Gangs of London

Sure, season 1 had its issues. Unbelievable scenarios, undercooked characters and weird pacing with it peaking at the halfway point, and then lumbering onwards. So yeah, you had to turn a significant portion of grey matter off to enjoy it, but man, it was worth it for the fights/shootouts choreography, editing and brutality. And if you could suspend the huge amount of disbelief and shark jumping, it was pretty entertaining with how over the top it ended up being.

Season 2, on the other hand, has made the mistake of doubling down on all the ridiculous and sub par elements of character writing and plot, asking us to turn off our brains to the point of drooling lobotomy, whilst offering almost none of the rewards of excellent fights/shootouts, editing, creative camerawork and crazy conspiracy cheese of the previous season.

I can't even be bothered to list or explain how bad all the elements of season 2 are. It is just SO stupid, it's beyond belief! Beyond the suspension of disbelief capability of anything with a consciousness.

From the practically total absence of police/ bystanders or concern for leaving evidence everywhere. Like just dragging a freshly murdered gangster from a car, for no reason, in front of security cameras and an amazingly oblivious staff member. To having a skinny woman who you could believe with some effort, could be capable of shooting many men in season 1, to entirely unbelievably beating a number of beefy men in hand to hand combat in season 2. To the point where a main character somehow has a 10x zoom level on a 1x optic at the end, to the ammo capacity of handguns rivalling a drum magazine, to the very poorly integrated digital blood/fire/explosion effects... to even call season 2 stupid is an insult to stupidity.

I don't know if the new producers, apparent non-involvement of Gareth Evans, if the budget was drastically reduced, if some kind of Covid related restrictions/ people just not bothering to do a half decent job at anything any more, or what is responsible for it... but it is borderline unwatchable now. However it does continue the story and have occasional flashes of what made season 1 good.

I can't fathom anyone greenlighting a season 3 after this, but if they do, they'd better make sure they wrap it up with a home run.

Here's the issue with trying to review series, where one season is vastly inferior to another. I'm leaving my overall rating as is, for the excellence in parts of season 1, which truly do deserve merit.

Season 1 - 8/10.

Season 2 - 4/10.

Gangs of London is just a flat out awesome show. I do agree with most of the reviews that season 1 was better than 2. Even though season 2 is still worth watching, it just doesn't measure up to the greatness which was season 1. Some people don't like it because of how brutal it gets but I don't get what they were expecting from a show about gangs? It is so much more than just some action show too...it's a very intense drama that will keep you at the edge of your seat. Some people want to compare it to Peaky Blinders and while it's not quite as good as that it's still a really good show. I think because both are violent British crime dramas they get compared a lot. I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes a good action drama.

A saga of criminal intrigue that mixes ruthless and intense action with even more cruel crime lord manipulatons. The story grabs you and doesn't let go, I'm talking about the first season. The scenes of cruel and bloody action are formidable, one of the best I have seen, great quality. A dose of violence rarely achieved.

The story of this family of gangsters, the Wallace family, is interesting and has very unexpected and unpredictable moments.

The feeling of mercy bleeds inside many of these characters as much as any of their murders. And despite everything they don't seem to have a choice, they live locked in a destructive spiral.

Lets not forget the camera work, which shows a multitude of tracking angles. Absolutely fascinating!

You will like some actors more than others, logical in a series with so many characters and families, that is what it is about, keeping you in continuous tension and placing the viewer in a world of violence and cruelty like I have never seen before. Again, it is all about power and more and more money.

Exaggeratedly unrealistic from time to time, but it didn't bother me at all.

I recommend this first season without a doubt, a lot of extreme and cruel action and very well staged, with a somewhat different story due to its international nature.

I do not know whether they replaced the writers but season 2 is basically unwatchable. The story meanders left and right and is unnecessarily convoluted. Not to mention boring and all the characters completely unlikeable. The whole season doesnt really move anywhere or are there any interesting developments, nothing but a repeated betrayal left and right, all covered with lots and lots of bloodshed. And of course Elliot, who it seems came over from MCU where he got a proper big dose of super soldier serum because he has no problem going against small armies by himself repeatedly with ease.

Boring&silly, unlikeable characters, shallow season.

Some of the best hand-to-hand fight scenes since the Bourne movies. Really fresh choreography and rawness to them, very cleverly staged.

The plots are hit and miss, some feel tired and predictable, some redundant. Following the undercover cop is compelling, and the gang lieutenant father/son pair is well done. Wish there were better female roles. The main guy Sean is very dull and how many times must we watch him standing on a roof staring at London?

Rest of the acting is solid, the camerawork and editing and music are great.

Since the acting, dialogue, and action was good I kept watching, hoping for more interesting plots to unfold.