The first minute of Iron Hand states that “the port of Barcelona receives 70 million tons of merchandise each year” and that “only 2% of the 6,000 containers that move daily are inspected.” This implies that, despite having seized “10,000 kg of cocaine hidden in containers” last year, “not even 10% of the drugs that enter through the port” were found, one of the most important European gateways. lucrative for drug trafficking.
In this environment, Joaquín Manchado (Eduard Fernández) is the king, with his iron fist both literally and figuratively, as the owner of the main terminal and with his family involved in the business. He says what comes in, what goes out, what workers can steal and what those who dare betray him lose.
Lluís Quílez, after signing a film like Bajocero, which had a good performance in the Netflix catalog, presents a crystal-clear series: an action thriller, dramatic, masculine and with the vocation of a television blockbuster, as demonstrated by a cast headed by Fernández and which includes Jaime Lorente, Sergi López, Natalia de Molina, Enric Auquer and Chino Darín.
The first episodes establish an adult and gray tone, devoid of humor, where the torture of a rat and a boarding by pirates on the high seas serve the viewer to understand what the bar is in terms of violence and tension (and in which Quílez performs with ease as a director).
The most interesting element of Iron Hand, however, is the chosen environment: fictionalizing the functioning of the port of Barcelona and turning the infrastructure into another character, starting with the way it is exploited in the credits.
