ROGUE WARFARE
Directed by: Mike Gunther
Starring: Will Yun Lee, Jermain Love, Katie Keene, Rory Markham, Bertrand-Xavier Corbi, Fernando Chien, Chris Mulkey, Stephen Lang, Essam Ferris
When an extremist group called The Black Mask starts forcibly recruiting throughout Syria, a covert team of "rogue" soldiers - the best of the best from different nations - are put together and given a mission to disrupt The Black Mask's plans. This is going to prove difficult as their Supreme Leader is highly intelligent and deadly…
It takes Rogue Warfare a while to find its footing, but eventually the pieces come together and the film delivers some decent action.
In classic action style, the film starts with an introduction to the bad-guys first, to establish just how evil they are. While the Supreme Leader (Essam Ferris) makes grandiose speeches about taking his country back (….erm…), he's not averse to killing kids in front of their parents when he doesn't get what he wants.
Under an executive order from the President (Stephen Lang), the team is put together. It’s a shame we don't get the usual recruitment scenes, which would have boosted the entertainment value. Instead this group of international alpha males (and one woman) are thrown together. The film wants to show how the disparate group of soldiers evolve into a team over the course of the story, but it does it in a rather ham-fisted way with a lot of posturing and yelling at each other. It Is left to Daniel (Will Yun Lee) to be the voice of reason among the fighters.
This group are thrown in at the deep end, with no time to train together - hence the above bickering and showcasing - and have about the same success rate as Strike Back's Section 20. The film covers three missions: a snatch-and-grab (target killed, one KIA), a recon mission (ambushed, one member captured) and a final rescue/stop the bomb mission. All of which is overseen by Commander Sisko (Mulkey).
The action scenes are very well done, and the actors seem very comfortable in the use of their weaponry and how they move. The centrepiece mission, where the team are trapped in an enemy encampment and have to shoot their way out, is really well done and gives a good idea of just how hectic close-quarters warfare is. This doesn't have the budget of Strike Back but its action scenes are definitely in that ball park.
The cast eventually grow on you. As mentioned Will Yun Lee ends up the unspoken leader and does a good job except when trying to save the life of a comrade - this is more down to the script I feel, which has him yelling "stay with me! Stay with me!" over and over. Things do improve though and the script even allows a moment or two of comedy to sneak in.
This is the first part of a trilogy, with the second part already completed. This is good news as the film ends with the set-up of their next mission, and I can't wait to see how they get on!
THE VERDICT
Rogue Warfare has a modest budget but has seasoned pros behind the camera, and when it comes to directing the action scenes, they do such a good job it helps to gloss over some of the areas which don't work so well. However, now the team is set up and gelling together, hopefully those difficult starting blocks won't be an issue going forward. If you're a fan of Strike Back/Jack Ryan tv shows, this should be up your street but on a lower budget level.