There is a revolution in TV production happening right now. Hollywood is switching focus from big money films to big money television as the major US production companies battle to control the majority of the American viewing figures. They have discovered a winning formula of putting a big name actor in the leading role of a television show and spending about a million dollars an episode on the production! Genius.
Sky Atlantic is home to many of these multi-million dollar shows such as Boardwalk Empire with Steve Buscemi, Game of Thrones with Sean Bean, Angels in America with Emma Thompson and Al Pacino, and the blockbuster that is Cleverdicks with Anne Widdecombe (letting the whole channel down) to name a few.
The latest addition to the network, ‘Luck’, featuring Dustin Hoffman, has just started and has more famous people in it than Katie Price’s vagina. Instead of following one central character we follow an array of interesting characters and how their lives are involved in the world of horse racing. Not very interesting you might think, I mean what is interesting about horses and horse racing? Why do those ladies who attend race meetings wear stupid hats? Where do the little people who ride the horses come from? What do the horses eat? Do the horses get melted down into glue when they die?
Obviously it doesn’t cover any of those pressing issues, instead we focus on Ace Rothstein (Dustin Hoffman) following his release from prison and his intentions to take control of a successful racetrack and reap his revenge on those who put him there. There are plenty of other key characters in the show following their own particular narratives, such as Nick Nolte who is secretly rearing his own super horse that nobody knows about, and a bunch of losers (who all look like chronic masturbaters) in a gambling syndicate who win two million dollars.There are so many sub plots happening during each episode it’s hard to explain them all and what implications they might have on the rest of the show for me to go into too much detail right now. There is even a plot about a goat with big balls who lives in the stables.
With such an array of strong lead actors (Micheal Gambon is on the next episode, he does the HSBC ads), great writing and wonderful directing from Micheal Mann, we are witnessing the next ‘Boardwalk Empire’ in the making. This is definitely not one to miss especially if you’re a fan of the Soprano’s, Boardwalk Empire, Martin Scorcese films and horses. On first glance, it may appear that there isn’t a lot happening in Luck but it is one of those shows that takes a while to gather pace and by the second episode there is plenty beginning to happen.