Film Pick of the Week: Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man - review by Yvette Huddleston
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Netflix, review by Yvette Huddleston
With the huge success of Steven Knight’s TV series, which ran from 2013 up to 2022, Peaky Blinders became a bit of a phenomenon with fans eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next chapter. There was even a ballet, created by London company Rambert, inspired by the stories based on the real-life criminal gangs that operated in Birmingham from the First World War onwards.
Cillian Murphy returns as Tommy Shelby, the infamous crime boss for this big-screen outing which had a brief release in cinemas before dropping on Netflix. It’s 1940 and Shelby has retreated from his criminal connections and now leads a solitary life on a remote farmhouse, far removed from the troubles and violence that haunts him and has decided to write a memoir. He sits at his desk, shunning company, and speaks to no-one apart from his loyal henchman Johnny Dogs (Packy Lee).
Then Shelby’s sister Ada (Sophie Rundle), now MP for Birmingham South, comes to visit and she urges him to at least think about getting in touch with his illegitimate son Erasmus ‘Duke’ Shelby (Barry Keoghan) who is the current leader of the Peaky Blinders. Ada is concerned that he is getting into partnerships and deals that will result in a lot of trouble for everyone. She is not wrong. There is a Nazi plot to create counterfeit British bank notes and flood the country with them, thereby crashing the economy and causing Britain to lose the war. The British facilitator acting on behalf of the Nazis is double agent John Beckett (Tim Roth on fine skin-crawling form) and he has already cut a deal with Duke.
Shelby doesn’t listen to his sister and insists that he wants to stay away from the old business. Later Shelby is visited by Kaulo Chiriklo (Rebecca Ferguson), a palm reader and twin sister of his former flame Zelda, mother of Duke, who also asks him to help his son. Again he refuses but when events take a tragic turn he finally relents and returns to the mean streets of Birmingham, riding into town on horseback to be greeted by adoring crowds..
Murphy is excellent as always and infuses his character with an infinite weariness that is moving and quietly powerful. For fans of the series all the tropes are in place - sharp dialogue, stylish cinematography, anachronistic music, it is a fitting conclusion to the story.