Informer 3838

No one could ever say that the Gangland Wars were dull. But this look behind the lawyer who took down empires in the war has been a bit lax. Yes of course things were secretive in the lead up to the filming of the show and of course the commission was yet to hand down findings, but for this to be in the same league as an underbelly drama? yeah its got it. Yeah you way not like it but I thought it was terrific, done respectfully as possible.

The next time someone asks you to describe an underbelly failure, give them this and vanishing act. Absolute trash. It was one of the weakest in the underbelly universe and that is saying something as the other one with Melissa Caddick was just a laugh. The two actors playing the Hodsons both sound like the accents they were going for got lost and were confused, and normally i love Rhys Muldoon but here? Nah, and Jacquie? Jacquie of all people should've just passed on this, was the director trying to traumatise the poor woman? Ella Scott Lynch deserved a much better script a less bland real life person.

Seems they forgot to spend the time an energy on a script. Strong central performance can't rescue the lack of coherent storytelling on what could have been compelling drama. Breaking the fourth wall, heavy reliance on a soundtrack and epileptic editing is deflection from a very thin and disappointing piece.

The Melbourne Gangland war was the bloodiest in any gangland war in Australia, so the cast of course are following what happened during those years. Gyton Grantley, Robert Mammone returning to the roles that made them famous with a stellar cast (new to the Underbelly universe or returning) providing excellent storyline telling, even with the events ripped from the headlines, the cast and crew put their lives at risk to make sure the story was told..

A sometimes graphic look behind some of the recent police and justice systems in Australia which will dampen some people's lofty ideals but really does show how intricately corrupt and self serving it all is even these days. Gobbo must have been allowed some literary controls on this script because it paints her a way too glamorously IMHo and not only at the quite attractive and balanced lead when the reality was that she was nowhere near that. However, if you'd seen the Underbelly series this ties up some of the loose ends to the Melbourne series. This is a must watch if you want a peek behind the real (in)justice system in that superb Australian series.