Iron Reign (2024) User Reviews

Convoluted and unnecessarily complicated.

[rossanova · 6/10 · 22 March 2024]

Starts outs with a mighty pop then fizzes out with a script that leaves you tired of the characters and this overworked plot.

I really wanted to love this and what is not to love? Barcelona? Yes, truly one of Europe's most magical cities. The mob? Never a bad idea to write a mob story. Family drama? Always a narrative pull since King Lear and the Bible. Betrayal? A cornerstone of storytelling.

Yet, it all became tiresome and slightly confusing. Too many flashbacks that were supposed to reveal plot points but, instead, negated any real character revelation.

I don't mind cinema violence and this series shines most authentically in its violence. The nephew and uncle showdown is as real as it gets. Many other scenes evoke the same realism and emotional spell.

The last episode was a shark jumping mess. I know that the producers are just angling for Season 2 but jeez.

This could have been great. It had some moments. Had it been cooked down to four episodes instead of eight then moving forward to the second season, I might be excited to follow the story.

But, they kind of wore me out.

Survival and power!

[Guanche48 · 6/10 · 28 March 2024]

I must admit that after watching the first episode I was not positive at all. I found it poor and very planned, like trying to imitate the really good series on this topic. But oh boy! I'm glad I gave it one more chance, starting with the second episode it's something quite different, very exciting and with great action scenes and better dialogues, I also really like the combination of the different characters. Very powerful! Many scenes will take you to the edge of your sofa due to the tension and suspense.

I found the sex scenes totally unnecessary, although I have always seen it as something very typical of Spanish series and movies.

The great cast of actors is a very good choice and the photography in the seaport of Barcelona is an interesting and different premise.

The actor, Eduard Fernández, Joaquin Manchado in the series, is really good in his role, he becomes the capo, the Barcelona 'godfather' of a criminal network that he manages with an iron fist, and not just metaphorically. ...but..the decision to replace his hand with an iron hook, due to an accident, seems exaggerated if I may say so.

If you're a fan of these cruel bloody crime thrillers, a lot of good action and mystery plots, then don't miss this one. Is a really good production.

The best non-comedy Spanish show of the decade

[sadak7599 · 5/10 · 17 March 2024]

Do not get me wrong: it is still mediocre.

Just, compared with the usual low quality, and the terrible acting and scripting of Spanish thrillers, is probably the best show of latest years.

The show benefits from a high budget. Sceneries, the port, the ships, resources. All this contributes to a solid staging and a professional appaerance.

The action scenes are well done, specially comparing with other Spanish productions. Still quite amateurish, but I think not because the way they filmed it and the actors and extras done it; it is a planning problem: writers and directors have no idea how weapons work, how people behave in close range combat, and so on.

Eduard Fernández is an extraordinary actor and nailed it. His performance is largely the best in the show, and he single handedly saves the entire show. He is gritty, dark, complex. And, overall, the actor is very natural: the way he speaks, the way he moves, he is very credible in the role of the port kingpin.

We cannot say the same of the other parts. And it is a common problem in non-comedy Spanish shows: from plain bad acting to overacting, people not talking the way people talk in Spain, expelling from their mouths poor or ridiculous dialogues.

Another problem is the lack of attention to detail. It is not fault of actors or production, but writers. It is like that scene which begins with a cargo ship navigating and a caption that says "Pacific Ocean". Suddenly, a speed boat with somali pirates or alike appears from nowhere. In the Pacific ocean. Quite a leap for somali pirates. The subsequent action in the attacked ship could have been really good, as they had the resources to do it. What they lack is attention to detail, knowledge of stuff necessary to giving it a little credibility and the classic overconfidence of writers in their own knowledge.

The lack of professionalism in the depiction of police work, how drug dealers and sicarios work, how weapons should be used, and even the incorrect geography, takes the shine off what could have been a great show.

The show is plagued with all these things; together with the bad acting (aside of the extraordinary work of Eduard Fernandez and a few small parts) and very poor dialogues, makes watching it a bit tiresome and difficult to suspend disbelief.

Starts well, devolves into nonsense

[Cri_tical · 30 March 2024]

This appeared to be a very interesting concept for a series, as I am not so familiar with the Barcelona port and how it functions, how drugs enter the port, etc. It is really an intriguing idea which caught my interest; however, after a good start and introduction of the characters, it was all downhill in later episodes.

For some reason, they started adding totally unrealistic events where anyone with half a brain would say "that would never happen, that also would never happen, etc." This destroyed the series for me as there must be some reality to the show or how can you enjoy it?

For example, EXACTLY when Victor is breaking in El Flaco's car he shows up! And then at the junk yard, EXACTLY when he decides to break out of the trunk (in broad daylight) El Flaco goes back to his car at the same moment! SO REALISTIC!

Rocio would never have left her daughter unattended so her abduction was also totally unrealistic, etc. There are more and more of these unnecessarily unrealistic events (e.g., Rocio's purse being stolen RIGHT AFTER she obtains the SIM card - COME ON GUYS!) as the series progresses that I was ready to just stop watching but I forced myself to finish it.

So much potential ruining by poor writing. Doesn't anyone reviewing these scripts mention that these events don't make any sense?

Superb!!!

[juacuri · 9/10 · 28 March 2024]

This show... Wow.. I wasn't expecting much my this exceeded my expectations and beyond!!! Trapped from the very first minute to the last. Unstoppable action from the start.

The acting is so good... Loved the under cover cop guy, the uncle, every body on the show was well cast and I'm still in shock over the finale... Certainly hope this means a second season will soon follow.

Happy is only eight episodes (not too long series) yet sad cause I wanted to continue with new episodes like yesterday!

Ond tends to dismiss other countries when it comes to making TV but the Spanish television is actually good enough to hook you up into it and don't let you go.

Do not watch if you have a brain

[Otte1 · 4/10 · 20 March 2024]

Pros: Intriging concept. Mafia-like family controlling the port, with people trying to take over the throne, the backstabbing, the betrayals, the side deals, etc. So initially you get the idea of this being a Spanish version of Rome Suburra......except the execution is no where near the Italian counterpart.

Writing. There are so many scenes involving someone calling somebody's name or saying 'stop'. Way to many. Just irritating.

Very few 'real' conversations. Instead, it was people reciting individual sentences to progress the audience to the next scene. 'I am going to take our daughter and drive her to school' or 'I am going to call my brother on the cell phone and invite him to lunch tomorrow' are example of statements made to inform the audience what the character will do next, instead of natural conversation.

Direction. The shaky cam, multiple edits within one scene, face close-ups, loud music during action...all the necessary tricks to decieve the audience that more is going on. The fight scenes are choreographed so badly that one person actually had a knife over their head bringing it down to stab someone, I almost stopped watching from that scene alone. People would all have guns but for some reason forgot they had guns and fight hand-to-hand for no reason at all.

Ex Machina.....for a city with almost six million people, there appears to be only one coffee shop, one restaurant, one alley, one police station and only one side of the port because people kept running into each other by coincidence, throughout the series.

Iron deficiency

[fealgu · 4/10 · 3 April 2024]

The TV series in question is nothing but a chaotic mishmash of gratuitous violence and graphic sexual content, seemingly designed to shock rather than tell a coherent story. From the very first episode, it becomes clear that the writers have little else in mind beyond throwing every taboo and shock value scene they can think of into each episode. The result is a non-stop barrage of outrageous characters-A voodoo/Santeria shaman, pirates, fight club pretenders. In short, nothing more than a mindless and forgettable sequence of fighting stunts and spontaneous sex scenes. One a positive note, you'll never feel like you missed something, since every scene feel the same.

Could have been good.

[derekcjob · 3/10 · 24 March 2024]

This started quite well and had me captive for the first four or five episodes but like all these Spanish shows it just goes on too long becoming more and more ridiculous in the process. I gave up after the ludicrous fight scene between the uncle and nephew where they both stabbed each other with ten inch blades, hundreds of times.

Cinematography and locations were great but the story became more and more convoluted involving too many characters, even including a witch doctor who bizarrely was probably the most likeable character in the show, the rest I couldn't have cared less about what happened to any of them.

Forget CASA DEL PAPEL crap

[searchanddestroy-1 · 20 March 2024]

This is AT LONG LAST a true Spanish series, the best ever for me, though I admit not have seen so many of them. But at least, it is ten billions times better than the CASA DEL PAPEL junk, garbage crap destined to all kinds of audiences, under and over fifties housewives, truck drivers, convicts, budding young executives, teens.... Crap. This series is gritty, bloody, taut, rough, tough, not for sissies. I LOVE IT !!!! And that's the first time I see Sergi Lopez handling a machine gun or simply acting in a crime flick. I particularely recommend the fifth episode where you watch the most terrific knife - fist- fight of all times for me, grittier than any other filmed stuff, even Asian movies from the seventies. This scene between Sergi lopez and another character is purelly outstanding. So realistic.... And this series, which the plot takes place in Barcelone harbor, among giant containers, this series looks very likke another one, from France, and called DE GRACE, but taking place in LE HAVRE harbor, another crime drama involving a family, with a patriarch and his sons.... But DE GRACE was less crime than drama, there was no undercover cop scheme, unlike this one, which is an authentic mafia crime series. In both TV shows you also have many flashbacks, concerning the family story. And the partriarch character here, with the iron hand, is the equivalent of Olivier Gourmet's role in DE GRACE. And I don't know if you have noticed, but both actors - Gourmet and this Spanish actor - HAVE THE SAME EYES !!! Not face, BUT EYES, same glance. Please try to check by yourself. Not face but eyes. What a coincidence....

Cliff hanger for season two???

[roger-hornaday · 4/10 · 7 April 2024]

Extremely disappointing ending leaving very little explained. It appears to be the first of a anticipated on-going series which is what I had hoped it would NOT be.

I was hoping it would be a "limited series."

Thus what you have is an incomplete story and which won't be resolved until when and if another series comes out and Netflix shows it.

Otherwise I found it engrossing which makes the let-down all the more infuriating.

Now, excuse me while I try to provide the required number of characters to get this posted as it's too short.. imbd wants long reviews apparently and won't take "no" for an answer.

Has the elements to be an excellent series but fails to use them.

[luka-novak78 · 3/10 · 12 April 2024]

Show has the proper mixture of everything that make a good crime show. Crime family with tensions between members. Crime enterprise hiding behind the facade of legitimate business. Large shipment of drugs going missing. Various crime families circling each other "we are friends, we work together but we'll punch on you if we see you as weak". Colombian drug cartels. Undercover cops. Events from decades ago still casting shadows and secrets. But somehow it all fails to come together and leaves us with a disjointed story that is all over the place, betrayals that make little sense, people acting stupidly..... Too bad.

Could Have Been Decent

[HenriTheDane · 3/10 · 2 May 2024]

I liked the concept: gangsters running the port in Barcelona, with some family drama and internal tensions. The actors were good. At first, it wasn't trying to be too clever.

As the episodes wore on, the bad writing kept decreasing the enjoyment for me, until I positively disliked watching the last two episodes. I kept watching hoping it would redeem itself, but it only degenerated into implausible subplots and gratuitous diversions.

Others have pointed out some of the poorly written scenes, but it's even worse than that: the timelines don't even match up. Miki will head out in his car at night and then arrive in broad daylight, even though we know the two places are not that far apart. Other times things are happening with characters that are clearly meant to have happened before other scenes. I'm not talking about the flashbacks, which are also annoyingly overdone and distracts from the main storyline, but at least they make it clear when it's a flashback.

With only slightly better writing, this could have been a good watch. As it is, I recommend skipping it.