MobLand

Just saw the finale of what will almost certainly be the first season of a tour-de-force series about warring crime families on the other side of the pond, i.e., the UK. MobLand has everything -- a powerful, unpredictable story bristling with what The Godfather and its sequels did so well in the movies. That would be a potent, explosive blend of violence and family dynamics that can make your head spin.

Here I'll talk without spoilers about the three main ingredients that brought this kick-in-the-solar-plexus across: the music, the acting, and the plot.

The Music

First, MobLand has one of the best theme songs I've heard in years: "Starburster" by Fontaines D. C. I mean, I'm no expert in hip hop, but I know "Starburster" has powerful elements of it, and the recording suits the story to be told in every episode to a tee, as well as being instantly unforgettable mind candy.

And that's just for starters, literally. In the finale alone, we get major songs by Johnny Cash (sung twice, no less) and The Rolling Stones. Like in The Godfather trilogy, Goodfellas, and all immediately classic crime family dramas, the music of MobLand is at once avant garde and classic.

The Acting

Now let's get to the acting. Pierce Brosnan gives an astonishing performance as Conrad Harrington, the anti-hero crime boss whose gang is at the center of the action. This man played two characters who were suave to the max -- Remington Steele and James Bond -- and in MobLand he puts aside those icons and goes vehemently in the opposite direction, cursing and screaming and giving loud and withering vent to his anger and his other moods, with the best of 'em. Meanwhile, Helen Mirren, a world-class actress, is every bit as vicious and violent in her role as Maeve Harrington, Conrad's wife.. Neither of them are youngsters, but I wouldn't want to meet either of them in a dark alley. Or a lit one, either, for that matter.

And alongside these veritable criminal forces of nature -- Emmy-worthy spectacular -- we have Tom Hardy's portrayal of Harry, the Harringtons fixer (there are a lot of "Har"s in that sentence). He's calm, contemplative but deadly when he needs to be. Like Brosnan and Mirren, Hardy is a world-class actor, great in just about everything he does, but yet to establish himself in a role as luminary as James Bond, Vito Corleone, or Michael Corleone. But his performance in MobLand could move Hardy into Al Pacino territory.

The lesser-known actors in MobLand are excellent, too. Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon) as one of Conrad and Maeve's sons, gives a heart-rending performance, as does Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey), for different reasons, as Harry's wife. The truth is, there's not a weak performance in this powerhouse of a series.

The Plot

The story of MobLand rises like an angry phoenix out of the now familiar territory of crime families at war that we've enjoyed over the decades. Murders occur, expected and surprising. Romeo and Juliet and other unwise and dangerous romances proliferate, putting the crime family bosses to the test. The police are rarely good or licit, either, playing footsies with one crime syndicate or another, or both. But MobLand ratchets all of these jagged edges up to an emotionally lacerating fever pitch. The killings come faster than expected, or they don't come at all when they are expected, but those kinds of non-murders only set the story up for more.

Ok, enough from me, I managed to review MobLand without even a glint of a real spoiler. I'm going to listen to some more Fontaines D. C. music now.