'Mob City' review: 'Noir' in old L.A.

Then, the cold realization sets in: maybe not.

"Mob City" is all hard-boiled boilerplate. No character, at least none in the opener, ever comes fully alive. They're all too busy acting like characters think they should act when doing "noir." Cigars aren't smoked, they're chomped. Drinks aren't sipped. They're slugged. These tough guys grimace. They growl. They glare furtively from under the shadow the brim of their rakish fedoras casts over their hardened faces.

Speaking of shadows, "L.A. Confidential" -- both the movie and the other novels of James Ellroy's celebrated "L.A. Quartet" series -- cast long ones here, too. You wait for the series to break free of these powerful antecedents. On Wednesday night, it never does.

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There is hope, however. Both the first two episodes end with nice twists that tend to reshape character, motive and plot. They shake things up, in a promising way. Will that promise be fully met over the next couple of weeks? Maybe. With an excellent cast, and Darabont, unbridled enthusiasm dies hard.