Animal Kingdom (2016)

Watchseries; Animal Kingdom is as addictive as Craig's drug addiction, this is one of those character driven crime dramas that you will be able to binge watch, I certainly did. The story follows the Cody family which is a bunch of criminals who does various of heists, but the show is about the family members and their character arcs. All of the characters have flaws, some have minor ones and others have larger ones. Lots of issues. Perfectly and realistically written. It is based on the 2010 Australian film of the same name by David Michôd, who is executive producer for the series alongside Liz Watts who also produced the movie. So with two producers of the movie working on this show, along with some talented writers and Jonathan Lisco who developed the show, together they created a masterpiece of drama-crime and quality storytelling.

The creators of the show are masters at character development, their characters are realistic and emphatic. Even the most hated characters get likeable through character development, much like Game of Thrones and Sons of Anarchy. The heists are well thought out and entertaining to watch, suspenseful as you'll never know how they will turn out. The heists is among the best of television or film that I have seen, well thought out and simply astonishing. It's also a big part of the show in both carrying the story forward and the characters as its the family's job. The series has great editing and the pacing is fantastic. When the action sequences happen, the pace increases with quick cuts and some magnificent camera angles. Cinematography is amazing. The show is gritty and often dark but the shots, use of natural lightning and sets make is so colorful.

Shawn Hatosy who plays Pope and Ellen Barkin who plays Smurf give award worthy performances in each season, and I gotta say Finn Cole is close to that level as he has the potential to be great and on the same level. But those two steal every scene they are in. The other three family members is Craig, Deran and Baz. They are played fantastically by Ben Robson, Jake Weary and Scott Speedman. The supporting cast and the characters they play all have a huge part in the story and the character arcs, I can't name them all but there's a lot of good performances throughout the show.

Janine "Smurf" Cody is the tough matriarch of the family and J's estranged grandmother. Smurf is protective of her family and presents a borderline-incestuous love towards them, she is also intelligent and knows every side of the business. Barry "Baz" Blackwell is Smurf's adopted son and leader in the Codys' robberies, he is also a father and husband. Andrew "Pope" Cody is the oldest of the siblings and the twin brother to Julia who dies by a OD, Pope is mentally disturbed and unhinged. He reappears after having served three years in Folsom State Prison. Joshua "J" Cody is Smurf's grandson who moves in with her and his uncles following the death of his mother, Julia, who was Pope's twin sister. He is 17 years old at the beginning of the show and hasn't met his uncles since he was around four years old. We the viewers get to experience most of what is going on through his perspective as we are too new to the Cody lifestyle of crime. Craig Cody is the middle Cody son, who has a predilection for drugs and extremely risky activities. Deran Cody is the youngest Cody son, a former competitive surfer who is gay. He is also the nicest of the siblings.

Season 1 succeeds in every aspect,

Animal Kingdom is as addictive as Craig's drug addiction, this is one of those character driven crime dramas that you will be able to binge watch, I certainly did. The story follows the Cody family which is a bunch of criminals who does various of heists, but the show is about the family members and their character arcs. All of the characters have flaws, some have minor ones and others have larger ones. Lots of issues. Perfectly and realistically written. It is based on the 2010 Australian film of the same name by David Michôd, who is executive producer for the series alongside Liz Watts who also produced the movie. So with two producers of the movie working on this show, along with some talented writers and Jonathan Lisco who developed the show, together they created a masterpiece of drama-crime and quality storytelling.

The creators of the show are masters at character development, their characters are realistic and emphatic. Even the most hated characters get likeable through character development, much like Game of Thrones and Sons of Anarchy. The heists are well thought out and entertaining to watch, suspenseful as you'll never know how they will turn out. The heists is among the best of television or film that I have seen, well thought out and simply astonishing. It's also a big part of the show in both carrying the story forward and the characters as its the family's job. The series has great editing and the pacing is fantastic. When the action sequences happen, the pace increases with quick cuts and some magnificent camera angles. Cinematography is amazing. The show is gritty and often dark but the shots, use of natural lightning and sets make is so colorful.

Shawn Hatosy who plays Pope and Ellen Barkin who plays Smurf give award worthy performances in each season, and I gotta say Finn Cole is close to that level as he has the potential to be great and on the same level. But those two steal every scene they are in. The other three family members is Craig, Deran and Baz. They are played fantastically by Ben Robson, Jake Weary and Scott Speedman. The supporting cast and the characters they play all have a huge part in the story and the character arcs, I can't name them all but there's a lot of good performances throughout the show.

Janine "Smurf" Cody is the tough matriarch of the family and J's estranged grandmother. Smurf is protective of her family and presents a borderline-incestuous love towards them, she is also intelligent and knows every side of the business. Barry "Baz" Blackwell is Smurf's adopted son and leader in the Codys' robberies, he is also a father and husband. Andrew "Pope" Cody is the oldest of the siblings and the twin brother to Julia who dies by a OD, Pope is mentally disturbed and unhinged. He reappears after having served three years in Folsom State Prison. Joshua "J" Cody is Smurf's grandson who moves in with her and his uncles following the death of his mother, Julia, who was Pope's twin sister. He is 17 years old at the beginning of the show and hasn't met his uncles since he was around four years old. We the viewers get to experience most of what is going on through his perspective as we are too new to the Cody lifestyle of crime. Craig Cody is the middle Cody son, who has a predilection for drugs and extremely risky activities. Deran Cody is the youngest Cody son, a former competitive surfer who is gay. He is also the nicest of the siblings.

Season 1 succeeds in every aspect,

Animal Kingdom watchseries. This is a great new show to watch. If your into any of these shows Mr. Robot,1st season of true detective, Narcos, and orange is the new black on Netflix then you should definitely give this show a look. The storyline is great and the actors portray their characters really well. This is my favorite new show of the summer and definitely looking forward to each episode each week. Go check it out I guarantee you will enjoy it and want more each week. Even though it's on TNT it still should get a look because I don't think I've ever enjoyed a show from them and I'm really into TV shows especially the new ones. So like I said just watch first couple episodes of you like any of the shows I've mentioned in the beginning.

OK so the movie was absolute class. Sheer genius in every sense. But the thing is it was never going to reach the mass market.

This show is both fun, dark and exiting. Yes the material is very similar to the original movie, but it's not trying to be something different. The masses won't watch the original movie because it's Australian and too heavy. Haters are gonna hate, but I would urge them to remember that very little material is original out there. Nowadays almost everything is an adaptation. This the perfect adaptation for the mass market who simply don't want to sit through one heavy, dark as hell feature, they want a recurring show, they want to get to know the characters. If this does its job properly it will have viewers turning to the feature film in between the first and second season...

As you can tell I loved this adaptation as much as i loved the original feature, almost more because it was fun. I want fun. I want well executed television and I felt that I was given just that.

I advise you try it out for yourself. You're either gonna switch off or turn back on so what's the worst that can happen!?

If I was locked in a room with a gun and just two bullets with Bin Laden, Hitler, and Smurf. I would shoot Smurf twice!!!

Ms. Barkin is fantastic as a cunning, remorseless, manipulative, recidivist. Great first season, can't wait for season two.

Great plot line.

Four seasons of great writing, suspense and drama. Gotta love a series where stars can be killed off. That's what keeps this so unpredictable.

She portrays her role as Smurf very nicely and believable as to who she's acting out to be. (The Boss & Brains ) Ok so she's old, back in the late 80's early 90's Ellen Barkin was a very desired woman by most men. I even remember how my freinds use to show intrest on how much they wanted to shag her everytime she was on TV or on a movie rental. People need to show more appreciation for Ellen and just shut there mouths and enjoy the show.