Taboo

London at the beginning of the 19th century, as the capital of a flourishing empire where the sun never sets, has its best days ahead. However, even then, it is perceived as a center of intrigue, determining the state of the world, despite temporary difficulties caused by the Napoleonic Wars. At the same time, it is a place where no one has just one master. Except for James Delaney, who serves only himself, his revenge, and his path to success. His fate can be understood as the story of a deprived nobleman, stripped of nobility, similar to the Count of Monte Cristo. Delaney is an adventurer with a dirty past, present, and future, who has no issues crossing the boundaries of the law and the moral standards of the time. He is surrounded by allies from the lower classes, who are comfortable with such morals. The series can be criticized for focusing on a cool style and effects, but at the same time, it presents such an interesting mix of conflicts, with a plot full of twists and such intriguing characters, both outwardly and inwardly dirty, that I gladly overlook these flaws. The cast is luxurious, and Tom Hardy's performance as a tough guy who goes after what he wants is perfectly fitting and is one of the significant roles of his career. I had a great time with it, and I would love to see a meaningful continuation of this project. Overall impression: 90%. (01.04.2022)

Mission Impossible: Nation of Crooks. Delaney is a 19th-century Ethan Hunt. If it weren't for Tom Hardy's great performance of compressing emotions into monosyllabic interjections, all those coincidences and supernatural motifs (often masking the careless interconnectedness of certain events) would be rather annoying. However, the combination of a dilapidated expedition, skin and dental diseases, a bad version of Breaking Bad and a whole host of cute details make for very good (slow) entertainment. If it weren't so bound by pretending to be a serious historical storyline and it was thrown straight into pure steampunk, it would be pure well-being. Hmmmm... I’ll take it. (27.02.2017)

I was expecting a visually striking duly filthy Gothic horror-styled chamber atmospheric depressive movie emphasized by Max Richter, which will seemingly be about nothing but under the surface you would feel a subliminal "Conrad" tension. And Hardy who is longing for revenge and plotting all the time will be growling from the very beginning till the end (and doesn't slip into a parody of himself), supported by British theatre star (especially by Jonathan Pryce, of course). Which is exactly what I got. The problem is that it has material for an excellent four-part miniseries and not for eight-hour monotonous episodes. Slow pace is not the main issue. The issue is that the creators completely fail to justify the length, but at the same time it cannot be said that you get bored. They still offer enough quality in each episode (apart from the above, there are several phenomenal scenes in each episode) to find a good reason to start another episode. The question is whether that is enough, especially when in the ending it gets exactly to the point that the viewer expects from the first episode.| S1: 3/5 | (12.01.2017)

A grubby environment where we find a half-crazy, but also very clever Tom Hardy striding along swallows you up. I am intrigued about the histories of the separate characters. The mysteriousness that the creators work on works just as it should. IT has allure, but doesn’t spend time concentrating on unnecessary details. I look forward to seeing how things pan out. (12.01.2017)

If Tom Hardy didn’t stretch the entire story of Taboo through his broody and strange character ad infinitum, the eight episodes of the TV show could be squeezed into a proper two-hour movie and it would have made for a solid and bleak event from Victorian England. The way things are I do admit that this show has its moments that are great, but there are also scenes that I could happily do without. Tom Hardy’s acting is really hard to define, but through this character he presents the absolute essence of how he works on the screen. With no emotions, rough and serious, which I think is a pity sometimes. Sometimes it’s not a bad idea to portray an ordinary character who could match the average and ordinary life of every one of us. What can you do – Taboo is not like that and maybe that’s what makes it so interesting. But despite its being interesting, I do not know whether I can watch another season of this. I didn’t have to wait for the end of the season for another six episodes, but I could have watched the first episode and then immediately the last one and it would have been the same. We’ll see, I may force myself to watch season two. (03.05.2017)