MOBLAND: Episode 1.1: “Stick or Twist”

Name: MOBLAND: Episode 1.1: “Stick or Twist”
Item: MOBLAND: Episode 1.1: “Stick or Twist”
Author: Review

"A British Gangster’s Harried Life"

Family Content: -4 Intentional blasphemy, evil, gross immorality, and/or worldview problems. (To be avoided)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

MOBLAND is a British gangster movie on Paramount+. Harry, a longtime enforcer for the Harrigan crime family, struggles to keep a ceasefire with the Stevenson family. In Episode One, young hothead Eddie Harrigan nearly stabs a man to death. Right after that, the grandson of the Stevenson family’s patriarch disappears after being seen in Eddie’s company the same night. Harry is tasked with cleaning up Eddie’s mess and finding out what happened to the other family’s grandson. Suspicions arise between both families. It doesn’t help that Eddie Harrigan’s grandparents are ruthless hotheads, just like their violent grandson.

The first episode of MOBLAND is superbly directed but suffers from an overdose of immorality. The acting, dialogue and cinematography are top notch. The main character is a flawed yet loving husband and only uses violence as a last resort. However, the first episode features lots of strong foul language, sexual content and bloody, realistic violence. Moreover, it has extreme drug use and references. Judging by its first episode, MOVIEGUIDE® finds MOBLAND an abhorrent depiction of British mobsters with no really redeeming qualities.

Content:

(PaPaPa, B, VVV, LLL, SS, NN, AA, DDD, MMM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Very strong pagan, immoral worldview with slight redeeming qualities, the protagonist is a faithful husband and caring father to his wife and daughter but his wife complains that he seems to care more about his boss and his family rather than her and their daughter (he spends more time working for them), the hero refuses to kill his rivals unless it’s absolutely necessary but that’s not true of the two married leaders of the crime family who are violent hotheads like their grandson, the protagonist tries (and fails) to broker a ceasefire between the drug cartels, the crime families champion the illegal drug market, a grandfather murders his best friend for being a traitor, and the protagonist and his allies openly intimidate innocent civilians;

Foul Language:

At least 50 obscenities (including at least 30 “f” words), one Jesus profanity, one light profanity, and an older gentleman several times calls his deceased uncle a “nonce,” which is British slang for “pedophile”;

Violence:

Very strong realistic, bloody violence where various gangsters bleed on the floor and are shot to death, three enforcers brutally gun down a meeting room of crime ambassadors, a mob boss shoves his boot against the neck of his enemy, a drunk man brutally stabs a man in the stomach for no apparent reason (the rival is taken to the hospital), the main character threatens to shoot his enemy gangsters inside a bar, a sniper aims his sights at a mob boss, and a mob boss shoots his second-in-command advisor in the heart for allegedly betraying him;

Sex:

Sexual acts are mentioned in dialogue, two men discuss how their uncle grabbed them by their private parts as children, an elderly man (fully clothed) scratches his private area during a fishing trip, a gangster visits a bar with strippers, the same performers lightly rub their bodies with one another (but no full on-screen sex), and an elderly mob boss jokes about having an out-of-wedlock daughter (his wife is still angry and jealous about it, even though or especially because the mob boss has welcomed the daughter into the family);

Nudity:

Female strippers briefly have their breasts fully exposed, shirtless male strippers are present, and a male gangster is shirtless in bed, but no genitalia are shown;

Alcohol Use:

A young male gangster gets drunk at a bar, an older mob boss sips wine at a restaurant, and the Harrigan clan drinks wine during a crucial family meeting;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

Lots of tobacco smoking, the two warring factions produce large shipments of illegal drugs, a group of college-aged gangsters snort cocaine in the back of a car, a gangster clan discusses switching form heroin to fentanyl to increase their profits, and the characters discuss their strategies to pushing their underground drug trade;

Miscellaneous Immorality:

A male gangster throws his knife into the Thames River to hide it from police, the protagonist coerces a stabbing victim to purposely lie to the police or risk getting killed by the gangsters he works for, a young man lies about his dealings with the son of the rival crime gang, the protagonist keeps the details of his crime enforcer life a secret from his wife, and a gangster throws his friend’s smartphone onto the street out of spite.

More Detail:

MOBLAND is a British gangster drama on Paramount Plus. Harry Da Souza. an enforcer for the Harrigan family, struggles to keep a ceasefire between two rival drug cartels. In the pilot episode, “Stick or Twist,” Eddie Harrigan, the young hotheaded heir to the Harrigan empire, stabs a man while high and drunk. Meanwhile, the young heir to the rival gang’s family has disappeared after being seen with Eddie. Eddie denies responsibility for his disappearance but causes suspicion among the police and the rival gang. Harry is tasked with finding out what happened while appeasing the demands of the rival gang.

Meanwhile, Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan), the geriatric leader of the Harrigan family, contemplates a counterattack against his competitors. However, Conrad becomes paranoid about a mole trying to undermine his idea of selling fentanyl from Mexico. Moreover, the Stevenson gangsters threaten to take Conrad’s son, Eddie, unless an apology is issued. Can Harry prevent a gang war from happening?

The greatest strength to MOBLAND is its stellar production values. The cinematography, color grading and use of real life locations are well done. The acting from Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan and other veteran actors is top notch. There is a “grounded” atmosphere that perfectly reflects the seedy subject matter. Guy Ritchie, who directed the two SHERLOCK HOLMES movies with Robert Downey, Jr., and the live action version of Disney’s ALADDIN, expertly directs MOBLAND’s pilot episode.

Although Harry, the protagonist in MOBLAND, is trying to stop a gang war, the first episode (and subsequent episodes) depicts a dark world with few redeeming qualities. Of course, that’s the nature of many, if not most, gangster movies and television programs. The series deals with the dangers and instability of London’s drug trade. Harry is loyal to the Harrigan family and only uses lethal force if absolutely necessary. He’s also faithful to his wife and teenage daughter. However, he spends too much time trying to fix the Harrigan family’s problems. So, he and his wife are on the verge of divorce. She demands Harry come to a couples therapy session. He agrees and vows to fix their marriage, but he has problems making the therapy sessions she schedules for them.

Ultimately, once the viewer gets past Harry’s moral code, the ethics in MOBLAND’s other characters drop faster than a dead body. In fact, the married couple running the family, Conrad and his wife, Maeve, turn out to be just as hotheaded and vicious as their grandson, Eddie. (After watching some of the subsequent MOBLAND episodes, MOVIEGUIDE® began to wonder whether the lives of the other Harrigan family members wouldn’t be much better if they just did away with Conrad and Maeve. They’re more likely to shoot first, then ask questions later.)

Naturally, MOBLAND’s ensemble cast engages in lots of morally reprehensible behavior. The gangsters use deceit, blackmail, threats, brutal violence, and assassination to get their way. Also, the two crime families make fortunes selling illegal drugs. Harry’s boss, Conrad, discusses the possibility of exchanging fentanyl products and guns with the Mexican cartels. All this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The first episode of MOBLAND features strong foul language, intense violence, brief nudity, and discussion of sexual abuse. Gangsters are stabbed and gunned down in cold blood. The protagonist threatens to shoot a bartender if he doesn’t erase security cam footage. Also, the characters spout more than 50 obscenities.

During one bar club scene, strippers engage in lewd dances. Female strippers flash their breasts for several seconds. Lastly, a mob boss recounts getting “violated” by his uncle when he was a boy. The boss calls his uncle a “nonce” (British slang for pedophile).

MOBLAND is an abhorrent TV series with few redeeming qualities.