Outside the Wire isn't your typical sci-fi action film.
Sure, it features a number of breathtaking fight scenes.
And yeah, you'll get to watch Anthony Mackie run around as a robot, kicking all sorts of
butt.
But Outside the Wire also has something to say about warfare, technology, and the intersection
between the two, and it's made with an attention to detail that makes the film's stark and
gritty near-future world feel all the more convincing.
In fact, much of Outside the Wire's best worldbuilding is subtle enough that you may not see it unless
you know where to look.
Here are all the small details you might've missed in Outside the Wire.
For most of Outside the Wire, Viktor Koval remains off screen, but his presence is everywhere.
Not only does his plot to retrieve old Soviet nuclear codes drive all of the movie's action,
but his forces pop up time after time to cause trouble.
However, while Harp and Leo often find themselves surprised by Koval's attacks, viewers often
get a little warning - if they're watching carefully, that is.
Koval's unique symbol, which looks a little bit like a "v" with a tick through it, is
everywhere.
It appears on a wall during the firefight that opens the film.
It also appears numerous times in Leo's collection of photographs documenting Koval's activities.
Once Harp and Leo get out in the field, the symbol takes on a prophetic quality.
One of the symbols is graffitied on the side of a building that Leo and Harp pass just
before their motorcade gets stopped.
There's another scrawled on the wall inside the shelter they visit while dropping off
the vaccine, foreshadowing the sniper attack inside.
As the duo drive to the bank where the nuclear codes are held, they pass a barricade sporting
the symbol.
Basically, any time that an attack by Koval's forces is imminent, the symbol appears.
It's never good news.
Thomas Harp isn't just a soldier.
Outside of the military, he has a full and complete life that includes an adoring fiancee
and a wedding to plan.
His fiancee even has a cute pet name for Harp: "Gummy Bear."
"She calls you Gummy Bear?
Awww, my Gummy Bear!"
Outside the Wire never explains where Harp got this name, but the opening sequence offers
one big clue.
When we first meet Harp, he's sitting at his control station, guiding a military drone
from thousands of miles away.
There's a picture of Olivia taped to his screen, and he's casually snacking from a bag of - that's
right - gummy bears.
"Gummy Bear" isn't a bad label for Harp, either.
Unlike Leo, whose body is cold, steely, and lifeless and whose morals are similarly rigid,
Harp is soft, human.
Sure, "Gummy Bear" is a funny nickname, but it also sets Harp apart from Leo.
"I'm not a man, lieutenant.
I was created to simulate one to the exact necessity to do my damn job."
With the US army, Koval's Russian-backed terrorists, and the growing rebellion, life in Krazny
can be hard, and nobody knows that better than the country's children.
Many of them have lost everything thanks to the people fighting - people like Harp.
"Your bombs destroyed their homes."
That's not something that Outside the Wire dwells on, but you can see just how traumatic
these kids' lives are by looking at the drawings hanging up in Sofia's office.
Scattered among the crayon portraits of trains, fish, and princesses are a number of much
more horrific images of war.
The hand-drawn horrors are terrifying in their casualness, and their juxtaposition with other,
more normal images really drives home that the events depicted in Outside the Wire aren't
unusual for these kids.
They're simply part of everyday life, which makes them all the more chilling.
Outside the Wire does an excellent job building up Captain Leo before we meet him, making
his entrance into the movie a big event.
"Harp.
He's not like us."
Just before Leo's face is revealed, the camera pans over three books he's been reading: Henry
V, Black Reconstruction in America, and A People's History of the United States.
They barely appear on-screen, but once you know where Leo's story is headed, those three
books are very revealing.
Henry V is a portrait of a leader who glorifies war and an examination of his relationship
with the people fighting on the front lines.
Black Reconstruction in America fundamentally re-contextualized the role of African Americans
during the Civil War and Reconstruction.
A People's History of the United States argues that America uses war to empower the upper
class while exploiting the people underneath them.
Taken all together, you can see how these three books sum up Leo's philosophy, and go
a long way towards explaining his motives.
They're also a nice bit of foreshadowing - assuming, of course, you're quick enough to catch all
three titles as they whiz by.
Thanks for watching.
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