Guy Ritchie is known for exploring the criminal underworld of England in his projects from his early work such as Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch to big budget blockbusters such as the Sherlock Holmes films to his more recent The Gentleman. MobLand is his latest venture in the crime genre.
The upcoming series follows Harry Da Souza (Tom Hardy), a fixer for Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan), the head of an organized crime family in London. As you can imagine, Harry has plenty of fires to put out due to his employer, but things go into overdrive when a gang war erupts between the Harrigans and the Stevensons, an up-and-coming family that controls part of the drug trade.
The first two episodes of MobLand build an engaging criminal underworld filled with cutthroat gangsters, cold blooded professional killers, and other lowlifes and street toughs. The locales add even more character from the palatial estates to the expected seedy and rundown businesses and storefronts. You receive the feel of the type of environment the characters must maneuver raising the stakes.
Of course what helps make this world is the talented cast. Brosnan brings an intimidating and ruthless presence as the Harrigan patriarch. Yet, there are aspects to the performance foreshadowing Conrad’s flaws. Opposite Conrad is Richie Stevenson, the head of the rivals. Geoff Bell adds a fierceness to his character that makes for a formidable antagonist. There’s a wild card sense of unpredictability to him furthering the tension.
MobLand’s real star is Tom Hardy. His Harry is calm, cool, and collected with an aura that warrants respect. That’s why the protagonist is able to enter all these dangerous and stressful situations and walk out safely. Harry’s quick and brilliant thinking is admirable, and you can see in the young fixer how the series initially began as a Ray Donovan origin story.
One noticeable drawback in the first two episodes is a disconnect between tones in the narrative. The world writer Ronnan Bennett creates is dark, gritty, and subdued which might not necessarily play to director, Ritchie’s strengths. The personalities of the characters are less colorful than in his past movies and films, and there is no stylistic and kinetic energy in the scenes. For the few action there is, it is more primal and raw.
The dialog between characters is cool, slick, and sharp, however the injection of humor doesn’t always land. It feels forced and trying too hard while also inappropriately timed during more serious situations. Rather than cutting the tension of a scene, it makes it more awkward. Also adding to the disconnect in MobLand is Helen Mirren’s performance as Maeve Harrigan, Conrad’s wife. She comes off more Queenie from the Fast and the Furious franchise than Queen Elizabeth in The Queen. The former might work better if the series had a lighter tone, but the latter is a better fit dramatically.
MobLand’s first season has a bit of a rocky start due to a disconnect in the narrative’s tone, but the engaging criminal underworld the series builds and its star studded cast give it the potential to be an entertaining watch.
MobLand premieres Sunday, March 30, on Paramount+.
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