Why you should watch Sylvester Stallone as Tulsa King (review)

A mafia drama, like a tailor-made gift for Sly from Taylor Sheridan. And he gives it back! To be seen clearly this evening on M6.

The Paramount + platform has managed to offer itself Sylvester Stallone for its very first series: Tulsa King ! A mafia thriller drawn like a drama, which allows Sly to express all his talent and show that he has lost none of his animal charisma… at 75 years old. A streaming series which is entitled to a clear passage, with broadcast on M6 from this evening. So why miss out?

In Tulsa KingStallone plays Dwight “The General” Manfredi, a New York Mafia Capo, released from prison after 25 years. He protected the family. He didn't speak. But when he gets out, it's the Godfather's son who is in charge and who decides to send him far away, to Oklahoma, where he must form a new network and establish a new and powerful criminal empire. Just that…

With a little side Hibernatus, Sylvester Stallone arrives in the Great West, very far from Little Italy, and discovers the modern world, which has changed dramatically since his incarceration in the 1990s. Sly plays the self-deprecating card wonderfully, the big guy outdated, a little has been on the edges, but who always knows how to hit when necessary! Absolutely perfect in this tailor-made mafioso suit, he carries around his impressive septuagenarian biscotos in comic book decorum.

It's fun… But then it remains to be seen what Terence Winterthe acclaimed creator of Boardwalk Empirewill make this gangster soft-hearted. How deep and dark will he want to go? How far will he push Stallone out of his comfort zone to show him completely vulnerable? After a few episodes, Tulsa King clearly does not (yet) have this ambition. The director and producer Taylor Sheridan – big man from Paramount + thanks to Yellowstone and its spin-offs – opts instead for the burlesque thriller over the top. A little predictable, often implausible (and slightly corny). But at the same time, what pleasure we take in seeing Sylvester Stallone stick stuffers to everything that gets him drunk.

And it's been a long time since we've seen Sly so powerful, so deep, so nuanced, capable of going from laughter to tears. The last time was perhaps in Copland by James Mangold. It was 1997, 25 years ago. Well, it was that year that Dwight, the Tulsa Kingentered prison…

Tulsa King, season 1 in 10 episodes, to watch on Paramount + in France and now on M6. Season 2 is currently streaming on Paramount+.