Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Review – A Forced Comeback That Falls Flat

Among Netflix’s most iconic shows, Peaky Blinders easily stands out as one of the best, if not the very best. The series wrapped up after six शानदार seasons, with Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) walking into self-imposed exile after losing everything.

So, when Netflix announced a film on the Birmingham gang, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, I felt both excited and a bit unsure. After all, what more could there possibly be to explore about these characters?

Now that the film is finally out, here’s my honest take.

But before we begin, a quick apology for the delay in this review, as I got completely caught up watching and dissecting the “peak detailing” of Dhurandhar: The Revenge.

What’s It About?

The film is set in the 1940s, with World War II looming around. The Nazis are trying to infiltrate and take down the United Kingdom, the last standing nation of the western Europe, by any means possible. Among all of this, The Peaky Blinders, now headed by Tommy’s gypsy son Duke (Barry Keoghan), is caught up. Shelby needs to return from his exile to take charge of his gang and stop them from compromising their nation.

Key Cast -

Cillian Murphy reprises his role of Tommy Shelby and is joined by Barry Keoghan as Duke Shelby. Another key addition is Rebecca Ferguson, who plays a double role of Tommy’s gypsy lover, Zelda, and her sister Kaulo. Tim Routh joins in as the antagonist, Beckett. We also have our series favorite Sophie Rundle as Ada and Packy Lee as Johnny Dogs.

What Works (For Me) –

Performance –

I don’t think highlighting this section is required, as with an amazing star entourage of such high-profile names, you are bound to have meaty performances. Cillian Murphy and Barry Keoghan are given the highest screen time, and they stole every minute of that. But Rebecca Ferguson and Tim Routh weren’t far behind, even with their limited roles.

Story

Like the Netflix series, the movie also takes time to build slowly. The director has given us time to show us the grief that Tommy is in. The sadness and emptiness he is suffering from after losing almost every family member. At the same time, the effects of the war on the citizens of the UK are also shown with finesse. By the time the film reaches halftime, every die-hard fan of Shelby will have a smile on their face when the legend returns with an iconic scene.

Camera Shots and Cinematography

To be honest, a huge part of the show worked because of the swag of the gang members. In Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, the director never missed giving us another chance to relive that sassiness. The story this time shifts among various geographical locations. From the countryside to the city of Birmingham and the port of Liverpool, every location has a grand scale and scenic difference that it demands. This will soothe your eyes.

Music and BGM

I genuinely am a big fan of the music used in the Netflix show. The titular song – Red Right Hand by Nick Cave, is still in my playlist. In the Immortal Man, I was amused by the use of songs and BGM. It elevated the movie by several notches. Yes, Nick Cave has reprised his iconic song here in a different way. Find that out yourself.

But that’s all I can say about the positives of this movie.

What Didn’t Work –

Villain

Despite an amazing performance by Tim Routh, I would say that this movie demanded a more powerful or impactful villain. In the show, we have plenty of big names as antagonists like Tom Hardy, Adrien Brody, Sam Claflin, and so on. But this time, the villain didn’t just feel weak but also lacked any solid motive. When a name like Tommy Shelby comes back to his lost kingdom from his self-imposed exile, we definitely need a really big reason or name.

Point of the film

When you advertise the ultimate ending of a series, then after a few days you announce a comeback for an untold story in the form of a film, there should be a pretty solid reason behind that. But my apologies to the makers, I didn’t actually get the point. I think every fan will agree that they were satisfied with the ending of Season 6. The film felt unnecessary with very little to offer and could have easily been done as a special episode of 40-45 minutes, like many other contemporaries.

Waste of Characters

Many fan favorites like Ada or Johnny were just stooges. They didn’t have much to do and were given very little screen time. I think these characters needed something more and grander.

Predictability

The movie doesn’t offer something that we haven’t seen before. From the very beginning, you can easily predict the ending. Several scenes, like the one we have seen in the trailer, where Tommy Shelby enters a pub looking for his son, felt like a rip-off of some South Indian flick. Like people hyping up the hero for the ultimate action payoff. The climax was expected and didn’t work as the ultimate result of the grand buildup.

Things I Missed

I really missed the characters of Arthur Shelby and Aunt Polly, as Thomas did, too. I also wanted a little glimpse of Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons.

But among all of this, the final scene felt emotional, and it will leave you with a heavy heart.

Final Words

In my final words for Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, I will quote Mr.Shelby – “Once I nearly got f****ng everything but nearly doesn’t count…”. I tried very hard to like this movie; it had a lot of things, nearly everything, but still, it was unnecessary. Sometimes you need to let go of something for the better good.

Rating:

What do you think about this film? Do let us know in the comments below.

Avik

Avik is a self-proclaimed nerdy wordsmith by day, cape-wearing vigilante by night (at least in his head). When he's not weaving clarity into complex tech docs, you’ll find him deep in a movie binge, passionately defending the honor of the DC Universe—because yes, he’s that fan. Marvel? Cool. But DC? Home. Oh, and in case it wasn’t obvious... he totally thinks he’s Batman