Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

Created by Gareth Evans & Matt Flannery

Broadcast: Sky Atlantic
Concluded: 18/06/2020 [All episodes on Demand from 23/04/2020]
Synopsis: The king of crime, Finn Wallance is dead, and so leaves a gap to fill for control of the capital.
Cast: Joe Cole, Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù, Lucian Msamati, Michelle Fairley, Paapa Essiedu
Episodes: Nine

Patriarch of the largest crime family in London, Finn Wallance (Colm Meaney), has been murdered. Not only has this put his son and heir Sean Wallace (Joe Cole) on a violent crusade to uncover who killed his father, but secret forces are working to deconstruct the entire Wallace Family Organisation.

The Dumani family, father Ed (Lucian Msamati) and son Alex (Paapa Essiedu) are allies, partners and long term friends of the Wallace’s and the level headed ones of the organisation. Fighting to keep the families together and things business as usual, with so much going on internally, it’s hard to spot the multiple threats coming from outside of their ranks.

I’ll tell you right now, the first episode is pretty much feature-length coming in at around an hour and forty minutes. Because of this, it took me a few weeks to finally settle down and attempt to watch Gangs of London.

Once I was mentally prepared for the biopic that was the pilot, my attention span for the remainder of the series barely wavered. Long though it may have been, the pilot did its job of setting in motion all the players, objectives and barriers, so that the story could get going from there.

Probably one of my favourite things about Gangs of London was the violence. This is not only because it was appropriate to the story, but because it was so well shot. There are some applaud worthy long takes, squeamish moments that have you watching from between shuttered fingers, and just beautifully positioned moments that make it all worth it.

It was nice to see the Gang Life from its upper tiers. We are normally saturated with ‘on the ground’ crime, and the police officers playing cat and mouse with their criminals. Instead of tracksuits and trainers, we got boardrooms and businessmen. Also to note it was great that the businessmen weren’t only White. This would have propagated the stigma that low, uneducated criminals are Black, and the wealthy smart ones are White.

All around there was some stellar acting, and if I was to call anyone out I’d just be reciting the entire cast list.

A wild ride that left an interesting set up for a potential second series.

Once again, like the series’ Curfew and Chernobyl, Sky has come through with another original series that sets itself apart from the crowd. Giving the audiences something new and exciting, and most importantly, for me; a little unpredictable.

Fun fact: Lucian Msamati and Paapa Essiedu who played father and Son in Gangs of London have in fact played the role of father and son before, on the Channel 4 four-part series Kiri in 2018.

If you want to read about my top ten violent moments from the series Gangs of London then click HEREto find it on Medium.

Trailer below…