In the 'Sexy Beast' Trailer, a Crime Saga Goes Back to the Beginning
In our current entertainment environment, almost no one likes to take risks, professionally speaking. It's why many "new" pieces of media are little more than rehashed versions of old ones. (Even in the best of circumstances.) From sequels and larger franchise universes to spinoffs and prequels, existing intellectual property is king. Sometimes, this works out --- like Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and HBO's House of the Dragon are successfully mining the origin stories of other, more famous properties. But sometimes, it feels like the reason for returning prequel universe isn't exactly clear.
Such is the case with Paramount+'s Sexy Beast, a prequel to a feature film that, while critically acclaimed at the time of its release, wasn't exactly a blockbuster. Released in 2000, the original movie starred Ray Winstone (The Departed), Ben Kingsley (The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar), and Ian McShane (American Gods). It followed the story of retired criminal Gary "Gal" Dove, who is forced into doing one last bank robbery by his former BFF, a violent London gangster named Don Logan. The movie garnered extensive critical acclaim and multiple Oscar nominations, becoming a foundational piece of the British gangster subgenre embraced by directors like Guy Ritchie.
The Paramount+ drama is a prequel series, though it's not entirely clear who out there was clamoring to learn more about the characters from this particular universe. I'm genuinely curious how many viewers almost a quarter century later even remember this movie was a thing and I'm not entirely sure who out there was clamoring to return to this universe or learn more about the origins of the characters in it, but here we are. (And you're forgiven if you, like me, keep mixing it up with that weirdo Netflix reality series where people went on blind dates dressed up as various animals.) The show will dig into the origins of the complicated relationship between Gal and Don as they find themselves descending into the seductive madness of the London criminal world during the vibrant and volatile 1990s, even as Gal’s budding relationship with future wife DeeDee threatens everything in their world.
