‘We Own This City’ Review: David Simon’s Latest is Another Electrifying Story of Police & Politics
It’s disappointing to report that, contrary to its IMDb page, Treat Williams does not appear in all six episodes of “We Own This City,” George Pelecanos and David Simon’s new HBO miniseries, adapted from the book by Justin Fenton. But the good news is that when he finally does turn up in the penultimate episode, the show has generated such weight that his appearance has the proper power; for an epic saga of police corruption, nothing could feel more like the Pope giving his blessing than a cameo by the star of “Prince of the City.” READ MORE: The 70 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Mini-Series Of 2022 And that 1981 Sidney Lumet film really does feel like the template for “We Own This City,” perhaps more than Simon’s previous work – even “The Wire,” its most obvious point of comparison, to say nothing of the cops-and-dealers angles of “The Corner” or the knotty politics of “Show Me a Hero.” Lumet’s film told the true story of an elite unit of hotshot cops that helped themselves to copious money and contraband in ‘70s-era New York City; this miniseries tells the true story of similar unit, the Gun Trace Task Force, engaging in similar activities in Baltimore in the early 2000s.