What The Reviews Have To Say About Tom Hardy's New FX Show 'Taboo'
Premiering tonight at 10 pm ET, Taboo is a new FX miniseries starring Tom Hardy. Set in 1814 London, Hardy plays James Keziah Delaney, heir to a shipping fortune who was thought to be dead. After a decade in Africa, a decidedly alive and considerably dangerous Delaney has returned to London.
Hardy co-created the show along with his father, Edward 'Chips' Hardy, and Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders). Ridley Scott serves as an executive producer, and as Taboo fills a hot genre that FX's well-liked lineup lacks — historical drama — the expectations for the show are high. Here's what the reviews have to say about Tom Hardy's gritty Brit period piece:
'Grimy London' Fans Will Probably Like The Setting
The title may evoke thoughts of a classic scent, Tabu, but the show wants you to know that urban life in the early 19th century was not particularly fragrant. Like "Deadwood" and "Ripper Street," grime and mud are supporting players. Not coincidentally, one of the "Taboo" creators is Steven Knight, whose "Peaky Blinders" (which featured Hardy) is also ridden with doom and dirt, if not quite as much shadow.
As with "Peaky Blinders," Knight excels at creating the grit underneath our genteel assumptions of this era — 1814 is just a couple of years after the majority of Jane Austen's novels were written, after all. It is a far cry from her parlor teas to this labyrinth of corrupt dockworkers and raucous auction-houses, those locations where her heroines could not go, but only hear about later from the men they would eventually marry.
[Variety]
Tom Hardy's Doing What He Does Best — Being Watchable With Few Words
Tom Hardy – never a master of understatement – gives the most Tom Hardy performance of his life. His steely-eyed Delaney communicates as much in grunts as he does in the spoken word. It's a turn so theatrical, so downright odd that you simply can't look away – and it absolutely sets the tone for the entire series.
Brooding doesn't quite cover it. Hardy has delivered a one man menace machine, marrying Victorian adventurer with exotic devilry, witchcraft and a dash of 19th century Gothic (this is set in 1814, around the same time Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein).
Like A Lot Of Prestige Television, The Violence Is Grim And Plentiful
It's not uncommon for a series to rely on violence, but there needs to be a reason for it. Game of Thrones and The Bastard Executioner are perfect examples of this. The series are about violent times, centered on war, and to a certain extent, call for gratuitous bloodshed. But Taboo doesn't need the violence to succeed. Instead, it uses it as a way to shock the viewer. The first few times, it accomplishes its goal, but after a while, it feels overly indulgent.
[Polygon]
'Taboo' Is Absurd And Melodramatic — For Better Or Worse
[D]on't mistake Taboo for some kind of dour legal drama; there's grave robbing, arsenic poisoning, spycraft, incest, cannibalism, and ghosts (of James conscience from a murky engagement from the slave trade) that haunt him mightily. He's also haunted by a love for his half-sister, Zilpha (Oona Chaplin), who was cut out of their father's will and whose husband wants James dead. Well, he can get in line.
[Collider]
If this series were a straightforward story of an heir crazily refusing to sell an island to the greedy global trade company down the block, it might be tedious. Instead, what Taboo hints at is that James Keziah Delaney is no mere heir. He might be dead — or half-dead, perhaps possessed by spirits.
It May Be Too Trope-Filled For Weary, Skeptical Viewers
It's odd — the show should have spades of atmosphere and talent to offer. But for all its mustache-twirling, it never reaches a cohesive, sharp point of significance. Instead it seems a little like "Penny Dreadful" and "Game of Thrones" were hacked apart, and in an unholy dissection, eviscerated for parts. "Taboo" is a reanimated corpse of prestige drama tropes — manufactured darkness, heavy-handed grit, and sexual titillation, assembled with little to no unifying vision.
[Variety]
There's raw material here for an unabashedly campy potboiler, but Taboo and its star both take themselves far too seriously for the story, and for the pace at which it's being told.
[UPROXX]
TL;DR
Taboo could be your cup of tea if sooty London, supernatural subplots, and classic brooding (of the violent and sexy varieties) fit your TV tastes. Otherwise, if you just want a dose of Tom Hardy gruffness, maybe pop in your Fury Road Blu-ray again.
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