If you love The Raid, Netflix has just acquired its director’s hit TV show – and it features some of the gnarliest action you’ll ever see on the small screen.
After rising to fame with The Raid films, two of the best action movies ever made, Gareth Evans co-created Gangs of London – and it’s coming to Netflix on August 19.
Loosely based on The Getaway’s PSP sequel, the binge-worthy TV series follows the fallout of the assassination of Finn Wallace (Colm Meaney), the patriarch of London’s most powerful crime family.
His son Sean (Peaky Blinders’ Joe Cole) wants revenge, so he takes his father’s place and demands swift retribution. This causes chaos, with rivals scheming against him as he hunts for his dad’s killer.
Suddenly, an unexpected ally emerges from nowhere: Elliot (Sope Dirisu), who proves his mettle – by beating an entire bar to a pulp – and ingratiates himself with the Wallaces. Here’s what they don’t know: he’s an undercover cop.
Warring families, brutal action, power struggles; if you mix Game of Thrones with The Krays, you’ve got Gangs of London.
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And we’re not joking about the violence: in the first episode, we see a man burned alive as he dangles from a skyscraper and another gets his head slammed onto a bar… with an ashtray in his mouth. It’s teeth-clinching stuff that may be too much for some viewers, especially as the gore ramps up throughout the series.
The first season has a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score, dropping slightly to 81% in Season 2.
“Gangs of London exists on a fully realized plane of its own, where brutality is power, death is inevitable, and even the pigeons are on cocaine. I love it. I cannot get enough of this show,” The Atlantic wrote.
“By being one part The Departed, one part Guy Ritchie movie, and splashed with the blood of a thousand The Raids, Gangs of London ends up scratching multiple itches simultaneously,” CGMagazine also wrote.
AMC’s The Terror, one of the scariest TV shows of the past 10 years, is also coming to Netflix on August 19. So, mark it on your calendars – you’ve got a lot to watch. Before then, you can find other TV shows streaming this month.
