I'm not a fan of blood and splatter in movies and TV shows but I can go with cartoon violence, which is definitely what this is in GOL. I agree that it is well done and cleverly filmed and choreographed.

I was ok with it lessening off as the series progressed, firstly because as I said earlier it isn't something that rings my bells anyway, and secondly because once it has been established that this is the sort of thing that is happening, you can probably safely go with the inference rather than the showing every single time.

There is a rule of thumb with stage actors, that for a character with an accent, they start out broad and progressively relax the accent as the play progresses. The reason for this is that to continue with a heavy accent makes it hard for audiences to correctly hear what is being said and for the actor to put nuance into the vocal delivery beneath a heavy accent. (Less of an issue in film because they are usually shot out of sequence and the actor cannot be certain what editing will do. The result could look like an actor falling in and out of an accent.) I think it is fair to see the diminishing action once a tone has been established as serving a similar dramatic function.

@Jacinto Cupboard said:

I'm not a fan of blood and splatter in movies and TV shows but I can go with cartoon violence, which is definitely what this is in GOL. I agree that it is well done and cleverly filmed and choreographed.

I was ok with it lessening off as the series progressed, firstly because as I said earlier it isn't something that rings my bells anyway, and secondly because once it has been established that this is the sort of thing that is happening, you can probably safely go with the inference rather than the showing every single time.

There is a rule of thumb with stage actors, that for a character with an accent, they start out broad and progressively relax the accent as the play progresses. The reason for this is that to continue with a heavy accent makes it hard for audiences to correctly hear what is being said and for the actor to put nuance into the vocal delivery beneath a heavy accent. (Less of an issue in film because they are usually shot out of sequence and the actor cannot be certain what editing will do. The result could look like an actor falling in and out of an accent.) I think it is fair to see the diminishing action once a tone has been established as serving a similar dramatic function.

Interesting perspective. I can see what you're saying, that the action serves to establish a chaotic world and so isn't so necessary once that world has been established. I see the point but I don't totally agree with it.

Generally the tradition of a story is escalation. And of course, there are exceptions to this expectation. But I didn't think GOL was an exception. I agree the action is there to establish tone, but I don't think that's the only reason it's there. It is also very much about spectacle, excitement and tension. And I expect things to get more intense as they go along rather than less intense.

In action films this is something that I am admittedly very banal about. I've always believed that the opening action scene should be a teaser and the finale should always be the best and longest action scene in the film. Blade was always a film that frustrated me because the opening action scene was so cool that everything else in the film felt mundane in comparison. It does seem like something that very few films seem to get right. One dude that understands this concept very well is John Woo. And his masterpiece The Killer is the perfect example of what I'm talking about. But yeah, it is just a peeve I have and I'm aware most people don't hold it to the same importance that I do.

Interesting about the stage actors and accents by the way. I wasn't aware of that.

I might be giving the the writers too much credit, but I think the story transitions and that is paralleled by what we see on screen.

At first we think this is a turf war between violent London gangs. But we later learn this is really about politics and high finance. The locus of violence changes and becomes increasingly psychological. Most of the central characters descend into breakdown and madness and despair. That doesn't mean the bloodshed disappears, but to have maintained that level of carnality would have distracted from that presentation of a different level of manipulation and destruction.