Netflix’s philosophy, with few exceptions, usually consists of adding series to the catalog in the hope that one will be successful after placing it in a prominent place on the main menu. It is the audiovisual version of throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if any of it sticks.
The tactic often prevents you from having any kind of expectation around certain products or even knowing about their existence. Why should we think that a certain series could be good or a decent entertainment product if the company, which is the streaming platform with the most consumption and with a solid image, does not show confidence with a promotional strategy worthy of the project?
Eddie Halstead unexpectedly gains the family property and the title of duke: his cocaine-addicted brother was theoretically the heir
This can only have its advantages if you are Netflix and, therefore, you are the equivalent of free-to-air television: what many viewers put on first when turning on the television to see what is on. And, for example, you can enter the Netflix catalog one day in March and find The Gentleman.
Moviegoers may instantly realize that it is the television version of Guy Ritchie’s film, but others can stick with the fact that it stars Theo James, the one who died in Lady Mary’s bed post-coitus in Downton Abbey, which came out from the sea naked in Sanditon and who was trying to seduce his friend’s wife in the last season of The white lotus.
The Halstead estate is the Badminton Estate.
Christopher Rafael/Netflix
By hitting the play button, the British filmmaker knows how to convince the viewer. He is introduced to Eddie Halstead (Theo James), a kind-hearted soldier who unexpectedly inherits the family estate and the title of duke. He assumed that it would go to his brother Freddy (Daniel Ings) as a matter of tradition, being the first-born, but his father had a clue and understood that an idiot cocaine addict was not the best candidate for represent the Halstead surname.
He soon realizes that his brother’s envy is the least of his problems: he has a criminal gang growing marijuana on his land, in an agreement signed by his late father, and he has to raise 8 million pounds before the end of the week, to save his brother from being left lifeless or without a penis, despite having no liquidity.
He has a criminal gang growing marijuana on his land and a debt of 8 million pounds to pay to gangsters
The seventy-minute pilot is a wonderful presentation of characters and conflicts by turning what could be its weakness into a virtue: The Gentlemen is overtly expository, in an energetic and dynamic way, which includes printing words on the screen solely to contribute to the rhythm . And, in fact, this is the series in its entirety: a work with a lot of color.
It uses the noble and stately tradition of the United Kingdom in contrast to drug trafficking, organized crime and violence, which means that it goes from an underground marijuana plantation to a decadent aristocrat in a dressing gown with bloodshot eyes practicing shooting. to the plate to be in a clandestine boxing fight a few minutes later.
From aristocratic surroundings to illegal boxing matches.
Christopher Rafael/Netflix
Vinnie Jones (Snatch. Pigs and Diamonds) is chosen as the reserved person in charge of the estate, even though as viewers we imagine him throwing punches in the near future; Kaya Scodelario (Skins) is allowed to be a kind of deadpan femme fatale, as the person in charge of the plantation, opposite a Theo James who must have bearing while facing the filth; and, in parallel, a gallery of eccentric characters is presented, which includes Daniel Ings as the stray bullet brother or Giancarlo Esposito as a millionaire interested in the Halstead properties.
Guy Ritchie knows how to navigate the British imagination. He capitalizes on locations (which, when you have the Badminton Estate, is also hard not to) and setting. He saturates the color. He only dares to cut short scenes to emphasize a dynamic or create moments of tension: sometimes to avoid reaching the boiling point and other times where the conflict breaks out in the most bloodthirsty way possible.
And, with Theo James wandering through an underworld that he didn’t know about but to which he possibly belongs, he offers a series that, when you see it in the context of Netflix, makes sense: it is an antidote to boredom with style but without pretense (or content).
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2024-03-09 07:29:56
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