I am willing to guess that not a lot of people tuned into the six episodes of the international crime thriller “The Last Panthers” that had its run most recently on the Sundance Channel.

Fortunately, Acorn, specializing in world-class television from Britain and other foreign territories, has released the entire series about a thrilling jewel thief drama on DVD and Blu-ray for the convenience of your viewing pleasure.

While smartly written and coolly compelling as a complex character-driven crime thriller, having “The Last Panthers” on home entertainment allows one the ability to either pause to catch a breath or even replay some key scenes that may require a second look.

Shot in seven countries and five languages, this thrilling reinvention of the heist drama demands close attention to the English subtitles, except when British insurance adjuster Naomi (Samantha Morton) and former MI-6 offer Tom Kendle (John Hurt) spar over the investigation.

The six-episode series is a travelogue from the underbelly of the French port city of Marseilles to the dark corners of Hungary and the war-torn Balkan territories of the former Yugoslavia. Serbian bad guys are particularly nasty criminals.

Patterned after the real-life fearsome criminal organization of the Pink Panthers, “The Last Panthers” opens with a Marseilles jewel heist orchestrated by Milan (Goran Bogdan) that bears the hallmarks of the gang believed to be retired.

The getaway is botched by one of Milan’s hired thieves as he kills a young girl during a shootout with police, and as result, the stolen diamonds are considered virtually untouchable to anyone that might buy the purloined goods.

Meanwhile, French-Algerian cop Khalil Rachedi (Tahar Rahim), having grown up in the Marseilles ghetto with a keen insight into criminal behavior, doggedly pursues a police investigation that gets hobbled by bureaucracy as well as conflict with the British insurance investigators.

“The Last Panthers,” though a crime story with complex characters, is a gripping look at the dark side of illicit activities in Europe. Often complicated in scope, the series demands your careful attention but the payoff makes it worthwhile.

TNT Cable dives into the complicated nature of a crime family that is run by a matriarch in “Animal Kingdom,” in this case Ellen Barkin’s Janine “Smurf” Cody, a grandmother with a habit of lounging around the house with her adult sons while wearing a bikini top more appropriate to a woman half her age.

Meanwhile, her four sons range from the oldest and most dangerous Pope (Shawn Hatosy), returning home from a stint in prison and eager for the next heist, to Scott Speedman’s Baz, the second son with a girlfriend seemingly anxious to have him out of the family business.

The two other sons are Craig (Ben Robson) and Darren (Jake Weary), and the family unit adds on another member when Smurf’s grandson Josh (Finn Cole) moves in after his mother dies from a heroin overdose.

“Animal Kingdom” appears to have a small budget for wardrobe, as most of Smurf’s sons run around shirtless as if they were auditioning for modeling jobs at Abercrombie & Fitch. But then they reside in Oceanside, surfing on most days while intimidating those trying to share the ocean.

As a family unit, the Codys are an unruly bunch of criminals given to thuggish and reckless behavior, which is evident from a careless robbery in the first episode that doesn’t go smoothly, to say the least.

Tensions simmer in the Cody clan, especially when Pope becomes agitated when his mother insists that he should remain on the sidelines for an upcoming heist, considering he’s fresh out of prison and perhaps a bit rusty.

“Animal Kingdom” will have a ten-episode run over the course of the summer. From the first look at the opening episode, I am not completely convinced that I will stay engaged to the end, but my curiosity is likely to give the second installment a chance.

“Gridlocked,” an intense action thriller with a high body count in its energetic shootouts, is not likely to be found in movie theaters or even television, unless it appears as a video on demand.

This high-octane crime thriller does, however, bring the kind of crowd-pleasing explosive action and extreme fight scenes that turns “Gridlocked” into a natural straight-to-video entertainment.

Former SWAT leader David Hendrix (Dominic Purcell of “Prison Break”) is down on his luck and has failed to receive medical clearance after taking a bullet on the job.

He’s now stuck at a routine NYPD job and is not too happy about his demotion from the Strategic Response Team, or SRT.

To make matters worse, this tough guy cop is forced to babysit Brody Walker (Cody Hackman), an obnoxious hard-partying celebrity who’s been sent on a mandatory ride-along as part of his probation.

Hendrix and his charge end up visiting the cop’s old crew at a remote SRT training outpost, only to arrive just in time for an assault from vicious mercenaries under the command of a corrupt former military operative (Stephen Lang).

“Gridlocked” is an unrepentant B-movie display of violence perpetrated by relentless machine-gun shootouts that are easily forgettable soon after viewing.

By the way, Danny Glover shows up as an SRT facility guard in what can only be for the reason of an easy payday.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.