Iron Reign, mafia, and gangster thematic is now a cliché that pervades films, TV shows, and books. These tales often include interesting characters, the hero’s rise to glory and fall from grace, an exciting antagonist as well as family drama or power struggles among family members.
The latest Netflix show, Iron Reign, incorporates all these elements. However, in spite of having the right ingredients it needs for a memorable experience; this show falls short. It is just one of those shows you can barely remember after watching it once.
The series rotates around the Manchado household who enforces their rule in the port of Can Tunis situated in Barcelona with an iron hand. Family patriarch Joaquin Manchado is a gangster that uses the port as well as his position to ferry drugs for Mexican or Italian drug cartels. Joaquin has support from his brother Roman, daughter Rocio and son-in-law Nester who are all involved in illegal activities alongside him.
Nonetheless Ricardo—the black sheep of the Manchado family—responsible for many troubles that affected his father and business are being done by him.. Victor—a good friend to Nester and Rocio but operating undercover to gather enough evidence needed to close down all the illegal activities at port—is another key character in this story line.
All goes well until a shipment worth tens of millions dollars imported disappears into thin air. Even worse Joaquin Manchado suffers an attack which almost ends his life resulting into coma. Power struggles will ensue; foreign powers will intervene.
The show is average; it neither does anything terrible nor breaks new ground. The plot follows usual path where very wealthy families fight each other for dominance over something. However its major fault lies in its characters although they are genuinely written yet they do not leave any lasting effects.
Tragic flaws have made them reasonably interesting every one be it Roman, Ricardo Nestor Victor but what about them? Roman falls in love with a prostitute and this act leads to his demise. Ricardo, on the other hand, betrays his uncle to pay for his debts thus sealing his own fate. It is possible that Nestor might be afraid of telling her wife about it, maybe because of her father-in-law. In contrast Victor was once Rocio’s lover and there are hints of some lingering feelings between the two.
Nevertheless Joaquin had little screen time due to his attack and subsequent coma, but he remains one of the most remarkable characters in the show. The flash back which shows how Manchado family came at Port de Can Tunis looking for odd jobs to survive is what makes this program outstanding from others. You will really get engrossed in how this show narrates rags-to-riches stories about Manchado family.
Eduard Fernandez who is a veteran actor shows off his acting skills in this particular show. Iron Reign is nothing to grumble over despite poor casting done during flashback scenes. Other relationships featured include those between Roman and Joaquin or Rocio and Ricardo where even though one seems like a hopeless gambler always losing money; they remain loyal siblings forever.
The language used should be extremely perplexing such that it is hard to comprehend what being said here because it has been written using varying synonyms throughout its length leading it to become extremely dynamic as well as having very short sentences full stop
It could have been a somewhat romantic movie, though, if their angle had been explored more. Iron Reign, in turn, would have balanced the violence and bloodshed in such a way that it would be less intense. Nonetheless, this is not given enough attention in the film. It is also worth knowing that there are some flashbacks involving these two. In reality they come off as dull and do not add much.
There are multiple LGBT elements but they are flimsy at best. Similarly, there are many LGBTQ elements, but they are also just showcased without much depth. They never really thought about them very well.
Fernando gives a good performance especially because of his portrayal of Sergi Lopez and his character in Money Heist for which he was praised by fans. Jaime Lorento has acted out Nestor’s role such that we can say nothing about it since it lacked any input to it other than its mere statement concerning him regarding his sexual orientation.
Quite a number of things went wrong with this potential great show. However, after some time it becomes monotonous and predictable which might not necessarily be regarded as something bad but those three or four last episodes makes you yawn on your sleep so boringly about the cat-and-mouse chase.
You may also note that the show borrows heavily from The Godfather, Coppola’s masterpiece but still does not quite measure up to its heights of greatness. Furthermore, this crime drama genre does not possess any real depth or intrigue and feels a bit superficial. Thusly if you expect similar levels of betrayal and family dynamics then you will only end up disappointed by what takes place here instead. At first glance it seems promising but towards the end loses its allure little by little ending up being fair average at least.
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