Jungle

Very very strange musical style to the show which makes no sense at all, kind of like it's tried to replicate shiros story and blue story while trying to be like top boy/kidulthood at the same time.

Once again Amazon making a series look good with awful film makers, writers and producers you can't stick good actors in a awful show and just expect it to work.

Everytime you think the show is about to get good they do another one of the stupid musical cut scenes and try and make it into some unique style of their own and it just fails miserably I honestly think Amazon need to hire better people to decide on good ideas and better produced film/series. Netflix seems to get it right with everything they put effort into and I can't understand why the richest company in the world is struggling so hard to make anything that isn't cheesy.

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!

The first episode tries to be a mix between a musical poetry similar to romeo + Juliet while also trying to be like the kidulthood trilogy but it just fails at both unfortunatly, on the up side we get to see k koke make an apperance. Everything is just so bland.

Its like the show has identity issues, its not exactly cyberpunk although it tries so hard to be, with its bright neon lights in places where it has no business to be and lifts with no light at all... the whole episode just reminded me in the worst way of how a blade tv series could go so horribly wrong and yet its not exactly hip-hop either as actors will for no reason at all start rapping to eachother in the most bizarre places... theres no real explanation or proper transition.

The modern take on urban drama,shiros story on steroids,2 gritty storylines that intertwine into powerful and dramatic conclusion ,plays out like a movie rather than a series ,set in futuristic but realistic urban London setting cleverly done and has like a noir touch of visuals mixed into gang culture drama that we've seen with the kidulthood type movies,and yes although this type of drama has been done before it's also a breath of fresh air to watch as the acting is carried off brilliantly by the main characters,soundtrack is top notch by some big urban artists who have great potential in Thier acting skills.if u like this sort of genre u will enjoy this series, powerfull,gritty and relevant ,if u know u know! I wanna see a second series come from this.

Jungle brought some really creative heads come together to give us something fresh and unique. However, I felt more effort went into the style of the show than telling a solid story.

My main issue with the show was that it felt rushed and things didn't really pay off, instead story arcs were left at lose ends and even though the show tries to bring things full circle at the end, for me it didn't work as I wasn't given enough time to care for the characters involved.

This show gave us the idea of the characters breaking out into drill in certain scenes. This is an interesting idea and sometimes it really works, however there were times where it took me out of the scene as it felt forced on some occasions. As a drill producer, I really appreciate the effort to bring drill and mix it with a crime drama. However, this idea can be improved upon.

The setting of Jungle is also really interesting. A near future London looks visually pleasing but that's where it ends. The setting or technology shown in this series isn't used to push the story and while it seems they're going to do something with it at the start of the series, it didn't go anywhere which is something I quickly got used to.

I would like to see another season as I feel it can be significantly improved upon as the ideas are good but don't help to push the narrative. While I have my issues with the show, I appreciate the effort gone in to create something different hence my 6 star rating.