Jungla

Where to start?

This series is just as tired and warn out as the UK drill scene.

The amount of service level conversations portrayed as deep meaningful dialogue. Honestly, it's so highly cringe is almost unbearable.

The acting is very sub par...so much over acting, you can clearly see that every is trying, but it just looks forced, cringe and falls flat on it's face.

It's looks slick, but after a few slow motion panning shots this runs dry pretty quickly.

Overall a wasted opportunity with a big budget to do something great. If this gets renewed for a second season, I'll eat my hat!

It's a 1/10 for me.

The series Top Boy is the benchmark for British London urban black gangster drug dealing gang drama tv. When I saw the trailer for Jungle I expected something similar. Jungle is very different! Set in the near future the series focuses on the characters personal suffering. The drug/gang violence is prominent, but the individual struggles of the working class broken home adolescents is the main theme. The ad lib rapping is fresh and unique and it works wonderfully. The show is not about glamourising the gangster lifestyle but more about highlighting the hardships of the younger siblings that get caught up in the gang culture. Yes, some may argue that the show is more style over substance but I enjoyed it immensely. It is stunning from a cinematography point of view, and at only 6 episodes long I highly recommend watching!

PRO TIP: I recommend watching with subtitles to get the most out of the British slang!

I found this series to be very original and solid throughout the six episodes. It seems to me the people who gave bad reviews didn't watch the series all the way through. Maybe they were thrown off by the visual style or the musical numbers in the episodes? Sometimes I feel if subtleties go over people's heads they don't know what to do aside from criticize a show. If you can stick around through the whole series everything ties together well.

I am a fan of some British Hip Hop but this series introduced me to artists I hadn't heard of and they all did a pretty good turn acting in their roles. I really didn't find any of the actors to be bad. The performance by youngster Seyi Andes-Pelumi (kid on the poster image) was actually amazing. I usually don't like child actors but this 12 year old turned in one of the best performances I have seen from an actor that age in years.

If you are put off by the first episode maybe this series isn't for you but if you watch the entire series it is a interesting and sometimes heartbreaking ride.

I appreciate that Amazon was willing to take a chance with this innovative production. I think in some ways it works and it is rather visually impressive, the music can be very good and heartfelt at times.

The piece is also to be congratulated on its message, I think they did a good job of bringing it across in an serious manner and it was not glamourized at all. Elements like the stress felt by the main character were brought across very well in particular.

While this series wasn't for me in particular I feel like they did a lot of elements really well, it didn't succeed in all aspects but it was still entertaining and the novelty was refreshing for me in and of itself.

I watched this after seeing posters for it everywhere in London, which look sick and really attention grabbing. The opening sequence with the lips and the clock was cool, I had high hopes. But it just never really went anywhere. I feel like it could have been great if it was more polished and more thought through. Cos there was lots of good stuff in there. Visual style and cinematography was on point, Ezra was solid, so was Poundz, the girl who played Gogos girl, Poundz mum. But then so many of the other performances were wooden and awkward. There were scenes where I had second hand embarrassment watching it- Tinie Tempah's scene? So bad I had to watch behind my hands. There were a few bits that were so corny I was shocked they made it in, it was like GCSE drama. I liked the two stories thing but was bored by ep 5 and 6. It definitely could have been 4 killer eps if it was written better. And the way they were woven in could have been more slick.

But the weirdest thing about it to me was the narrator. What was that? At first I thought it was Gogo at the end of his life looking back, or his Dad or father figure that we didn't see. Read books, travel the world... DMO! It felt like that wear sunscreen song- preachy and egotistical and unnecessary. And what was said in the narration didn't relate to what was in each episode. It was just a load of random thoughts- a vanity thing by the writers I guess. I was thinking, who is this brudda and why is he telling me how to live my life??

Overall- ok to watch, lots of potential, visually good but basic storyline, felt a bit amateur. Oh and the rapping- really worked for some people, not for others.