Ray (Brian Tyree Henry) and Manny (Wagner Moura) are attached to the hip. The lifelong best friends end each other’s sentences, they know each other’s families and – most relevant to their current circumstances – have each other’s back. Like those really have each other’s back. Their loyalty goes beyond airports or Wingman sacrifices. They have taken and will take bullets for each other. When a police officer pushes Manny to rip out Ray, or a girlfriend asks Ray to leave Manny behind, none of a buckle is under the pressure. In the city for brotherly love, they are not just old buds. They are family.
Then it is a pity that over the eight -hour episodes that make up “DOPE THIEF’S” FIRST SEXUSRay and Manny’s relationship is reduced to test that devotion over and over again. Their central tendency – on leaps from a very frightening drug trafficking, a very intrusive police force and a very shady division of federal law enforcement – is so stressful, their calls tend to scream matches and their shared scentime is usually spent staring either end of a charged gun. We get it. They are going through a lot right now. But when you throw Henry and Moura to play hard devoted brothers in your arms, you have to let them explore the depth of that friendship, in all its pain and its joy. Otherwise, their significant charm is even struggling to maintain a waiting game.
Adapted by Peter Craig (“The Batman,” “The unforgivable”) from Dennis Tafoya’s novel 2009 with the same name, “Dope thief‘S’ premiere is directed by Ridley Scottthat puts a Steely Gray Color Palette to be decorated with bright blood splashes. Chase scenes are easily traced over rich urban terrain, and shootouts tend to play in clear, rudimentary compositions. The setting in Philadelphia is pre-based in the inner city houses, scary corner shops and non-description citizens who are just trying to go to their business-a working class of a blue collar city.
But most of the business shown here is illegal. When we first meet Ray and Manny it is February 2021. America is still in Covid, and our boys look out for a pot reseller’s hiding place and play playfully on the back of a van when they are ready to raid the house. Their schedule is simple but serious: Posing as dea agents (complete with hats, jackets and marks), the two Nobodians from nowhere “bust” who is not good inside and goes out with all the money they can find. They try not to hurt anyone in the process, and they avoid severely protected stash. With only the two, they cannot risk being over -matched, so they need the opposition to believe that they are federal agents. (Ray even practices his voice as authoritative as possible.)
All this changes when they let a third member join the team. As soon as a rather slow, quite cocky and thorough scuzzy ex-con show up, fresh from prison, with a handful “simple brands”, all the fucking of the heist genre will know that this guy will be a problem. He is the wild card, the fly in the ointment, the gold excavator who breaks up a good marriage, but if the story will work, Manny and Ray must go with their schedule. As always, they have their reasons: Ray needs money to support Theresa (Kate Mulgrew), his de facto mother who helped raise him after his father/her boyfriend (Ving Rhaves) ended up in prison. Manny tries to start a family with his girlfriend. In addition, they believe in their cause – they talk about drugs’ “exceeds” and “poison” the city – they believe in their preparation and they believe in each other.
Oops. The bust breaks badly, everything goes sideways, and Manny and Ray soon cannot escape their own shadows, let alone the different armies of men with weapons looking for them. But their Botched Raid is just the first domino that falls into “Dope Thief’s” drug trade conspiracy story, a fact that takes too long to make itself known. After a barn burner of a premiere, subsequent episodes struggle to create a noticeable mystery and instead rely on excessive violence and incredible chaos to distract viewers from a stationary story. In essence, we look at two men hide and hide badly. Too slow, the duo is trying to turn the tables on their persecutors, as the self -description of the hunters survive that they chased long enough to try to recover their original title. But when the action becomes too far -reaching for its shit presentation, the series also becomes less fun, despite the best efforts from its role.
Brian Tyree Henry, who is also an executive producer, proves himself – of all things! -A more than worthy successor to John McClane. Sweaty and disheveledDesperately survived but innovative under pressure, Henry can go toe-to-bar to toe with Bruce Willi’s iconic character, including quips. (He gets a handful of punchlines, delivered with apt exhilaration and resentmentThat call to Willis’ Put-Upon-Everyman charm.) That he is stranded with more skimmer motivation and a drawn out driving time makes the performance feel so spread and refreshing, but in A rare lead rideThe Oscar and Emmy-nominated character actor really does the work to guarantee more (and better) with lead roles.
Moura continues its multifaceted hot streak – after erupting in “anesthesia”, he has stolen scenes in “Shining Girls,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” and “Civil war” – Albeit with spotter screenage than you can expect in view of the premiere. (It’s called “Dope Thief“Not” dope Thieves“For a reason – Ray is in focus.) Mulgreough and Rhames are reliable, and Marin Ireland takes the grizzled COP archaty type to new levels of acidity, but the role is left to carry for heavy bag.
In the end, it is clear that the first season of “Dope Thief” should have been the first episode of “Dope Thief” (perhaps a maximum of a two -part premiere). After starting and quitting, the story is only to go again when the season ends, but to trust season 2 to deliver a more focused story is completely impossible. This friendship, as strong as it once was, is just not built to keep.
Rating: C+
“Dope Thief” premieres Friday 14 March on Apple TV+ with two sections. New episodes are released each week through April 25.
