User Reviews

This 4th Underbelly, that really sends us back in time from 1927-1936 stands superior to the others. The acting is amazing, the Tilly Devine role, standing superior to the others, while I also thought Jeremy Lindsay Taylor was bloody frighteningly fantastic as bad..se Norman Bruhn, almost up to the almost impossible performance level of Tilly Devine. The sets are great, nothing short of faultless, where I especially liked the formation of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in it's early stages. And there is a lot of T and A for bird watches, probably not that much, but there are a lot of sex scenes, throughout the whole series. It's violent too, the flick of many razors, slashing and puncturing skin. The innocent guise of the barrow boy (I shouldn't really call him that) proves an interesting shock surprise. Again it's another case of cops versus crims, 'put them in the lock up, again free in two hours', whatever, a revolving door. The young lass (Anna Graham)who of own volition becomes a pro, is good too, clinging onto guys for what they can give em'. She even has a crack as the madam (Tilly Devine's) husband, where wifie is too amused. Khan Crittenden is good too as a wanna be thug, who's really played for a sucker sort of character. Hate has a higher plane of meaning with the constant rivalry between Tilly Devine and the other madam, (Danielle McCormack) who at times had me laughing, her family, really a bunch of no hopers, or people you feel sorry for, especially the daughter. My only critique, though you can't really call it that, as if that's how it went down, was the ending between the two, the showdown of Madams at a gravesite, where both walked away, where it would of been to see them fight, or having only one walk away. If you want engrossing Underbelly fare, the old periodic belly should fill the void, that's if you watch it from the start. Like a mafia flick, you don't know who the next one's gonna be to bite the bullet. But too, this one, may put you off razors for life. Flawless Underbelly, where I hope to see much more of the Tilly Devine actress who hasn't done much since.

Considering the long line of Australian criminals, one would imagine this season of underbelly to be full of thieves, murderers and scoundrels. Such is the standard fare of Australia, a nation founded on criminality. The fourth season is profoundly disappointing, however. It's like watching two warring Sororities. The seemingly emasculated men of two competing gangs are at the mercy of their female leaders. Not very realistic giving the period. These would be crooks are terrified of shooting guns at each other, for Gods sake. I certainly liked the first three seasons of underbelly, but I'm gonna give this one a pass.

You'd think that an Australian show would be more sympathetic to the pain of inept accents- We get it all the time, mostly from Americans, who seem to think Australians sound like a cross between a South African accent, and developmental impairment.

And all the old-timey slang is kinda fun, but it really doesn't help with the cringe factor, either.

The Tin-Pan Alley covers of Mental As Anything, and other old pop songs are cool, though. And the court-room scene was actually pretty funny.

Peaky Blinders did this era (well, a few years earlier) more competently, two years later, but I have to wonder if PB took influence from Underbelly; Razor- The era, the prostitution angle (s1 on PB focused a lot on prostitutes, which is fairly atypical, for crime shows), as well as the shared 'razor' theme, all make it look like the Brits saw the Aussie show and thought "I reckon we could do this, except better".