (played brilliantly by Michael Byrne). As Lena visits him in a care home, he invites his ‘neice’ to sit down at the table with him and only then are her true colours revealed, as she slides her hands caringly over his and snaps back his fingers. Such an intense scene, filled with such anger and pain, speaks volumes about the two characters before they’ve even opened their mouths properly. From this startling opener, we know that Lena means business and isn’t afraid to get hands-on.
A couple of new Nazi characters are introduced in this film as well as the return of familiar ones, most notably in the shape of Johnny Mere, who reprises his role of SS General Gotz and is eerily intimidating as ever. One of the new enemies is Matron, a screeching, hunch-backed female Nazi officer-cum-nurse who trawls the halls, flanked by two Nazi Waffen SS soldiers, in search of victims to inject with her dirty needle. Her presence in the film feels out of place and distracts from the ongoing action involving the team and the Nazi soldiers. The other new character is Klausener, a name mentioned many a time in Black Sun but seldom makes an appearance in the film. Played by David Gant, Klausener is a member of the Nazi scientific team who created the astounding technology in the 1940’s that re-animates the super stormtroopers. His role in the film is of the puppet-master, a scheming Nazi war criminal who sits back in his chair whilst his monkeys do his dirty work. His real interests come to light as the film progresses.
Something which differs to Outpost I is the feel of Black Sun. No longer is it a tense, atmospheric horror-thriller, but instead a ramped-up, blood-soaked quest to defeat the undead. Fans of the original might be disheartened that the sequel does not continue the tight-knit, intellectual suspense, but new viewers may enjoy this energetic effort that is complete with the No1 villain of modern budget cinema: The Nazi Zombie. The undead Nazi stormtroopers may not be as skilled or as stealthy as in their first outing, but their blood-lust hasn’t waived as they ruthlessly butcher their foes.
As I’ve mentioned, the film has some pitfalls. The whole re-animation machina aspect of the film will most likely leave new viewers scratching their heads, as the scenes involving it are incoherant even for myself, a fan of the first film. The re-animated Stormtroopers no longer stalk in the shadows and leave mutilated corpses in disturbingly intricate and brutal ways. Instead, they attack and stab their victims quickly and violently but also take a lot of hits themselves. The magic and mystery of Outpost I has well and truly gone up in smoke and we are left with the ashes of gun-toting action and bizarre mumblings. It would appear that the story has been abandoned in favour of battle scenes and set pieces and when they finally explain certain aspects of the story, it’s too rushed and far too late to make sense. The scenes before it have unravelled the tight-knit story they had started with from the first film. Outpost held a special place in my movie-goer heart and whilst Black Sun isn’t a bad movie, it’s just not the Black Sun I imagined and hoped for.
Outpost II: Black Sun is an action-packed uprising of the Fourth Reich but is a disappointing effort when compared to its impressive predecessor. However, as a standalone film, this is an enjoyable fright-filled romp.
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