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Cast your mind back to 2022, when BBC smash hit period drama Peaky Blinders was wrapping up its sixth and final season. Loveable local gangster Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) was tricked into believing that he was about to die from syphilis, making himself a recluse in the process.
However, this was all a lie, with Tommy tracking down the doctor responsible but failing to kill him. In this moment, Tommy learned the ultimate lesson of grace, and his legacy was forever changed (and more importantly, left on a high).
At least, this was the case until new Netflix movie Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. We’ve picked up with who’s left of the gang in 1940, with Tommy’s now grown-up eldest son Duke (Barry Keoghan) involved in a plot to foil the Second World War. In short, he’s helping the Nazis distribute counterfeit money across the country, making him rich to the tune of £70 million in the process.
I’m not joking when I say that I never want to watch Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man again
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It breaks my heart to be the bearer of such bad news after an agonizing four-year wait, but let’s dig deeper into what’s gone so wrong. More than anything else, it’s the actual storyline that The Immortal Man has chosen to flesh out.
Fans have been waiting a long time for a spectacular Tommy Shelby comeback, wanting more of the same explosive energy that we got during the original series run. Instead, Tommy has become a man who is incredibly unsure of himself.
He’s got good reason to be, as fans will find out in the first 20 minutes. But sadly, this all makes for incredibly drab viewing. It’s easy to sum the entire movie up as this:
The first 45 minutes is Shelby continuous saying “No, I can’t possibly go back to Birmingham” to the few people on hand to listen. The middle 25 minutes is Tommy at his best, punching and shooting layabouts who don’t respect their elders. For the final 40-odd minutes, we’re back to misery, as Tommy has all but given up the ghost.
Our original crew has practically dissipated before our eyes, too. By the time The Immortal Man closes out, we’re largely left with new or B-plot characters, none of whom we actually give a damn about. That’s not amazing news if the BBC does intend to develop a sequel series in the future…
In essence, it’s out-and-out dread, which isn’t exactly what you want to sit down and stream after a long week. Tommy’s ending in season 6 was much more fitting too, and I really wish it remained his final hurrah. The Immortal Man ends suddenly, sadly, and with little resolution for the characters we dedicated almost a decade to.
Not everybody else is a great fit either
When we talk about period dramas, the term ‘iPhone face’ is sometimes bandied about. This describes someone who looks so modern that you just know they’ve seen an iPhone, therefore is not a successful fit for a story set in the past. Barry Keoghan suffers from something I’m going to term ‘iPhone haircut’.
Sporting an on-trend fade and more sticker-style tattoos than I could count, Keoghan’s styling completely takes us out of the 1940s moment. Thanks to Saltburn, Eternals, Master of the Air, The Banshees of Inisherin, Crime 101 and the upcoming four Beatles movies, the man is absolutely everywhere, so perhaps it was already going to be difficult to buy him as anyone other than a modern actor.
Even so, it speaks to the disjointed feeling that The Immortal Man hosts, a patchwork of old and new that sits in a no-man’s land in between. There’s light to be found in the dark, including multiple touching tributes to Helen McCrory’s character Polly Gray and, ironically for something so bleak, the best lighting in a Netflix movie I’ve possibly ever seen.
On the whole though, these minor wins don’t make up for the dull and depressing bigger picture. My advice? Watch The Immortal Man‘s trailer before binging Peaky Blinders season 1-6 all over again. Trust me, it’s a much better use of your time.
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