Barry Keoghan's Star-Studded Apple TV Miniseries Deserves More Attention

At any point between 1920 and 1979, Barry Keoghan would've been a movie star. You can glam the boy up, but that's a waste of a face that was etched by a difficult childhood and rearranged to rough perfection in amateur boxing rings. If the physiognomy is fascinating, those piercing blue eyes are pure seduction. Hollywood doesn't have much use for rough beauty nowadays, but Keoghan's mien is an exquisitely contoured aphrodisiac. He would've been right at home with Bogie, Robert Mitchum, and vintage Mickey Rourke.

Koeghan can carry off a lead as he proved in Emerald Fennell's "Saltburn," but for now, he's mostly wowing viewers as an ensemble player. He received an Academy Award nomination and a BAFTA nod for Best Supporting Actor as the ill-fated Dominic Kearney in Martin McDonagh's "The Banshees of Inisherin," and his character also met an unfortunate end as a boat hand in Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk." Meanwhile, it would appear that his career is about to receive a massive boost with the sequel to Matt Reeves' "The Batman," where he's expected to return as The Joker.

Everything's coming up Keoghan, so, with highly anticipated films like "Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man" and Sam Mendes' "The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event" (in which he'll play Ringo Starr) on the horizon, now would be an excellent time to catch up with his terrific performance in "Masters of the Air." The third part of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' World War II TV dramas (following "Band of Brothers" and "The Pacific"), the miniseries, which is currently streaming on Apple TV, didn't generate quite as much critical heat as the other two. Still, it's an immensely compelling, historically accurate depiction of aerial warfare in the ETO, and Keoghan is aces in it.

Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention, but it felt like "Masters of the Sky" failed to receive the massive promotional push that preceded the airing of "Band of Brothers" and "The Pacific" (which was possibly due to the shift from HBO to Apple TV). Prior to watching it, I was concerned that the series' focus on bombing raids and dogfights would look weightless and unreal, like a video game. Though the action can't match the white-knuckle realism of "Dunkirk," the German counterattacks are terrifyingly ferocious, leaving you in awe that any Allied pilots emerged from this high-wire combat alive.

Many didn't make it back home, which is why the focus of the show, the 100th Bomb Group, was known as the Bloody Hundredth. The viewer knows this going in, and the series goes to surprising lengths to let you know that every single member of the cast is expendable. At any moment, Austin Butler, Callum Marsh, or Anthony Boyle could buy it.

Everyone in this ensemble is exceptional, but Barry Keoghan makes a stirring impression as the cranky yet cocksure New Yorker Lieutenant Curtis Biddick. Keoghan gives Biddick an endearingly thick New Yawk accent, which quickly draws the audience's sympathy. We like this ornery bastard. Will he live to see the end of the war?

If you loved "Band of Brothers" and "The Pacific," you'll want to dig into "Masters of the Air" to discover the answer. It's the least of the three series, but it's expertly directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, Dee Rees, and Tim Van Patten. At its best, it's a sky-bound "Das Boot." So, strap in, and prepare to get shelled.