Mob City

The new TNT miniseries (it's on just three weeks in December) has plenty of in-your-face drama and heaps of atmosphere.

The uniformly solid acting pulls Mob City back from its occasional flirtation with the “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid” precipice.

It takes things nice and easy, ending with a lot still to be conveyed as to who is who and what is what in this lush show about the police and the mob in 1947 Los Angeles. But your patience is likely to be rewarded. Episode 2, also being shown on Wednesday, brings things nicely into focus, and prospects seem good that this six-episode series will be a satisfying trip back in time.

Mob City is smart, stylish, sexy and altogether addictive.

Even on the basis of the two episodes made available, it's easy enough to see that Mob City has plenty up its noir sleeve, including some rich plotting. Above all there's the cast, mainly responsible for the aforementioned life and energy.

After two hours, Mob City gets its hooks into viewers and should leave many begging for more. But it takes some time to get there.

The film noir touches are laid on a bit thick, but that’s also part of the appeal of this stylish limited series.

While Mob City does have its weaknesses, including patches of starchy dialogue, it offsets them with some magnetic performances.

Darabont geek out over the genre trappings but the pace is slow-sax sleepy and the story is L.A. Confidential-lite. [6 Dec 2013, p.74]

There are times when it takes itself too seriously as modern mythmaking, as if we haven't already seen tales like this before. But even when the momentum flags or the rhythm seems slightly off, the show's sheer gorgeousness is compelling, and it's clear that Darabont has a vision for this thing, even though we can't deduce every detail based on two episodes.

Mob City would be better if it were just a little bit more raw--there’s something amiss when a putative sleazy jazz dive looks like you could eat off the floors. But its proudly pulpy sensibilities and its startling plot twists make it a whiskey-and-a-shot pleasure.

Mob City is a big, bloody, flashy, violent and pulpy exercise that slowly builds into some solid entertainment and it’s a fine, identity-bending effort on the part of TNT.

Yet with reservations, and a little bit of squinting while the odd anomaly goes by--and having seen only the first two episodes, written and directed by Darabont himself--I would recommend it.

What Mob City may lack in originality it compensates for in atmosphere and sharp characterizations.

Sometimes it seems that Darabont is more in thrall to the rise of the West Coast mob than to the story he's allegedly trying to tell.

Mob City takes its time to lock and load, but its aim ultimately improves.

Holliday Grainger is an excellent Bonnie.... Emile Hirsch, a very good actor, plays Clyde as a passive nonentity.... Bonnie and Clyde seem as remote and illogical as another notorious couple of the era, Wallis Simpson and the Duke of Windsor. [16 Dec 2013]

I don't mind seeing actors like Ed Burns, Milo Ventimiglia and Robert Knepper in nice suits, acting the way bad guys in old movies are supposed to act. I'm even happier to see Jon Bernthal all cleaned up and zombie-free. I just can't quite tell, after two episodes, whether their stories can compete with their setting.

As they build the show’s foundation, dozens of other characters float by. Figuring out which ones matter, and why, will be part of the fun and the challenge in this compact series.

Mob City looks so good that I may watch it all the way through (TNT only sent out tonight’s episodes in advance) just for the eye candy. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have much else to offer.

Mob City at best is barely above average drama from a guy who presumably is still capable of far better. Boardwalk Empire it’s not. Not by a long shot -- or even a rat-a-tat-tat.

Glimmers of hope force their way through the fog of noir cliche.

Once assembled, Mob City has a slick sheen and a sure trigger finger that unleashes a stream of bullets. But the guns here are the kind that go “ho-hum” instead of “bang-bang.”

It’s just adequate, but adequate noir can really enliven an otherwise tedious gangster story.

From its smoky night clubs to its fleabag dives, there's no doubt Mob City looks good. But in this case, looks aren't enough, particularly when too many of the details seem more studied than lived in.

What this project has, almost excessively, is mood. It should have traded in some of that rich ambience for a story that's halfway involving.

Though Bernthal, Ventimiglia, and Davalos all look their parts, there’s little thought to their characters beyond “detective” and “mobster” and “femme fatale.”

Darabont certainly proves his love of the period, of pulp fiction and of the dark and moody film technique. He's less convincing when it comes to selling a story.

Casting actors like Robert Knepper, Milo Ventimiglia and DeMunn among the assorted cops and robbers certainly lends a patina of quality to the proceedings, but can’t trump the general sluggishness of the presentation--or, for aficionados of the period, the fact these same hoods and heroes have been fictionalized with more verve elsewhere.

Mob City presents a sumptuous-looking period piece with remarkable attention to detail. But beyond that, it all feels a little bit overblown.

As an exercise in recreating a noir drama, Mob City has all the trappings we've seen better in "L.A. Confidential" and other projects, but little of the thrill.

On its terms, Mob City is competently executed, but those terms are creatively bankrupt. This is a noir for people who don't really like noirs.