Splintered wood, shattered glass, and sawdust fill the frame. The camera largely prefers the farmhouse over the assailants, and the peril of the people inside. The assassins are using clean military tactics and high-powered weaponry, but instead of the precision often associated with this level of militarism, Evans provides wanton destruction. The most remarkable thing about the gunfight is how it’s a mess. The second half of the episode kicks into high gear as Kinney arrives at the safe house with the assassins literally right behind him. Unfortunately, by the time Kinney gets there, so has a team of Danish assassins led by Leif Hanson (Mads Koudal), hired to kill Darren by yet another party. The first 30 minutes of episode 6 concentrates on two things: Darren’s malaise as he hides and waits for a boat to whisk him away to safety, and his father Kinney (Mark Lewis Jones) making a slow, painful journey to Darren’s hideout, looking for his son after surviving an armed assault by the Wallace family. In this 24-minute confrontation, guns are a nightmare. Applying this ethos to a gunfight is what makes episode 6 so satisfying to me, even as my distaste for guns grows. Watching one of Evans’ fight scene means feeling, deep in your bones, the danger of the violence, and how frail even the most capable fighter can be. Evans is among the most compelling action filmmakers working today, employing camerawork that is just as kinetic as the fighters on-screen without sacrificing clarity. Elliot’s fights are gruesome works of art if there’s a blade or hard edge present in a scene, it will likely find gory purchase in a man’s flesh. In keeping with The Raid duology, Evans’ Gangs of London fights are sublime, bracing sequences that encourage viewers to cheer and wince in equal measure. Guns are present, and there are some particularly violent shootouts, but the set pieces at the center are typically choreographed with hand-to-hand combat.Īrresting fight scenes are a hallmark for show co-creator and director Gareth Evans, who’s most famous for writing and directing The Raid and its sequel. Most of the nine-episode first season alternates between crime drama and brutal action, usually culminating in a brawl between Elliot and some other enforcer. After setting the events of the series in motion in a two-part premiere, Darren disappears from the plot, which largely follows the lowly Wallace family footsoldier Elliot Finch (Sope Dirisu) as he rises through the underworld ranks. The sixth hour of Gangs of London isn’t typical for the show. Then there are shootouts like the sort in Gangs of London, which, in its excess, conveys the queasy tension between the thrill of action cinema and the horror of guns in an unforgettable way. Cinematic shootouts, be it in big-budget movies or cop procedurals, often feel matter-of-fact - that’s just how good guys and bad guys fight. In the United States, gun violence is as common as inclement weather, and more or less expected in our fiction. In the first four months of 2021, there have been over 147 mass shootings in the United States, a numbing cadence of suffering that’s difficult to comprehend. The sequence is also difficult to recommend: It’s nearly half an hour of unabated gun violence in a year where American gun violence has returned to the forefront of many people’s minds. The episode’s 24-minute shootout immediately earns a spot in the action canon for its shocking, audaciously staged violence. That’s all you need to know to enjoy the sixth episode of AMC’s crime drama Gangs of London, a distressingly good hour of action TV that unfolds as a heavily armed kill-squad lays siege to Darren’s country home. Now the truce is in shambles, and Darren is the most wanted man in London. Darren Edwards, the son of a crime boss hailing from an itinerant community named the Welsh Travellers, unwittingly killed Finn Wallace, the underworld kingpin who united London’s criminal organizations into a steady truce.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |