Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man

 

In 1940, former gang leader-turned-politician Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) is living as a recluse and writing a memoir while haunted by past losses. His estranged son Duke (Barry Keoghan) has taken up leadership of his gang, the Peaky Blinders, and uses violence to intimidate the locals despite the outbreak of war. Nazi collaborator John Beckett (Tim Roth) approaches Duke with a scheme to crash the British economy by flooding it with counterfeit money, for which the Peaky Blinders would be paid handsomely. A visitor with a connection to both Tommy and Duke tries to bring the former back into the fray to reach out to the latter, but will it be enough to prevent calamity?

During its nearly decade-long run, Peaky Blinders was a sometimes-excellent series occasionally hampered by pacing issues and the odd creative blunder. Stylish and soulful, it boasted strong lead performances, but the six-episode seasons left the storytelling feeling rushed, and it somehow managed to get a bad performance out of the talented-but-woefully miscast Anya Taylor-Joy. Picking up the story seven years later, The Immortal Man offers many of the same virtues and vices.

Oppenheimer may have been Murphy’s biggest break, but Tommy Shelby arguably remains his best role. He’s able to convincingly portray everything from steely resolve to complete devastation and anguish, all without saying terribly much. Keoghan, replacing the younger Conrad Khan, layers in hurt and inner conflict beneath his sneering, nihilistic façade. Among the newer additions, Rebecca Ferguson is reliable as always even if her character’s entry into the story seems contrived. Roth manages to make his evil Nazi disarmingly genial though Beckett is a fairly forgettable character, especially compared to the series’ villains.

Created by a proud Brummie (Steven Knight), Peaky Blinders captured Birmingham’s industrial grit and juxtaposed it with an untamed countryside. These contrasts not only made for striking television, but they spoke to Tommy’s dual legacy: that of a British social climber and a Romani/Traveller leader. The Immortal Man continues and complicates this tendency. Birmingham is now bombed and battered while the countryside is as haunted as the film’s protagonist. As with the series, The Immortal Man benefits from a moody, well-chosen soundtrack, including the series’ unofficial anthem (“Red Right Hand” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds).

The Immortal Man clocks in at just under two hours, and it’s a taut, well-paced affair with sure-handed direction courtesy of Tom Harper. Some of its beats are a bit predictable, but given how much the film addresses themes of fate, there’s at least some context for that. Less pardonable, however, is the disconnect between the film and the show as several characters who should rate at least a mention are left out completely. But just as the series struggled to fit an entire season’s worth of storytelling into six episodes, so too does The Immortal Man find it challenging to serve up a grand finale in about two episodes’ time.

While it may leave fans of the show wanting more, The Immortal Man is powerfully acted and aesthetically sharp if narratively underbaked.