Amazon fire off their new American Gods series to critical acclaim, with people already predicting it to rival Game of Thrones. The series if you don't know, is based on Neil Gaiman's novel of the same name which won a Hugo and Nebula award. Compare that with George R. Martin who has won three Hugo awards for the Game of Thrones series which has sold over 60 million copies worldwide.
So what is American Gods and does it live up to the rave reviews it has been currently receiving. The series was developed by Bryan Fuller (Hannibal) and Michael Green (Logan) who have both worked on superhero films as well. The cast has Ricky Whittle (Hollyoaks), Emily Browning (Legend) and Ian McShane (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides).
The focus of the series is about Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) who is serving time behind bars, working on his impressive physique. However, he is given an early release due to his wife's freak death in a car accident. He takes a flight home and meets Mr Wednesday (Ian McShane) who offers him a job. Turns out he is actually being offered a job by the Norse god, Odin who is trying to gather together all of the old gods in order to confront the New Gods that have arisen. These New Gods reflect our current obsessions such as Media (Gillian Anderson).
After watching the first few episodes, I have had some insight into the series and can estimate how the rest of it will play out. The first episode launches straight into a visual spectacle, with great chemistry between Whittle and McShane from the get-go. The storylines are steeped with mystery leaving us to wonder what will happen next, but there is enough action to keep that suspense up. It doesn't feel as if we are waiting for the next thing to happen and unravelled a piece of the parcel because we are enthralled by each scene. Following the Game of Thrones successful formulae, each episode features lot's of fun violence and plenty of sex. However, some viewers may be harder to win over because of the glossy and moody finish. There is a reasonable amount of information to take in at first, but with future episodes and the storyline explained, things should kick up a notch. One thing is for sure, if you do happen to be a fan of Game of Thrones then I suspect you will like this one too.
And here is a quick breakdown of the two series. Metacritic currently has American Gods rated 77/100 and Game of Thrones at an 80/100 with a much higher user rating. IMDb gives American Gods a rating of 8.6/10 and Game of Thrones a rating of 9.5/10. However, Rotten Tomatoes gives both a score of 95% so there isn't much to go by in way of ratings, especially at these early stages. Both shows feature some great acting, with Game of Thrones boasting the likes of Maisie Williams and Charles Dance who both give captivating performances. Both series feature well thought-out worlds but if I had to pick, I would choose to stay in the fictional Kingdoms of Westeros. As it stands, the drama in American Gods certainly falls short in comparison and so does it's more 'fun' storytelling moments too. But to conclude, they are two completely different series. Ones that I am enjoying both of so far and have high hopes for them both. If American Gods were to compete with Game of Thrones though, I would have to say rather pessimistically that there is still work to be done.
So what is American Gods and does it live up to the rave reviews it has been currently receiving. The series was developed by Bryan Fuller (Hannibal) and Michael Green (Logan) who have both worked on superhero films as well. The cast has Ricky Whittle (Hollyoaks), Emily Browning (Legend) and Ian McShane (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides).
The focus of the series is about Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) who is serving time behind bars, working on his impressive physique. However, he is given an early release due to his wife's freak death in a car accident. He takes a flight home and meets Mr Wednesday (Ian McShane) who offers him a job. Turns out he is actually being offered a job by the Norse god, Odin who is trying to gather together all of the old gods in order to confront the New Gods that have arisen. These New Gods reflect our current obsessions such as Media (Gillian Anderson).
After watching the first few episodes, I have had some insight into the series and can estimate how the rest of it will play out. The first episode launches straight into a visual spectacle, with great chemistry between Whittle and McShane from the get-go. The storylines are steeped with mystery leaving us to wonder what will happen next, but there is enough action to keep that suspense up. It doesn't feel as if we are waiting for the next thing to happen and unravelled a piece of the parcel because we are enthralled by each scene. Following the Game of Thrones successful formulae, each episode features lot's of fun violence and plenty of sex. However, some viewers may be harder to win over because of the glossy and moody finish. There is a reasonable amount of information to take in at first, but with future episodes and the storyline explained, things should kick up a notch. One thing is for sure, if you do happen to be a fan of Game of Thrones then I suspect you will like this one too.
And here is a quick breakdown of the two series. Metacritic currently has American Gods rated 77/100 and Game of Thrones at an 80/100 with a much higher user rating. IMDb gives American Gods a rating of 8.6/10 and Game of Thrones a rating of 9.5/10. However, Rotten Tomatoes gives both a score of 95% so there isn't much to go by in way of ratings, especially at these early stages. Both shows feature some great acting, with Game of Thrones boasting the likes of Maisie Williams and Charles Dance who both give captivating performances. Both series feature well thought-out worlds but if I had to pick, I would choose to stay in the fictional Kingdoms of Westeros. As it stands, the drama in American Gods certainly falls short in comparison and so does it's more 'fun' storytelling moments too. But to conclude, they are two completely different series. Ones that I am enjoying both of so far and have high hopes for them both. If American Gods were to compete with Game of Thrones though, I would have to say rather pessimistically that there is still work to be done.
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