The Get Down, Netflix review: Baz Luhrmann's hip-hop drama packs a high energy punch but lacks gritty depth

If only the famous lover of excess knew when to take his foot off the accelerator

Hip hop drama The Get Down premieres on Netflix on 12 August (Netflix)

It’s the South Bronx, New York, in the late Seventies and the first shockwaves of hip-hop are just beginning to rumble across the city, stirring a fearless passion among its youth. Unfortunately, Netflix’s The Get Down fails to stand up as a powerful creative means through which to learn about the history of this hugely influential genre so fully deserving of its TV moment.

Outer space aliens would guess that it is Baz Luhrmann’s excess-feasting eyes behind the camera. Looks-wise, The Get Down is the famed director’s Seventies take on The Great Gatsby, particularly during the most vividly sumptuous disco scenes when the abundance of sequins, sparkle and blasting music is sensually overwhelming. From the strong, often jarring colours to the frequent use of sunlit golden tones, it’s visually appealing from start to finish but it all feels too much throughout.

Luhrmann’s wildly unsubtle touch is perfect for bringing the electric, uninhibited energy of packed clubs to life, but it feels misplaced when struggling to deal with the grittier moments, the ones that could and should offer greater insight into the show’s intriguingly complex characters. Sadly the reliance on style over substance renders certain scenes cringeworthy when they were, presumably, meant to move us, while the darker underbelly of the action is frustratingly neglected.

The Get Down is packed full of energy throughout (Netflix) (Myles Aronowitz / Netflix)

The performances from The Get Down’s young, generally inexperienced cast are strong on the whole, particularly from Shameik Moore as Shaolin Fantastic, who brings a much-needed fiery edge to the role of the graffiti artist and aspiring DJ who idolises hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash (a brilliant, uncanny Mamoudou Athie), and Lillias White as the gloriously flamboyant ‘cocaine queen’ Fat Annie. Self-conscious poet Ezekiel is played by a relentlessly brooding Justice Smith while Herizen F Guardiola does her best to lift the rather flat character of Mylene, the church preacher’s daughter desperate to be a disco singer. The plot of the first episode focuses so heavily on the on-off romance between Ezekiel and Mylene that the show feels far more like a teen musical drama than the unflinching look at the context of hip-hop’s birth many fans will have been hoping for and as such, struggles to hook us in.

Helped by its believable retro costumes, pumping soundtrack and atmospheric close-ups of cigarette smoke, The Get Down is convincingly Seventies-set but in case there was any doubt, Luhrmann and co-creator Stephen Adly Guirgis name-drop Star Wars repeatedly to remind us (‘We could go see Star Wars together! I want you to be my girl!’ croons Ezekiel in full-blown, nauseating Romeo mode). Snippets of archive footage are interjected throughout but serve only to highlight just how glossy this production really is (to the tune of a $120 million budget).

The first episode comes in at 90-minutes long, the length of an average feature film, and at times it feels like Luhrmann has jam-packed it too full, forgetting that there is a full series to flesh out. One scene when Fat Annie’s birthday cake explodes amid frenetic gunfire in Les Inferno is quintessential Luhrmann in its lavish extravagance. However, by the second episode, which features a killer segment in which Grandmaster Flash teaches Ezekiel and Shaolin his secret to getting the party started, this overabundance gives way to deeper character development, giving us a chance to care more about the humans at the heart of his story.

Luhrmann's films are known for integrating genre-bending music (Netflix) (David Lee/Netflix)

For all its many flaws, The Get Down is a throbbing, vibrant slice of exuberance and it’s hard not to warm to the pure vivacity of its cast. If only Luhrmann had been more skilled when it comes to knowing when to take his foot off the accelerator.

The Get Down is streaming on Netflix from today