Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man
There’s something off about Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. Not bad, just off.
The film is shot really well had to say. The war, The Blitz with those crazy shots of Birmingham bombings. Peaky blinders is a nostalgic series for me , watched when I was in 11th grade - had red right hand as my ringtone throughout Covid.
I forgot how good of an actor Cillian Murphy is , When I see Tommy Shelby , I cannot seem to find any link to Cillian Murphy, Completely different people.
Although Tommy’s death or his decision to die feels forced. I get what they were going for, but it doesn’t feel earned. His arc should’ve brewed more in this season before reaching that point. Same with his sudden comeback from isolation, a man was locked in that house for years and then just puts the suit back on and steps out like nothing. The red scarf moment isn’t enough to justify that shift.
Tim Roth’s character (John Beckett), who’s set up as smart and calculating and a potential counterweight to Tommy Shelby. His character just blindly trusting Duke again felt off. If Duke had chickened out once on you , I refuse to believe that he did not have a backup in case Duke betrays him again… You’re watching it thinking, there’s no way he doesn’t see this coming. Towards the end it was more about letting him escape just for the sake of returning in upcoming sequel of Peaky blinders.
Ada’s death works in the moment. It's shocking, sudden but Tommy seeing her in the middle of the road right after kind of ruins it. The show has always played with that gypsy, psychological edge where you’re never sure if it’s real or just in his head. This time it leans too literal, and it took me out of it. It stops feeling like grief and starts feeling like something else entirely.
I think given that Paul Anderson's real life issues, they did a good job twisting the story for Arthur's character. It makes sense for him to go at Tommy’s hands, but it’s rushed and underexplored. Feels like a clear adjustment because Paul Anderson wasn’t in the film, and while they handled it as best as they could. They could've explored it more but I understand being this a feature length film , they did not have that kind of time.
Another thing that concerned me was, Tommy's family or what's left of it should've been there for his funeral. Lizze, Charles (son with Grace , who is not even mentioned, Although I'm a little unsure about Charles because when I searched online about these missing characters some say they had been mentioned in the series and Charles was basically drafted and at war during the events of Immortal man .. might be wrong…I may have missed something while watching. )
That’s the main issue: everything feels compressed. Too many big moments happening too quickly without enough space to land. This should’ve been a season, not a film. Easily could’ve been two. First half dealing with the fallout of Season 6, second half jumping forward in time and letting everything settle properly. That would’ve given characters like Duke’s and even Tommy himself more room to breathe.
The film still looks good, still has that Peaky atmosphere, but for a story that always thrived on slow tension and build-up, this felt like it rushed its own ending.
