Review by C.J. Bunce
What is it with streamer Paramount+ and the gangster genre? Every other new series is about the mob or drugs and Paramount+’s latest stresses the genre in its title: MobLand, which sounds a bit like Cop Land, a movie from the star of its other mob-and-drugs series, Tulsa King. But unlike Tulsa King, which fizzled out quickly in its second season, MobLand features an impressive cast of movie stars along with some prime TV talent. And it’s from Guy Ritchie, who delivered one of last year’s best series: The Gentlemen. Ritchie is a powerhouse, blending action and drama with humor, and MobLand claims to be tied to the crime world of his past endeavours. Ultimately the series feels top-heavy, and its opening episodes plod along so slowly you may feel like you’re watching something like Downton Abbey. It’s a series that could have been six episodes, but you get the feeling the production was having too much fun watching Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren, who lead the story’s crime family, volley the most outlandish, over-the-top profanity at each other for ten episodes. All ten episodes are streaming on Paramount+ and another season is in production, expected in early 2027.
Pierce Brosnan, who has been impressive in his post-James Bond roles like The Foreigner and Fast Charlie, stars as Irish crime boss Conrad Harrigan, and Oscar winner Helen Mirren, who has proven to be a marvel and great fun in crime roles including Anna and the RED and Fast and Furious movie franchises, plays his wife Maeve. Venom, Star Trek Nemesis, Mad Max, and Batman franchise star Tom Hardy plays Harry, loyal thug and fixer for the Harrigans. A pantheon of British TV and film regulars leads the supporting cast, including Paddy Considine (the Cornetto trilogy) as Conrad’s son Kevin, Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey) as Harry’s wife, and Lara Pulver (Sherlock) as Kevin’s wife.
I bailed on this series after three episodes in my first go at this series. None of the characters are likeable. They are barely believable even for the mob crime genre, which is typically fraught with a mix of psychopaths, and under-achievers and over-achievers of many flavors. Unlike his other late career movie roles, it’s impossible here to not see Brosnan as Brosnan, and Mirren’s performance is so over-the-top it feels like some kind of drama contest–who can outperform the other as these creepy, weird bad people. Tom Hardy is the star of the series in the kind of thug role that once went to Al Pacino, but he doesn’t offer much beyond what we’ve seen him do in his other roles. He’s good as a loyal soldier, but his character also puts his wife and daughter in harm’s way, which makes him a criminal who isn’t a good guy at any level. He doesn’t even want out. At one point it feels like this might be Donnie Brasco or The Departed and Harry is a deep undercover cop, but it never comes to pass. Harry is just a one-note loyal thug and no more.
At least Considine’s elder son of the crime family is sympathetic–he acknowledges is role and hates that his parents raised him in this crime world, which caused him to be raped in a prison cell for two years, giving him a massive case of PTSD, which he examines and addresses along the journey of the show. Keep an eye open for Jasmine Jobson as Zosia, one of the Harrigan thug force who actually seems to be more than competent at her job. We’ll hopefully see more from her if there is a second season.
Unfortunately what makes Guy Ritchie’s other productions, like The Gentlemen, so good is that they are stylish and fun. MobLand has neither style nor an ounce of fun. If you like to see bad guys kill other bad guys, you will get plenty of that here. Ultimately the final three episodes make it worth the time, if only you can stick it out that long, and the payoffs in the final episode are satisfying.
TV generally gets monotonous when so many series save up everything for the final episode, and this falls in that category. The Gentlemen, both the series and the movie, are so much better by comparison (and they practically demand to be compared) that even with that impressive cast it’s a disappointing because it could have fleshed out and tightened up the earlier episodes and the script and its goofy, gross, profanity-laden dialogue could have been shored up.
But how do you pass up the latest from Ritchie and these leads? For anyone who likes gangster stories, and fans of Brosnan, Mirren, and Hardy, MobLand is streaming now on Paramount+.
