Boardwalk Empire is not noir. They are not kindred. It doesn't make any sense to compare these two shows. Hate Mob City all you want, but on its own terms. This show is being fiercely misinterpreted by an audience that isn't truly familiar with its inspirations.
shareTotally agree it really is unreal how many people aren't getting what this show is trying to be it's Noir not the same type of show as Boardwalk Empire. I saw people complaining about the baby carriage scene but it's supposed to be over dramatic seedy underworld with a detective mystery feel to it combined with the jazzy music and the dark setting with murder as the center piece. I honestly don't think 80 percent of the people who watched Mob City knew anything about Noir or what this series was trying to be. Boardwalk Empire while fictionalized is more grounded in reality Noir has a style and a feel to it more cinematic.
shareTotally agree it really is unreal how many people aren't getting what this show is trying to be it's Noir not the same type of show as Boardwalk Empire. I saw people complaining about the baby carriage scene but it's supposed to be over dramatic seedy underworld with a detective mystery feel to it combined with the jazzy music and the dark setting with murder as the center piece. I honestly don't think 80 percent of the people who watched Mob City knew anything about Noir or what this series was trying to be. Boardwalk Empire while fictionalized is more grounded in reality Noir has a style and a feel to it more cinematic.
Similar time period, similar premise. So it's inevitable that people will compare them. The mistake some people make is thinking you can only like one show, and have to hate the other show. It seems this very strange attitude has made it over from video games and operating systems into movies/TV.
Similar time period? Mob City takes place in 1947, Boardwalk Empire is set in the mid-1920s. There plenty, plenty changes which took place within those twenty-something years. That's like saying that two shows, one set in 1956 and another in 1976, took place in a similar time period.
shareCompletely agree.
shareFinally, someone who gets it. People seem to misinterpret noir with anything that is set in that 'classic' period of the early to mid 20th century. BE, while it is set in that era, is a mob drama not a Noir. Two different genres, different pacing, different characterizations. Both are sub-genres of the overlapping 'Crime Drama' yes, but stylistically they're quite different.
It's like comparing LA Confidential to the Godfather - when a better comparison would be Goodfellas to the Godfather or LA Confidential to the Untouchables.
--Alright let's just stay calm here!! Don't get all crazy on me!!--
Mob City isn't noir either. It might be trying to be noir, but it's really just a crime/mob drama like Vegas on CBS was.
Wow, that's a fvcking stupid comment.
You don't need a million dollars to do nothing,man.Take a look at my cousin:he's broke,don't do *beep*
But it begs the question what does a show have to do to qualify as noir?
It's just me, but there has to be a pervasive sense of danger, a sense of true menace.
I know it's being touted as "noir" but MC seems to be more a tv show about gangsters.
Where's the sense of menace? Where are the downtrodden suits and wrinkled shirts and desperation? haha
Ok enlighten us. What makes this show noir that Vegas (2012) did not have?
Both are essentially period pieces involving gangsters.
To be clear, I have not seen the premiere episode of Mob City and from what I've read here that episode did exhibit some noir qualities that all of the subsequent episodes lack.
IMO it's fair to make the comparison, if enough people reference Boardwalk when mentioning Mob City then there must be common threads whether you like it or not.
shareI'm a huge noir fan; there are very few -- and I mean very few -- films that are even borderline noir that I've not seen.
And if you think BOARDWALK EMPIRE doesn't have noir elements to it, then think again.
The problem with MOB CITY is bad writing, bad acting (not all of it, but too much of it), obvious plot developments, period-inappropriate music.
It's just lazy, sloppy "film" making -- not the worst thing ever, but falling well short of so many other examples of the genre.
Really? Please give me these examples you are talking about, Skyvue. Can you name any noir gangster series apart from Mob City?
shareWhat makes this series noir? The creators are touting it as noir but in the episodes I've seen (3&4), Mob City seems no more noir than Vegas (2012) on CBS.
This isn't a knock against Mob City, but no one would ever confuse the style of this series with something like the Maltese Falcon. It's more of a period piece.
Maybe the creators are using a different working definition of film noir?
Noir is many things. Often, it concerns a protagonist who is in over his head, who's been taken in by a woman who is nothing but bad luck or is paying for a past sin he thought he'd escaped. He finds that he's living in a world with right and wrong don't mean much, where good intentions mean little and where there's no escape. Society's corruption and greed is so deeply entrenched that one man, good or bad, doesn't stand a chance.
Then there are the visual aspects of noir -- the shadowy lighting, the expressionist camera angles.
Then there's the general hardboiled tone -- in the acting, the dialogue.
These are just some of the elements that frequently appear in films noir.
MOB CITY has some of these elements, but they're warmed over, cliched, tired. BOARDWALK EMPIRE has some of them, too, but they are much fresher and genuine there. The budget for that program is clearly higher (or, in any case, they're getting more for their money), the acting and writing are infinitely better, and the period touches -- the slang used in the dialogue, the music, the costumes -- are MUCH more accurate than in MOB CITY.
The model that MOB CITY seems to be aiming for is L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, and it falls so ridiculously short of the standard set by that picture that it's laughable.
I don't know why you asked me to list other noir gangster series -- that's not the point. We have posters here who keep lecturing us that if we don't like MOB CITY, we clearly don't understand the film noir genre. Quite the opposite is true: anyone who know and loves film noir is likely to find MOB CITY lacking -- because we've seen the greats in the genre and know what's possible. Anyone who's seen DOUBLE INDEMNITY, OUT OF THE PAST, DETOUR, THE MALTESE FALCON, or any of a dozen other great noirs would recognize immediately how far short this series falls.
And I've not even mentioned the show's shoddy production values: the ridiculous studio-bound sets, the period-inappropriate music and clothing, the predictable plot and pedestrian (at best) dialogue, the one-note, one-dimensional characters (and the middling actors unable to overcome the bad writing).
I wish they would have stuck with the original title L.A. Noir the audience saw Mob City and it has some real life Gangsters so they think it's like Boardwalk Empire. I love Boardwalk Empire but these shows are vastly different it really is getting lost on most people what type of show this is which is a shame so far it's been a Great Noir.
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