Tom Hardy echoes this binary nature in his performance. Harry’s most disarming quality is how casual he seems, how loose and laid-back even though he’s a battlefield commander. He peppers his speech with “yeah”s and “all right”s that deflate the gravitas of what he’s saying, no matter what that is. It’s a trait that can calm the most panicked people…or panic the most calm, because whether he’s saving someone’s life or ending it, it never changes.
What seems endearing in one circumstance becomes repulsive under another. When you’re forcing a cop you bought off but who is now compromised to hang himself from a tree in the woods in the rain, for instance, that shit is no longer adorable. It’s nightmarish. Harry reminds me of Tommy from GoodFellas or Nicky from Casino: They really are funny guys, until they pop your eye out of your head with a vise. Their charm is poisonous.
I reviewed this week’s MobLand for Decider.
Tags: decider, mobland, TV, TV reviews