Los caballeros

If you like this sort of thing: wild, over the top and sometimes ruthless British blokes with a dark sense of humor, you'll probably watch in one binge sitting.

For myself, I found a lot of new faces, so I didn't know what to expect. The leads are entertaining. Vinnie Jones is a nice addition, as a more laid back, but don't mess with me fellow.

The old English estate setting is great to look at in itself.

Once again, Guy Richie has no problem creating a rich environment, and dialog is cleaver and sharp.

Grab a bottle of wine and enjoy the ride.

Never going to top Lock, Stock, Etc or Snatch, but this is great fun.

Highly recommended.

Taking the same path of the movie, this Netflix series follows the adventures of former soldier and recently titled Eddie, who inherits the family estate, and unknowingly, a joint-venture weed empire with a London gang.

And it's this entertaining clash of old-English aristocracy and contemporary London drug gang that makes this series entertaining. Eddies older brother, Freddie, who should have inherited, is errant if well meaning, provides some classic ineptitude for comedy value.

And there's a good balance of romantic tension between Eddie and the daughter of the gang's boss to keep you guessing. The casting is good, production values high and storylines engaging.

Witty, stylish and fun, it's a good addition to the Netflix lineup. Not too serious and gory, but with enough tension and characters to keep you entertained.

If this dosen't get renewed for a season 2 myself and I imagine plenty of other people will riot. A majority of the stuff netflix puts out is mediocre at best and most of it you forget after watching because its just mush. Most of it feels like it's purely just to keep the content machine flowing. The gentlemen feels totally different and might actually be one of the greatest shows I've seen and it's only the first season.

Top acting, top direction, top writing, top everything basically. Guy Ritchie is absolutely on form here. Had me right on the edge of my seat for a majority of the show trying to work out all the angles, agendas, schemes going on between the multiple calculated characters through out the show and on so many occasions I thought I had it worked out until a few moments later I'd be proven wrong again with another brilliantly executed twist.

The gentlemen (2019) was already a fantastic film but what limited it was the time it had to tell its story however giving Guy Ritchie and his team a full 8 episodes to play with to fully pad out this story was very clearly an excellent choice and I truly hope this show takes off in a big way not only because it deserves it but because Netflix will hopefully realise what a treat this show is and give us more seasons.

I could go on for ages about this show but I'd rather leave as much detail out of this review as possible because I went into this series essentially blind and I absolutely loved it however I imagine knowing more of the details before hand wouldn't have had the same impact so if you can, watch this before you learn any more about it, trust me.

So in short, watch this show. As soon as possible. Its fantastic.

If that makes any sense. What I'm trying to say while pointing Aristotle's quote into a mirror, is that this is worth watching simply for all of the outstanding individual performances. There are many other reasons to tune in, but the acting clinic on parade here is a lot of fun.

The Parts:

#1 - The Story

Of course, this story began with the film but has only a very tangential relationship with that work. Every episode has a beginning, middle, and an end, as well as a cliffhanger or something else to propel viewers onward. As with his movies, some of the stories worked for me, others didn't. Some of the conflicts were just way too facile with their resolutions. Eddie was pushed into way too many predicaments as he tried to extract his family from the business, accepting too many dangerous assignments for reasons not adequately explained, not to me.

#2 - The Dialogue

Ritchie seems to have developed his own form of dialogue in which street toughs and lowlifes converse with a sort of modern day Shakespearean banter, well above the vernacular of the average dirtbag, whether in real life or in other movies. While Tarantino was propelled into stardom for the way in which some of his characters lapse into long soliloquys, whether on their own or in a group, Ritchie's creations throw around a lot of word-a-day calendar vocabulary in their speechifying. It comes off affected at times, but more often than not his dialogue is a lot of fun.

#3 - The Characters

Bringing fun-as-hell characters to life on the screen is definitely Ritchie's strong point, or one of them. Eddie, Susie, Jimmy, Bobby, and Geoff could all walk away from this and carry their own series. It helps to have such talented actors reading you lines, and it definitely is important for actors to have great material to spin into the roles they help to create.

Compared to about 99% of what is out there in TV and movie land, this series was positively brilliant. Period.

I thoroughly enjoyed this series, although I acknowledge that I easily cleared two hurdles that viewers with lower ratings might not: I loved Guy Ritchie's style and didn't find it getting old on me; I didn't know about any movie, so I'm seeing these as "fresh" takes from the start.

Every character in this series was fun to get to know and to try to understand. What complexity. What eccentricity along with believable nuance.

Every actor succeeded in pulling off finely crafted individuals that fit perfectly into the sometimes off-the-wall plot.

They lure viewers in, which is a great reason to keep going.

Another great reason, of course, is that plot.

What a ride!