MobLand (2025) Review: Pulp Gangsters, Prestige Cast

Is MobLand worth watching?

Yes, with reservations. MobLand is a slick, pulpy and thoroughly entertaining gangster drama, far more fun than its sometimes sniffy reviews suggest, thanks largely to Tom Hardy’s coiled, charismatic lead. It offers the pleasures of a classic crime-family saga, with power struggles, betrayals and a great deal of expensive tailoring. The reservation is that it rarely aims for depth, and its excess, from the villainy to some of the accents, occasionally tips into self-parody.

What is MobLand about?

Harry Da Souza (Tom Hardy) is the fixer for the Harrigans, a powerful London crime family. His job is to solve problems, quietly and permanently, for patriarch Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan) and his ruthless, scheming wife Maeve (Helen Mirren). When a violent incident sets the Harrigans against a rival crime family, a gang war threatens to engulf both dynasties, and Harry finds himself trying to hold together an empire whose members are as dangerous to one another as to their enemies. At home, he is also trying to protect his own wife and daughter from the fallout.

Paddy Considine plays Conrad’s son Kevin, while Joanne Froggatt, Lara Pulver, Anson Boon, Jasmine Jobson and Mandeep Dhillon round out the ensemble.

MobLand was created by Ronan Bennett, with Guy Ritchie as executive producer and director of early episodes. It is a British series in English, streaming on Paramount+. Our catalogue lists two seasons and 20 episodes so far, and the show is ongoing.

Tom Hardy’s cool centre

Hardy is the show’s anchor. Harry is calm, observant and weary, a man who has spent years cleaning up other people’s messes, and Hardy plays him with a low-key, dry humour that makes him magnetic. He is at his best in quiet negotiations, where a few words and a long look carry more threat than any gunfight. The show’s most interesting tension lies between Harry’s professional loyalty to the Harrigans and his personal life, which Joanne Froggatt grounds with warmth and frustration.

Brosnan, Mirren and a family at war

The Harrigans are drawn in bold, operatic strokes. Helen Mirren clearly relishes playing Maeve, a matriarch whose menace is wrapped in elegance, and she steals nearly every scene. Pierce Brosnan’s Conrad is broader, a volatile, larger-than-life patriarch, and his performance, including a heavy Irish accent, will divide viewers between those who find it entertaining and those who find it distracting. Paddy Considine gives Kevin a haunted quality as a son struggling to live up to his family’s brutal expectations.

The production is glossy and confident. Guy Ritchie’s influence shows in the swaggering style, slick editing and London gangland atmosphere, though the show is darker and less jokey than his films.

Style over substance at times

The show’s weaknesses are those of its genre. Plotting relies heavily on betrayals, double-crosses and shocking violence, and characters sometimes act more to keep the story moving than out of believable motive. Supporting players, particularly among the younger generation of the family, can feel thinly sketched, and the show’s taste for cruelty and melodrama can make it feel more like a pulp thriller than the prestige crime saga its cast suggests.

Who should watch MobLand?

It is ideal for fans of British gangster stories, crime-family sagas and slick, violent crime drama with big-name casts. Ten-episode seasons make it an easy binge. It is strictly adult viewing, with graphic violence, torture, drug trafficking, sexual content and strong language throughout.

If you enjoy it, try these:

• Peaky Blinders, the benchmark British crime-family saga, in which Tom Hardy also has a scene-stealing role.
• Line of Duty for a tighter, more procedural take on British crime and corruption.

The verdict

MobLand is a confident, stylish and highly entertaining gangster drama that makes the most of Tom Hardy’s charisma and Helen Mirren’s relish for villainy. It is more pulp than prestige and its excesses will not suit everyone, but as a crime-family saga it delivers plenty of tension and fun.

Rating: 4/5