The name Guy Ritchie is synonymous with bombastic gangster dramas, filled with guns, flashy cars, and men with strong East End accents calling each other "c**s". His best addition to the genre is 2000’s Snatch, a rip-roaring, violent, and funny tale of mobsters tracking down a stolen diamond; his worst is last year’s Netflix series The Gentlemen – a gratuitous, imitative spin-off of his earlier film of the same name. Now, Ritchie’s latest entry to the canon, MobLand, sits in the middle of the spectrum.
Set in modern-day London, MobLand opens with fixer Harry Da Souza (played by Tom Hardy) mediating between two feuding families – one Greek, the other Turkish – who are in conflict over the supply of heroin. When neither family agrees to apologize, Harry consults his boss, the most powerful gangster in London, Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan), who orders him to gun them all down. This brutal opening sets the tone for the series, which premiered on Paramount+ on March 31, 2025.
However, the first episode feels more like attending a party populated by strangers. With an endless parade of characters, each tangentially connected, viewers might find it challenging to discern who’s worth investing in and who’s merely a side character. This confusion has a silver lining, though, as it fleshes out the criminal network into something believable – a skill Ritchie isn’t always adept at. Perhaps this is because he’s not the writer here; that credit goes to Top Boy creator Ronan Bennett, which is likely why MobLand feels more subtle than some of Ritchie’s earlier work.
Despite the chaos, the cast is undoubtedly the main draw. Alongside Hardy and Brosnan, who is enjoying his role as the Irish, fishing-loving head honcho, there’s Helen Mirren as Harrigan’s wife Maeve, Paddy Considine as their son Kevin, and Joanne Froggatt as Harry’s wife Jan. Gangster flick regular Geoff Bell plays Harrigan’s nemesis Richie. Unsurprisingly, there’s not one bad performance among them, although the same can’t be said for the younger actors.
Plot-wise, by the end of the first episode, things simplify. The opening massacre doesn’t bear much weight on the story, which hinges instead on the nightclub stabbing committed by Eddie, Kevin’s son. Harry manages to clean up the crime, but the real problem arises when Richie’s son goes missing after being with Eddie on the night in question. The question looms: where is he? There are extraneous subplots, like Harry’s struggling marriage and the treachery of one of Harrigan’s closest confidants, but focusing too much on them risks bogging down the pacing.
Critics have noted that MobLand doesn’t quite generate the buzz one might expect from a series featuring such heavyweights. The first two episodes, provided for review, do not convince viewers that the elongated development period benefited the series. Initially conceived as a prequel to Ray Donovan, it seems to have taken on a life of its own as an original story.
The series features a punchy premise but lacks originality. Both episodes offer perfunctory character drama that could easily stretch over ten episodes, leading some to wonder why this wasn’t just a two-hour Guy Ritchie crime film set in modern London. The plot thickens as Eddie, the arrogant son of Kevin, stabs a man at a nightclub, only to have his friend Tommy go missing. This situation complicates the already fraught relationship between the Harrigans and the Stevensons, a rival crime family.
Despite featuring a star-studded cast, including Hardy, Brosnan, and Mirren, the series has received mixed reviews. Critics have described it as lacking the giddy, absurdist wit of Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, instead presenting a rote tale of gangsters engaging in typical gangster activities. The performances of Brosnan and Mirren have been noted as somewhat imprecise, failing to evoke the expected tension or drama.
As the series unfolds, it aims to explore the dynamics of the Harrigan family, led by the ambitious Conrad and his wife Maeve, who appears to be the real power behind the throne. Their son Kevin seems to lack the ruthlessness needed to navigate the criminal underworld, often overshadowed by Harry, who is not blood but is the favored child.
While the first two episodes of MobLand hint at potential, they also reveal a lack of depth that could hinder its success. The writing, directing, and acting, while competent, have been characterized by a sense that no one is trying as hard as they should be. The series has been described as a darker, more self-serious version of Ritchie’s previous works, telling a classic tale of rival crime families operating within a global crime syndicate.
As the Harrigan family grapples with their internal conflicts, the tension with the Stevensons escalates. Eddie’s reckless actions threaten to ignite a gang war, and it falls on Harry to navigate the fallout, ensuring the Harrigans come out unscathed. With new episodes airing weekly on Sundays, viewers will have to see how the story develops and whether it can rise above its initial shortcomings.
In summary, MobLand* offers a blend of familiar tropes and star power, but its execution leaves something to be desired. As it stands, the series has the potential to evolve into something more engaging, but it will need to dig deeper to truly captivate audiences.
