These are fun. Off the cuff discussions on movies and streaming series, both new and old. Together will attempt to bridge the gap between Hollywood industry insider and the casual viewer. This is Alec. and I’m Ben. And you're listening to the Cinema: A to B podcast. Hey Everybody. Welcome to Cinema A to B. Today we're going to be talking about the 2022 television show Rogue Heroes. So, Ben, you're the one who kind of put me onto this and told me to watch it.
How about you can start and let me know your thoughts? So I think this is one of the better shows that nobody's watching. I think that's kind of that's kind of my take on it, right. And it's it's relegated to Epix. MGM Plus now. Oh, did they switch? That's right. They got border. They got sold. Yeah. And you're right, MGM Plus. Last time I checked, you could watch the first two episodes if you had a prime membership. A friend of ours. Let me know how you need to watch this.
So shout out to Travers. Thanks, Travis. I do know he's listening. And so that was a great recommendation because I. I really enjoyed the show. My only my only gripes that it's only six episodes long. Yeah, I think it's a super short first season. Yeah, they are doing a second season. Yeah. Since I felt like this. This is a show nobody's watching. I'll just give a real quick synopsis. So this is the full names kind of as rock heroes.
And so it's it's based on a book about the formation of the famous Special Forces unit, the British, ISIS, and their formation in North Africa. I had an a great time watching this. It's it is from the creator of Peaky Blinders. When the similarity houses they they use the modern music in it which is very, very divisive. I've kind of just accepted it. It's not my preference, but I just sort of roll with it. But outside of that, it's this awesome combination.
It's almost like they took a band of brothers and melded it with Generation Kill. Yeah. It's the era of Band of Brothers, but it has the it's sort of has the modern, crass sensibilities of of something like Generation Kill. Which honestly probably was that crass back then, too, especially with the you know, it was. I think we like to filter. Yeah. I think we like to filter the past. Like I, I really Yeah, I agree with that. I think we like to filter. Second World War.
What what the GI you know, what a soldier then was was like because in a lot of ways, I mean there's a whole lot more drinking going on than like. But yeah, I mean. So what what was your take on it? Because I told you, hey, I think you're I tried not to hype it up. I tried to give you kind of a blank slate when I told you to watch it. So you did a good job. So I sat down. Everything was off. Got to watch this. Watch it over. About the span of three days.
So I will say the first episode I was questioning view a little bit like the first episode did not pull. In the end, I was kind of like, I mean, like I could see some of the good parts in some of that, but like, it definitely didn't grab me. But I will say the second episode really did grab me and like, so the first night I watched just one episode and then the second night I was planning just to watch one.
And then I ended up watching too, because I was like, Wow, now I'm going to have to watch more. And then the third day I watched the last three episodes because it was it had gotten that good. The characters had kind of gotten in their own and just really, really like it. Now, I will real quick. I really liked the added modern music. Like, I don't have any problems with it. I'm, you know, really like Peaky Blinders.
I really like that kind of adding in because it definitely allows the director and stuff to kind of set the mood a little bit more with a variety of music as opposed to usually not more in tune to what I can kind of connect with as opposed to using something back then, because you're not going to have, I mean, AC DC style music from the forties anyway. So like, but that's what that, like that scene needed was something like that, you know.
Well, and I, I do want to speak to it because I think there is a good argument to be made for, for the modern music that they've picked. There's something about the formation of the Special Forces unit and the unconventional warfare that they were adopting to fight the Nazis in the deserts of North Africa that is very punk rock. Yeah. Like punk rock, rock and roll. Breaking with convention anti-establishment. That's what these guys were doing.
And so the music that fits like AC DC is a perfect example and it is in the show that that fits. And let's be honest, you and I are calling this modern music and in relation to this World War two, it is modern music, but a lot of it's like eighties, early nineties, maybe some seventies. So like modern, well. It's the height of rock and roll. I mean, yeah, rock is basically dead now.
I mean it's people are making rock and roll music but it's the Glorias are, are well in the rearview mirror so I'm glad they weren't you know I'm glad this wasn't full of like imagine Dragons and Nickelback or something. Well I mean even Nickelback is really old now. Do Hardest of the Rock. But but the nice thing, I think what it does is that they also picked classic tunes or like tunes that have withstood time already. So like, you know, watching this in 20 years, you're not going to be like,
What is this like? It's not like watching like a movie from the seventies. Now you're like, What the heck music is this or whatever. You know, it's going to continue on, like it's going to be continuing and, you know, music dumb that we're going to be hearing this stuff elsewhere. So now I do want to speak to the to the visuals. This is as well-shot a show as I saw last year. I mean, I, I put it the other one was was rings of power that I just thought was really well shot.
But this is a beautifully shot and colored color graded show. And the visual effects really are, for the most part, really pretty good. I don't I don't know what the budget wise, it looks expensive. And the fact that it was only six episodes and I did read that the BBC, this is like the this is one of the most expensive BBC productions of all time. And so and they've never they've not released the budget like it is. You can't find it.
It's so which to me is like, Oh, okay, that's probably, I don't know, 150, $200 million TV show. I have no idea. Yeah, it's expensive. Now I will say like touching on that, It is definitely a beautiful show and it's I would say even more so in a lot of ways because they really only had one color palette for the most part. I mean, most of this happens in the desert and they're all in like, you know, khakis.
So, like, it is it's it's hard to kind of get that beautiful shot or get those beautiful looks with a very like, you have this much color tone. You know. It is it's a narrow palette, but the saturation is is really nice. Oh, yeah. And then when they're in that kind of officer's club in Cairo, I like the color. The colors pop. So I have to know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's a it's a great looking show. It really is. It looks it. It definitely looks. It's budget. It doesn't look cheap.
No. And then the acting is amazing. Super underrated. I mean so you have this trio, right, with Sterling Pally Mane and then Jack Luiz and everybody would recognize Alfie Allen from Game of Thrones. And I, I've sort of recognized Jack O'Connell from the film Unbreakable Unbroken. Sorry. Oh, Unbroken. Yeah. The other one. Not Unbreakable. Blood Unbroken. Unbroken. Yeah. The World War two P.O.W. film based on the book. So he I didn't. He was the. Main guy in it. Yeah. I don't know.
He's, like, more muscled now in rogue heroes. And so I didn't really recognize him. And he's got a beard, but his name. And a completely different character. Like they're all completely different. Yeah, not the same between the two. Well, and he steals, He's, he's a scene stealer with this Connor Swindells that plays Sterling was amazing. He, he was.
And what was cool about him was he's like the only one of the three that actually looks like probably the proper age like of how young these guys really were, because that's always a big complaint, right? So Band of Brothers is my favorite. I know I mentioned on another episode, my favorite film is Shawshank Redemption, but all things being equal, like my favorite thing ever put to film is Band of Brothers. Like it is.
It's there's no close second. Well, my only complaint with Being the Brothers, the performance is a great one. Nobody looks the right age. Everybody's super old. Like every was supposed to be like 18, 19, 20, and they're all like 35, right? Like everybody. Nobody looks age appropriate and Band of Brothers just for the same reason. They don't look age appropriate in Saving Private Ryan. They really don't know. Black Hawk Down gets close as far as war movies where they actually look young.
Yeah, but I mean, that's the trade off, right? You need you need good actors and the odds of you hiring some kid is 18, 19 is going to be able to carry your movie is. Three tough Rialto. But this congressman does he's young like he's still in his twenties and he looks super young. Yeah, but he pulls it off like, my goodness. Like he was I'd only seen him in one of the thing before this. And he was it was okay at best.
And like, when he did this, I was absolutely floored by just how well like, like when he was in frame and and I would say he's the only one who could, you know, keep up with Jack O'Connell, with the like, who could actually, I wasn't immediately pulled away.
And looking at Patty, man, like I was still looking at David Sterling as well when he was talking, which is kind of fun since in the show, those two characters, David Sterling was the only one who really like Patty Main kind of respected and with like, yeah tolerated him like certainly was his you know than that he just kind of barreled everyone which is kind of the exact thing what the actor did was like anytime he was in a scene was like, now it's just him. Except for when Connor was in there.
They kind of balanced it out a little bit. So it was kind of fun. We're like life meets, you know, creativity and acting and stuff like that. This this guy playing Sterling just oozed the charisma needed to kind of hold his own against the character that's played by Patty. Mean and frankly, make it believable on what he's trying to do which is form this unit.
Yeah in a really kind of what sneaky way to pull off now there there aren't a lot of like I said, there aren't a ton of recognizable actors in this and I think that's where they saved the budget. So they've got this Alfie Allen and then you had, Oh, who's the guy that that formed the Shadow unit? Oh, doesn't exist. Yes. Dominic West is like Dominic West is like the best known actor in the show. Who I love. He's great. He's. He's Yeah.
The guy just chills it every and everything he's ever been in. And then the other one that I want to point out is, is the Sofia Boutella. Oh, yeah, she was fantastic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you, the acting is, is complete lately on par. It's on point. Hmm. This is a good show. This is a good show. It's super. It's super crass. It's super irreverent. But I think is frankly, I think is true to the real guys. Yeah. And it's got that British crass to it as well. It's not just like, you know, crass.
It's got its upscale crassness. You know, it's got that a little British air flair to it. Did Laurel watch this with. You know, she did not know. So do you think she would appreciate it or not? I, I don't know. Like, I actually do want her to watch it. But now that my, you know, seven days are up for free from MGM, plus, I'm like, well, guess what? You know, maybe we'll watch the first two episodes and then maybe if anything will pay for another the very month.
Because there's also like a couple other shows on MGM plus that I was like, Oh. By the way. And that was the sneaky way that I figured out how to watch this thing and not pay for it was watch the first two episodes on Prime, do a one week free trial of MGM. US. Yeah. And then and. Then kill the free trial. Yeah. And I know they hate they hate it if they're anybody. Listen Works for MGM plus eight my guts right now. But that's that's how, that's how he did it.
And yeah I had so much fun watching this and I binged it really quick. I think it was a week and a half and I was is that I was done with it. Yeah. So as the episodes aren't that long. No there, I mean they, they're just around an hour so I think it's, it's a little less than an hour. So I mean you're talking like 45 hours total between all six episodes. So I mean, easily and it's enjoyable.
And it's not I should mention it, the show is very irreverent and very funny, but it's not all fun and games. Mm hmm. There's some difficult there's some emotionally, really difficult moments in the show. And I feel like they hit more because things are kind of fun and light and, you know, for a lot of it. But then they remind, you know, by the way, this is this is combat. Like, this is guys. And everything they're doing is frankly, an even higher level risk.
Yeah. Because they are behind enemy lines the whole time. And I love that. You know me, I'm a sucker for this stuff. I love military movies, especially anything dealing with special operations. It's done well, Yeah, and that's not a long list of movies or TV shows. And so this one this one was like a pleasant surprise out of left field.
I mean, I really enjoyed kind of because this was a story that didn't really know much about, like, you know, I'd known about the Special Air Service and some things, but I didn't actually know how they were formed. And so, like after watching this is stirring up a little bit more about it and kind of like, what do they get right? What do they kind of have to change? And they didn't change that much.
I mean, obviously some of it is for pacing, some of it is done for story or they had to, you know, condense a couple of people into one for the most part. But like other than that, like it's you know, a lot of the major story beat points are the are correct and so David. Sterling reel guy. Yeah. How do you make a real dude. Guy. Shock jock lose real guy so yeah you're big you're you're triumvirate basically is what it is for the first four most of the first season are real guys.
Yeah and and based on what I read, their characterizations are really pretty accurate and they're all very different. Yes. Okay. It's not the same person. No, not at all. You kind of have what you have like the the warrior poet who's just a brawler and he is a classic warrior poet, which is great. And then you have kind of the the brain trust of the operation, and then you have kind of the charismatic leader.
Charismatic leader. Yeah. And it's like without one of them, this this venture doesn't doesn't really prove successful. But yeah, it's a bumpy ride. Yeah. Well, I want to go back to Alfie Allen because for him, he was definitely the one that I had the hardest to kind of, you know, get into his character because obviously as I'm seeing him, I haven't seen him in a ton, just seen him in Game of Thrones and he was that character for a long time.
So like, I've seen this kind of, you know, trying to like, take everything I know about him as his character from Game of Thrones and throwing it away. And by probably the second episode, it was done like he he got over that. I mean, he doesn't get a ton of screen time in the first episode. He does a decent amount, but definitely not as much as as Connor does in the first episode. But by the second episode I was I was totally into his character.
Like I was like, Wow, you you've definitely kind of transitioned yourself. Like you are definitely playing a different person than just kind of yourself or whoever you were in Game of Thrones, you know? Yeah, And he's a more subtle character. Yeah. He's not as in your face as the other the other two leads are. But he pulls off kind of that subtle, like sure himself for the most part. Or like least he's acting like he's sure of himself so.
Well, like, I mean, yeah, you know how he means in your face, you know? And so is David Sterling of just kind of thinking he's all that and like, I can sell everything. Whereas you know, Louis, his character is just very much like you. You don't have to believe that I have it all together. But, you know, I do. But he is this he is the smartest of the 300 easily. Easily. And the other two guys aren't dumb. They're just he's just he's frankly on a kind of another level with the way his mind works.
Yeah. It's a neat look at a piece of history that hasn't really been explored that much because the whole the whole North Africa campaign doesn't really get a lot of love in movies and TV. Now, as far as Second World War, like it's it's Europe, then it's the Pacific, and then you got a few movies that even touch the the fighting in in the desert and then into the kind of the Italian campaign, which I think is where this is going.
I feel like that's probably where they're headed for and probably only this is a because this is a BBC show. I know for a fact we're only going to get like two or three seasons of this. Which I'm okay. Because that's just which is fine. Yeah. Yeah. No, the the British aren't afraid to only run a show for two or three seasons. And it's not because the show got canceled for doing poorly.
It's just that's, that's they've just have a history of allowing shows to run their course and not bleed them dry. That's that's kind of a love of the stuff here in the states. A lot more. Reason I know that what's that. As a long run shown and in Britain is like five seasons at that point you're like that's yeah. Why let it decline. I wouldn't why wouldn't you leave the viewer like on a on a high note.
Well and also think about how many shows because they went on too long and they declined that we no longer think of the same regard as we would have in like season four or five of their run. You know. You know, Game of Thrones is probably the number one word. Yeah, well, think of that. And Game of Thrones. I mean, that is more they just didn't stick the landing for the end. Like they just. Yeah, but you could see the decline in like the prior season or two as.
Well. Yeah. Like and a lot of that was, was them just moving beyond source material. You could tell, you can just tell. So that's on Martin for just. Dragging his feet. It's not freaking finishing his books. Counting his money from the from the adaptation. Yeah. The show too. But this yeah, this show I'd be perfectly content with, you know, one or two more seasons. I think that's probably where it where it ends.
But yeah, if somebody is, I think the audience for this is admittedly kind of narrow but hopefully there's nobody listen that loves Peaky Blinders that hasn't found this because if you if you're a Peaky Blinders fan and you're listening, you need to watch this show. Yeah, same creators stylistically, very similar tone. It's it's different. It's not the same. It's not as brooding. And it's not as convoluted as being asked for like seasons two.
I was like, I'm starting to go like, why don't you take notes to keep track of what's going now? Yeah, that's true. That's true. But no, I mean, I this was. Is this better than Band of Brothers? Of course not. So it's probably not even quite as good as Generation Kill, but it's close and it's just as funny. Yeah. I love it. It's every bit as funny. So. Yeah. And there's not a long list of these, these series, these streaming shows on military units, just a handful of them.
Here's another pretty good one. The only thing the only thing I could say is slightly detracting is that I did not understand Paddy Mayne 90% of the time, like I had to throw on subtitles to understand some of the, some of the stuff that he said. It's just like that Facebook post we made probably a month ago. Hey, it's not you're not going deaf. It's not just you. Nobody can understand. Why this one. I couldn't understand everybody else. It was just him and his accent, you know?
And I was just like, Wait, what? What did you just say? Like. So it's that Irish lilt? Yeah. It's a pretty thick Irish little, too. I hate it. I mean, he does a great job, like, of pulling it off and still acting stuff, but I was like, No, I want to know what this is. And so I threw on closed captioning to, to pick up what he was trying to say. Yeah. So everybody else was fine. So yeah. Oh man. Anyway. It's enjoyable.
This is, this is definitely probably the one, the one show I'd say is like, like you said earlier, not anyone's radar. It is easy to be missed but it's well worth the watch. It is definitely, probably, probably the one one of the like diamonds on the rough that from 2020. Two And again mad props to Travis. Yes. Thank you, Travis. This is one of those good shows that you're probably not watching. Can and should. Well, I hopefully everybody enjoys this. Go see it.