Gangs of London

Violence occurs not only in London but Internationally. It begins as a family response to the killing of a godfather figure in London that held the various gangs together for the greater good. With his demise killing became the focus of this series. But, if that was all there is to the series it would be completely unwatchable. The series goes much deeper than the violence and gore as individuals in the different gangs attempt to survive as well as retaliating against the violence directed at them. There are betrayals as well as loyalties and there are efforts to protect family members as the incredible violence increases. Some scenes are so intense and gory it becomes difficult to not avert watching. The one missing element in the series is a significant lack of law enforcement involvement with all of the unrelenting carnage occurring. There also is a total lack of morality with virtually every principle character.

This has probably the most brutal opening of any show I've ever seen and it just keeps getting wilder. There's so much action(created by the guy who directed The Raid movies), so much tension, so much build up, domuch violence. It's really quite fantastic and I find myself biting my nails or staring in disbelief frequently with each episode. Characters are real and raw, talking and acting like real people. There's some corny shots of symbolism in some episodes that are a bit on the nose but the violence, the fights, the intrigue and acting are all top notch. I'd have loved more seasons of this.

Look, a lot of this show is unrealistic, but it's John Wick unrealistic...which means it's unrealistic hyper-reality but still works. At least for me. I absolutely *loved* season 1 and told friends it was the best show since Peaky Blinders. It had some of the best, if not the best, fight scenes I'd ever seen in a TV show. They used their environments and were highly creative. It reminded me of The Raid movie which, extremely minor spoiler, is shown in the background of season 2. Then I watched season 2 and told them it didn't come close to season 1, even with the suspension of reality. I don't know if they replaced the fight coordinator, or what, but it was like the difference between Jaws and Jaws 3. Now it's hard to recommend anything beyond season 1, although I think the second season can be split in two. The first half is absolutely terrible (akin to the Scream movies where the damsel in distress runs up the stairs instead of out of the house). It's inexcusably bad and nonsensical. The second half is unquestionably better than the first half, but that's still not saying much. Season 2 is about 30% of the quality of the first season. They need to get the original writers back, fight coordinator back or whoever they didn't include for the second season if there's to be any hope for season 3.

Sure, season 1 had its issues. Unbelievable scenarios, undercooked characters and weird pacing with it peaking at the halfway point, and then lumbering onwards. So yeah, you had to turn a significant portion of grey matter off to enjoy it, but man, it was worth it for the fights/shootouts choreography, editing and brutality. And if you could suspend the huge amount of disbelief and shark jumping, it was pretty entertaining with how over the top it ended up being.

Season 2, on the other hand, has made the mistake of doubling down on all the ridiculous and sub par elements of character writing and plot, asking us to turn off our brains to the point of drooling lobotomy, whilst offering almost none of the rewards of excellent fights/shootouts, editing, creative camerawork and crazy conspiracy cheese of the previous season.

I can't even be bothered to list or explain how bad all the elements of season 2 are. It is just SO stupid, it's beyond belief! Beyond the suspension of disbelief capability of anything with a consciousness.

From the practically total absence of police/ bystanders or concern for leaving evidence everywhere. Like just dragging a freshly murdered gangster from a car, for no reason, in front of security cameras and an amazingly oblivious staff member. To having a skinny woman who you could believe with some effort, could be capable of shooting many men in season 1, to entirely unbelievably beating a number of beefy men in hand to hand combat in season 2. To the point where a main character somehow has a 10x zoom level on a 1x optic at the end, to the ammo capacity of handguns rivalling a drum magazine, to the very poorly integrated digital blood/fire/explosion effects... to even call season 2 stupid is an insult to stupidity.

I don't know if the new producers, apparent non-involvement of Gareth Evans, if the budget was drastically reduced, if some kind of Covid related restrictions/ people just not bothering to do a half decent job at anything any more, or what is responsible for it... but it is borderline unwatchable now. However it does continue the story and have occasional flashes of what made season 1 good.

I can't fathom anyone greenlighting a season 3 after this, but if they do, they'd better make sure they wrap it up with a home run.

Here's the issue with trying to review series, where one season is vastly inferior to another. I'm leaving my overall rating as is, for the excellence in parts of season 1, which truly do deserve merit.

Season 1 - 8/10.

Season 2 - 4/10.

A saga of criminal intrigue that mixes ruthless and intense action with even more cruel crime lord manipulatons. The story grabs you and doesn't let go, I'm talking about the first season. The scenes of cruel and bloody action are formidable, one of the best I have seen, great quality. A dose of violence rarely achieved.

The story of this family of gangsters, the Wallace family, is interesting and has very unexpected and unpredictable moments.

The feeling of mercy bleeds inside many of these characters as much as any of their murders. And despite everything they don't seem to have a choice, they live locked in a destructive spiral.

Lets not forget the camera work, which shows a multitude of tracking angles. Absolutely fascinating!

You will like some actors more than others, logical in a series with so many characters and families, that is what it is about, keeping you in continuous tension and placing the viewer in a world of violence and cruelty like I have never seen before. Again, it is all about power and more and more money.

Exaggeratedly unrealistic from time to time, but it didn't bother me at all.

I recommend this first season without a doubt, a lot of extreme and cruel action and very well staged, with a somewhat different story due to its international nature.