An action-packed slog

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

This show is incredible! It is amazingly entertaining.. The best modern crime show ever. Its all true. compare Underbelly to Sopranos? lol come on. Underbelly makes the Sopranos look like p*ssy non-amusing bs. One of my favorite shows because its just flat out entertaining. DirectTV has a little hidden gem. Wonderful writing, crazy characters and wild True stories. It is not for everyone. It's the most gritty show I've ever seen. Where did this show come from? I need it on DVD. It's as well made as an HBO or Showtime show. Mark "Chopper" Read makes an appearance. The Kane brothers are deep in the plot. Australia has some great crime stories. This show is far better than The Sopranos. I only compare the two because someone else did. The acting is swell, the directing is fine, the art direction and cinematography are exceptional. If one has the chance to watch this show. Give it a whirl if your not faint hearted. Wildly entertaining. I really can't say enough or too much about Underbelly, you got to check it out. If you like crime shows, this is for you.

I loved watching every episode of the underbelly series. The moment you finish one episode, you cant help yourself but to start the next one. Amongst all the characters being played my favorite was Alphonse Gangitano played by Vince Colismo. He was too good. The series picks up momentum again with the introduction of Benji. I loved performance of Gyton Grantley throughout the series portraying Carl Williams. I recommend watching this to all. In all it is a great fun.The series is like a ticking time bomb and gets you involved with every episode. Though a lot of characters were in and out at short intervals, my personal opinion is the characters of Alphonse Gangitano, Jason Moran, Carl Williams, Roberta Williams, Benji were portrayed very well.

Just wanted to respond to some people's comments on how bad Underbelly is, well it completely hooked me in! I was quite hesitant at first because I often don't go for Aussie dramas, but saw half of the first episode by chance and am officially addicted.Others have been saying it's like watching an episode of Neighbours, well maybe that's because so many of the actors in it had their starts in Neighbours or Home and Away. That's not to say the acting is as bad as in these soap operas. I was pleasantly surprised with the actor's abilities and portrayals of the characters. I was impressed with how many of the actors looked very similar to the people they were portraying.

OK, Underbelly is banned in part of Australia(Victoria) and I'm not going into any of the details, so just forget the hype surrounding this show and look at it for what it is.For starters, it's only the beginning. This is a 13 part epic saga, which so far only 2 of the parts were played, and I'm already hearing a lot of complaints about this show that there either wasn't enough violence or that it just didn't lived up to the hype. Well I say those people probably don't follow the news, because if you knew anything about the past 10 years of crime in the Melbourne Underworld you would not only want to see more after just 1 episode, but you would have a little more respect and at least let the series play out before you start firing guns prematurely like a mad Alphonse Gangitano. Speaking of which, actor Vince Colosimo was outstanding in his role of the prince of Lygon street. If anyone says otherwise they should go back to watching "Home and Away", because they obviously cannot appreciate a brilliant Australian actor when they see one. You also have a tremendous ensemble of many established Australian actors with a few fresh faces.With only seeing the pilot and with my knowledge of what is about to happen, I know this is going to be an epic saga and will be remembered I hope for being a gem in goldmines of the Australian film industry, and not for its controversy. Of course, so long as the poor Victorians get to see it. Lastly I won't spoil anything so long as you watch the news, so we should all know Carl Williams is the last man standing in the end. But right now he is just the "Underbelly".