Gangs Of London - Summer action hit produced by Sky and Cinemax

Gareth Evans laid the foundations for this summer action hit back in the award-winning action film The Raid. The amount of violence in this nine-episode series can be measured with named film as well as with some older brutal mafia epics like The Godfather. We can say that John Wick would also be proud of the ultra-bloody scenes, which sometimes take an entire episode. Aside from the sheer action scenes that regularly end in the deaths of dozens of protagonists, the question arises, is there some story?

The ordered murder of mafia boss Finn Wallace triggers a spiral of violence and revenge

When two teens from the Travellers settlement kill Finn Wallace - starring Colm Meaney, they start a bloody spiral of violence. Sean Wallace, starring Joe Cole, the son of a murdered mob mogul, ascends the London Underground top. A psychopath thirsty for blood and revenge, he launches a brutal search for his father's killers. At first, London seems to be on fire, because the Wallaces are a notion of horror and power. Blood flows in streams, and enemies of Wallace's family fall down, one by one. But a bloodfest is not good for business. The leaders of the London gangs are starting to show disagreement with the war that is burning on the streets of London and attracting the attention of the police. Finn Wallace had many secrets that were slowly coming to light. Sean doesn't like it deals with the Albanian gang, whose leader Luan Dushaj - starring Orli Shuka, demands that the payment of the ordered murder be respected. But the brotherhood with the Dumans, father and son, forces Sean not to go to war with everyone at the same time. The late Finn Wallace ruled the London Underground for twenty years with the help of Ed Dumani - starring Lucian Msamati. Now the future is in Ed's son Alex Dumani - starring Paapa Essied, the chief financial expert, who invests and launders dirty money building skyscrapers around London. The invisible team of investors behind him wants to create strife to somehow kill the unreliable, neurotic Sean Wallace. And the police are in the game through the character of the inserted policeman Elliot Finch - starring Sopa Diris. He managed to get closer to Sean Wallace, but he does not enjoy the support of the very top of the police ...

Gangs of London author Gareth Evans has won as many as nine awards at various film festivals for his previous action hit - The Raid!

This is the series by Gareth Evans, that will be well received by the same audience that adored his action spectacle The Raid. And how much potential there is in Gareth Evans, the creator - The Raid, is shown by the data on as many as nine film festivals where the Indonesian action hit won awards. The film critics rated the series favourably. It mostly boasts action potential and some further connections to great mafia epics from history, like The Godfather. Some details spoil the overall impression a bit, such as the last few episodes where things get a little out of focus. But it wasn’t easy for Gareth Evans to keep the story at the pace at which he started the series. The series has as many as six large mafia groups that are in a bloody showdown after the murder of Finn Wallace. The Albanian Mafia is headed by Luan. Kurdish mafia headed by Kurdish revolutionary Lale - starring Narges Rashidi. The great enemy of the Kurdish mafia is the Pakistani mafia led by Asif - starring Asif Raza Mir. The bloodthirsty Nigerians, led by the psychopath Mossi, cut people around London with machetes like sugar cane. Dumani and Wallace have already been named. Sean Wallace's psychopathic mother, Marian Wallace - starring Michelle Fairley, makes sure that this is not all, and they bring their Irish mercenaries to London. Bloody bath.

In London, there are as many as 500,000 CCTV cameras! How is it possible that none of them not recording a river of blood flowing through London in a bloody gang showdown?

Did you notice that I didn’t mention the police as a force on the side, which pulling moves against all gangs? If you ask the author Evans, the police in London don't seem to exist. If we know that there are as many as 500,000 CCTV cameras in London for fear of terrorism, how is it possible that none of them can see London literally burning. Entire ethnic groups are killed (when Sean initially hits Travelers), police are nowhere. But that's why Evans knows what real action is. The biggest trump card of the series is the unimaginable brutality with which Evans bombards the viewers for almost the entire series. From the initial epic scene, when Sean Wallace, with a dead look in his eyes, throws a burning kid from the top of a skyscraper to the end of the last ninth episode. The bloody waterfall doesn’t stop. The budget of the series is not small. From a great cast, special effects, to great stuntmen. The camera wanders around London, the editing is frenetic, and bullets are flying from all sides. Evans doesn't give up when he needs to add a team of about twenty lunatics. As soon as he 'introduces' us to the gangs, mercenaries, Danish military special forces, arrive at the scene. Plastic explosives, snipers of such calibre that the head literally flies off the victim's shoulders. More heads were torn off than in the bloodiest samurai epics.

Where Evans is somewhat weaker though is the background of the story. Sovereign in action scenes, but he gets little stuck when things calm down, so things need to be clarified a bit. It mystifies capitalist vultures who, like the Gods on Olympus, pull strings, so the rhythm in the second part of the series declines. And more than the rhythm, it bothered me that there was no focus on the protagonists who should continue the series. On the contrary, Evans seems to have J.R. Martin in mind and takes off everyone's heads that the camera focuses on for more than a few minutes during the series. It could possibly get revenge on him if he plans another season. And he plans for sure if he finds enough money because this first season is certainly not low-budget. The end of the series is completely open, unanswered questions as so many, so the experience of the first season is limited with the possibility of filming the second season. If the second season is a sure thing, there should be no reason for dissatisfaction. We’ll get some end, which is missing from the Gangs of London series, to make the story make sense.

In London in 1888, there were only nine gangs, in 2007 there were already - 169!

Fans of the action, brutal action, should watch at the Gangs of London without hesitation. The impression is that the series is worth the effort. The cast is really great. Evans is a good director and creator. But you must love constant action. And the violence that transcends the boundaries of choreographic-ballet fight scenes. For Evans' brutality, you must have - a stomach.

If you were wondering how is it possible that there are so many gangs in London? There are about ten of them in this series. Mostly ethnic gangs, grouped around drug trafficking and money laundering. The reality is much worse, from nine gangs from 1888 to as many as 169 gangs in London in 2007!