Gangs of Oslo

Hailed by Ricky Gervais recently on Twitter, this show peaked my interest. I am Norwegian myself and also live on the east side of Oslo, close to where many of the shows locations are set - which was a nice thing to see!

Set in the east side of Oslo, historically renown for it's gangs and high crime rate, we follow two "brothers" from a fictitious area "Lakkeberg" - Moaz and Rami, who grew up together but ultimately chose their lives on each side of the law. The story revolves around Rami and his criminal gang called the "Enemiez" and Moaz as the police investigator. The show has a slow start but slowly grows on you. The twists and turns keeps you on edge in the later episodes. The personal stories of everyone - the kids, the families, the gangs and police - come through well and you get a good feel for the complicated choices they all have to go through.

Special compliments to both main actors as they portray the feelings and complicated life choices very well, and are credible in their roles.

The show is all around well acted by the entire cast, has a great score and good drama/action throughout. Give it a go, you won't regret!

Just finished watching the series, and cannot understand the negative reviews here, they have clearly not watched the show.

With only 6 episodes, and the show coming to a satisfying end, this is worth your time.

Leading actors are good, I also really like the camera techniques used, even though I am not much for drone footage, as that is not our normal point of view.

It can be quite intense, the plot is only over a short time period, illustrates how cynical criminal gangs need to be, and how restricted police might be under these circumstances. Some say it is a Norwegian "the wire" while I felt it was a bit like "The Departed" It is not the very best show I have watched, so it might have gotten an extra point to compensate for the other uninformed reviews here.

First of all, I'm not sure why the Bokmål Norwegian title of the series was changed to Gangs of Oslo. The Norwegian title described far more relevantly the concept underlying the series.

OK, that quibble over, the programme delved into interesting dilemmas about loyalty and compulsion. Does one remain loyal to one's job or one's friends from childhood, one of whom is owed a debt by the other? In the end, the friends stay loyal to each other in a neat plot twist that exonerated Moaz and liberates Rami.

Yes, the story is a bit threadbare at times and the strategies followed by the investigators to catch their man shouldn't have fooled either of the main characters. I'm neither a cop nor a gangster but I saw through what was happening. However, I didn't see the ending coming.

Not as good as some similar series, but still worth a watch. Get through the slightly slow episode one and stick with it.

Oh, where to begin with this show? It's like they discovered the magic of bokeh and just couldn't let it go.

I could almost hear the director shouting, "More bokeh! We need more bokeh!" in every production meeting. It's like they had a bokeh quota to meet or something. Heres an idea. Maybe throw in a few shots where the background is actually discernible.

Ah, the plot, the saving grace of this rollercoaster of a show. It's like they threw a dart at a wall of story ideas and landed on "passable." Don't get me wrong, "passable" can sometimes be code for "It's okay, I guess," but in this case, it's the lifeboat in a sea of chaos.

Finally the acting. If i had to describe it with one word, it would be volatile. One moment, you're witnessing a dramatic scene that would make Shakespeare proud. The next, it's like they've switched gears and are channeling their inner cardboard cutout. But hey... its entertainment.

This Norwegian series plot reminds me a 2018 French crime drama FRERES ENNEMIS, telling the friendship between a cop and a hoodlum, childhood friends. Maybe this TV show is a remake, I don't know. Anyway, it is rather well done, many clichés, a scheme already seen many times before. I guess that in the future, we'll have Gangs of Lisbon, " " of Ouagadougou.... We already have GANGS OF LONDON. This series will maybe continue, I don't know, maybe, and if it is the case, I will watch it. Good suspense, good performances, taut.... Not bad but nothing exceptional. Nothing to be compared with the "untouchable" GOMORRA for instance.