Cliff Notes – Guy Ritchie’s new crime thriller hailed ‘simply superb’ by ecstatic TV fans
- Guy Ritchie’s latest crime drama, MobLand, features a star-studded cast including Dame Helen Mirren, Tom Hardy, and Pierce Brosnan, and has received enthusiastic reviews from fans since its release on Paramount Plus.
- The series follows the Harrigan family, an Irish crime clan in London, and has been described as a gritty and engaging narrative, though some critics have pointed out predictable plot elements and Ritchie’s recurring stylistic clichés.
- Despite mixed reviews, the show’s first episode has garnered significant attention, with the trailer amassing over 7.3 million views on YouTube prior to its release, indicating strong viewer interest.
Guy Ritchie’s new crime thriller hailed ‘simply superb’ by ecstatic TV fans
TV fans are raving over Guy Ritchie’s latest crime thriller, with the series being lauded as ‘gritty’ with an ‘epic’ cast.
For decades, the English film director has gained a reputation for his many gangster-themed shows and movies, including the likes of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Revolver and The Gentlemen, with the latter first being made into a feature film before spawning a Netflix spin-off.
Now, he’s back with his latest offering as an executive producer – MobLand, a crime drama boasting Hollywood heavyweights in its cast among the likes of Dame Helen Mirren, Tom Hardy and Pierce Brosnan.
It’s only been a day since the first episode was released on Paramount Plus, and already diehard Ritchie fans are going wild over the opening instalment.
MobLand follows the Harrigan family, an Irish crime clan based in London whose position of power is threatened by the Stevensons.
At the top of the food chain is the matriarch Maeve Harrigan (Dame Helen), who’s married to the intimidating patriarch Conrad Harrigan (Brosnan).
Tom Hardy plays a ‘fixer’ for the crime family at the centre of the story (Picture: Paramount Plus)
The family have a fixer in their employ whose job it is to clean up their misses – Harry Da Souza (Hardy), who’s married to Jan Da Souza (Joanne Froggatt).
The official trailer for MobLand was released three weeks ago, and in that time it’s accumulated a whopping 7.3million views on YouTube.
So, it should come as no surprise that plenty of fans devoured the first episode as soon as they could on the streamer, with many lavishing it with praise straight away.
‘This is simply superb. Guy Richie is in epic form with his newest release. A gritty British gangster series with a strong (if not predictable) plot. Outstanding performances from an outstanding cast,’ Steven wrote in a Google review.
Another viewer called Judd spun words of utter poetry as they wrote: ‘If Shakespeare rose from the dead, lit a cigarette, and wrote a mob epic with a blood-stained fountain pen while chugging espresso in a Brooklyn alleyway, Mobland would be the result. And at the pulsing, snarling, mesmerizing center of it all is Tom Hardy, devouring every scene like it owes him money.’
Brosnan, Ritchie and Hardy make quite the trio (Picture: Lia Toby/Getty Images)
Judd penned that Hardy ‘doesn’t act’ in the first episode of the show, as instead he ‘summons something ancient’ for his performance.
‘The plot? Who cares. It’s a fever dream of loyalty, betrayal, and the kind of violence that makes you question your Wi-Fi password. But none of it matters because Hardy commands the frame like it’s a terrified underling. You’re not watching a TV show. You’re witnessing a man become a legend.’
So… we take it Judd is something of a Hardy fan.
After watching the first episode, Bruce said that the drama was ‘shaping up to be epic’, adding: ‘It’s like you take the Sopranos and cross it with The Gentlemen.’
Jimmie commented: ‘Watched the first episode. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Awesome acting. Can’t wait to digest more episodes. Cast is amazing!’
However, there was also some criticism among the fan reviews, with some calling out the accents of the actors and the ‘predictable’ plot.
CapSome viewers have found the show predictable so far (Picture: Paramount Plus)
Several of the critics’ reviews were even less praiseworthy, with The Telegraph’s reading: ‘Hardy makes it all worthwhile but it’s the tiresome Ritchie cliches that grate — and they’re everywhere.’
‘MobLand is in need of a good fixer,’ the Financial Times stated, while The Irish Independent quipped: ‘MobLand was written, shot, edited and packaged in a hurry, and you know what? It shows.’
Before the release of MobLand, Brosnan spoke to Sharp Magazine about the project and how the decision was made for him to ‘go more Irish’ just 15 minutes before the cameras started rolling.
‘And I thought, bloody hell. More Irish? What even is my Irish accent? I’ve forgotten what my Irish accent sounds like. It’s buried in time,’ the Irish actor said.
Speaking of Ritchie, the 71-year-old added that the executive producer ‘set me free in many respects’, stating: ‘He allowed me to go anywhere I wanted on the stage, and to play the great emotions Conrad has.’
MobLand is available to stream on Paramount Plus.