The Gentlemen

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!

As a big fan of Guy Ritchie and the movie that this was based off, The Gentleman, I've been looking forward to this since I first heard about it, especially when I heard Ritchie was also creating it and even directing episodes. Even though it's not quite as good as the movie it's still very good and absolutely worth your time to watch this. I enjoyed the style of this series. It makes you enjoy every character and actually care about what happens to them. Theo James was terrific as the lead and between his performance in this and The White Lotus last year I hope it leads to even bigger things for him. If you're looking for a new show that is just a fun watch then this is it. I really hope they do several seasons of this because I'm fully invested.

You can tell Guy Ritchie only wrote (co-wrote) and directed the first two episodes as the show starts off with a crack and runs into a muddy and convoluted plot in episodes 5-7 and a fairly uncreative ending in episode 8.

The show shines with the casting - primarily Kaya Scodelario as Susie Glass. Actually everyone is strong except for Theo James who I thought was miscast and would think he is a poor actor given his track record had it not been for White Lotus Season 2. I don't think he has found his acting niche yet but this isn't it.

There are still Guy Ritchie vibes in the rest of the show after episode 2 and a fun and entertaining cast of characters. Messy plot in the back half and a little uncreative for Ritchie standards but a fun and high energy show.

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.

I was a big fan of both Lock Stock and Snatch when they initially came out and felt fresh and fun, but I haven't enjoyed Guy Ritchie's more recent work nearly as much.

Having seen the trailer I was intrigued by this show. I sat through it all and there were exciting moments, but I didn't love it sadly. It felt hollow to me.

This feels like Guy Ritchie's greatest hits rearranged and presented as a TV show. You will have seen most of the setup used here before, but this time many of the actors are different. Maybe that was my main issue with it, it didn't feel fresh and exciting, as it is a familiar format at this point and there is a risk of boredom setting in.

It's undeniable that Ritchie knows his way around a camera. The show looks and sounds great. He has a great cast - Vinnie Jones is understated and quite excellent, but for me the story feels clunky, occasionally repetitive and surprisingly preposterous. In fact I found some of the dialogue to be cringe inducing. Some of it feels as though it had been intended to land as sophisticated and profound, but much of just sounds bad. This was never the case with some of his initial movies.

I believe there is a much better show that could have been carved out of this with some stricter editing, as all of the pieces are there. For me there is just too much going on, it doesn't all make sense and sadly it seems to lack a genuine sense of irony.

Not terrible, not great. Somewhere in between.