All loose ends are tied up in this aggressively okay finale writes Carter Smith
It’s been four years since the conclusion of Peaky Blinders six-season run, and it was hard to see whether the world still cared about the show. After all, Cillian Murphy has gone on to win an Academy Award for Oppenheimer since then, and the number of lads dressing up like the razor blade gang has thankfully decreased.
Does it still have the juice it once did? Well, kind off. We got the answer to that question and to put an end to the stories of the Shelby family with its own movie budget makeover in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
Six years on from when Thomas Shelby galloped away on his horse, and things have gone from bad to worse in Birmingham since. The destruction of World War 2 is in full swing, and his gypsy son Duke (A surprisingly great Barry Keoghan) has brought the Peaky Blinders back to their thuggish ways.
Where does that leave Tommy? Well, he is writing an autobiography far away from the gritty streets of Birmingham. He is living in an empty mansion with only loyal friend Johnny Dogs (Packy Lee) and the figures of his past who haunt him to keep him company.
It’s a familiar script. There is a bad guy — this time in the form of Tim Roth’s Beckett, a Nazi ally who plans to betray England with the help of Duke — and Tommy has to put his struggles aside to save the day. It doesn’t deviate much from the usual formula we had seen in the TV show.
The issue, however, is that this isn’t a TV show. You don’t have six hours to build up these new characters. You have 112 minutes. This leads the film’s narrative to feel a little uneven throughout.
You can get away with Tommy not arriving in Birmingham until the end of episode two. But you can’t get away with waiting until over half of the movie is done for him to set foot on the hallowed turf of Small Heath – especially considering it is one of the best moments of the show when he does.
It jarringly cuts from absolutely nothing of note happening to preparations for the final conflict so quickly that it feels hard to be invested in any of it.
There are great character moments throughout. Murphy hasn’t missed a beat since the last episode. He wears that three-piece suit and tweed flap cap like a suit of armour, commanding your attention every time he graces the screen.
It is a serviceable ending to one of the all time great TV shows, but its lack of tension stops it from ever reaching the heights of the series. It should be time to retire the shoddy haircuts and put the show in a wagon and watch as it burns in all its glory.
- Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is free to watch on Netflix
