Peaky Blinders - The Immortal Man

With The Immortal Man, the Peaky Blinders, and Tommy Shelby in particular, receive an emotional but uneven farewell.

What started in 2013 as a small-scale crime series grew larger with each season. Peaky Blinders moved from Thursday nights on BBC Two to Sunday night primetime on BBC One, and Netflix acquired the international streaming rights. In 2022, the series concluded after six seasons, but the story of Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and his criminal gang was clearly not finished. It was set to end with the film The Immortal Man. And although it's an uneven journey, Tommy Shelby takes a worthy farewell from our screens.

It's 1940, and while England and Germany are at each other's throats, Tommy Shelby leads a reclusive life in his country house. The criminal activities have now been taken over by his son Duke (Barry Keoghan), with whom he has a strained relationship. But when Duke gets into serious trouble with a group of Nazis, Tommy must step in once more.

Little remains of the once mighty Peaky Blinders.

There's not much left of the Peaky Blinders. From the once-powerful Shelby family, only Tommy and his sister Ada (Sophie Rundle) remain. And that's a shame. Now, Duke is an interesting character, but he was essentially on his own. In this short two hours, there wasn't enough time to delve into his accomplices. Also, at the beginning of this film, I felt like it was a repeat of the sixth season. Back then, Tommy had also turned his back on the little family he had left, and he had to take action again. It might have been more interesting to choose a slightly different angle than this.

Tommy Shelby receives a worthy farewell

That doesn't take away from the fact that the second half of this film is very spectacular. We see a lot of action and tension, and the Peaky Blinders vibe returns a bit. Moreover, the final act provides a fitting and emotional farewell for the character Tommy Shelby and everything he stands for. Although the end of the film is a goodbye, we also see a new generation rise, and The Immortal Man plants seeds for the already announced sequel series.

Additionally, the conditions for a good film are well met. Cillian Murphy once again proves that he is an excellent actor, and the rest of the cast is certainly commendable. It was a smart move to cast Barry Keoghan as Duke (in the series, he was played by Conrad Khan), and Tim Roth plays an amusing and intimidating villain role. Furthermore, wartime Birmingham looks great, and the music is fitting for the series.

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man starts a bit uncertainly but manages to deliver a spectacular, emotional, and appropriate farewell to our favorite gangster from Birmingham. However, the story of the Peaky Blinders is not over yet. Creator Steven Knight has announced a sequel series that will take place after World War II. I'm looking forward to it.