Movies or TV shows based on the lives of mobsters have been popularized by Hollywood for decades now. Of course, most people have seen either The Godfather Trilogy or the HBO series’ The Sopranos, or both. There are countless of other movies and TV shows that’s been produced throughout the years about mobsters. But we don’t see many movies or TV shows about mobsters from overseas that often. Of course, mobsters and/or gangsters exist in many parts of the world, but Hollywood prefers to idolize the lives of either Italian or African Americans when it comes to their gangster genre. Once in while though, we do get to see stories of mobsters from overseas. The latest show from Paramount+ is called MobLand, and it stars some well-known actors in the lead roles.

Harry Da Souza (Tom Hardy) is a fixer for one of the most powerful mobsters in London, The Harrigans. Sitting on the top is Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan), a ruthless mobster who takes advice from his equally ruthless wife, Maeve (Helen Mirren). They have three children, including Kevin (Paddy Considine), who hopes someday he’ll be the leader of the clan. But both Conrad and Maeve don’t think he could lead the family. Instead, Maeve is grooming Kevin’s son Eddie (Anson Boon) to take over the family’s business, just like both she and Conrad. Eddie is ruthless and kind of a psychopath. As the story begins, Eddie kills the son of the Harrigans’ nemesis, Richie Stevenson (Geoff Bell), which of course would set off a war between the two big mobsters in the city.

To diffuse the situation, Conrad orders Harry to do whatever he can to calm Richie down because he doesn’t know yet that Eddie killed his son. Even though Conrad wants to take over all of Richie’s businesses, he doesn’t want a war between the clans. While Harry is trying to keep a war between two powerful mobsters from happening, he is also dealing with his failing marriage to Jan (Joanne Froggatt). They have a daughter named Gina (Teddie Allen) who despises what her father does for a living. Things get more complicated when the cops are trying to take down Harry and the Harrigans. As usual with this type of story, the entire first season is full of betrayals and violence.

The show creator is Irish novelist and screenwriter Ronan Bennett, and he wrote all ten episodes along with Jez Butterworth. It’s hard trying to tell anything new when it comes to this genre. I thought both writers did a good job of keeping the drama within the family and didn’t focus too much on the conflicts. Of course, we do see the conflicts escalate to violence in the later episodes. Some of the surprises I did see coming a mile away, but some I didn’t see coming at all. Guy Ritchie directed the first two episodes, and he set the template for other directors to follow for the rest of the season. Unlike his earlier work, Richie’s direction is quite straightforward here, with no flashy edits or anything unusual. The violence is quite tame compared to something you’d see from Scorsese or The Sopranos.

The three main leads are the reason this show works. I knew Hardy would be great here, and he didn’t disappoint. While you wouldn’t call his character “heroic,” he does try to save people as best he can. Harry is someone who knows that he couldn’t try to go “straight” in the real world and get a regular job. He’s also very good at what he does, and he gets paid handsomely by his boss. But he also knows that he can’t escape this life, and he’ll do whatever you can to save his family from danger. Mirren appears to have a great time playing this type of character. She’s one of the vilest characters that I’ve seen on a TV show since Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones.

Technically, she’s the one who’s running Harrigan’s business, and she knows it. The most surprising performance to me is Brosnan’s. I never thought he could play a truly ruthless character, but he’s great here as Conrad Harrigan. A man who realizes that he’s losing power because of his age, and he doesn’t trust anyone to carry on the family’s business. Deep down, he wants Harry to take over, but he knows that can’t happen because Harry isn’t a Harrigan.

While this show didn’t present anything new when it comes to the mobster genre, it’s still worth a watch for the performances by the three leads. The show hasn’t been announced for season 2 yet, but I hope we get at least one more season to wrap up the story.

So have you seen the MOBLAND series? Well, what do you think?

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