Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Parent Guide

It’s natural for people to want more of something they’ve already enjoyed.  It’s no surprise, then, that sequels, reboots, and remakes are a huge trend in the entertainment world.  Recent years have brought a new twist on that trend: the movie made as a sequel to a TV series—not a remake, not a readaptation, but a continuation of the same story with the same actors and writers. Downton Abbey has done this one to death.  Now Steven Knight, creator and writer of the critically acclaimed Peaky Blinders has brought us his two-hour follow-up Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. 

Also coming as no surprise: If you enjoyed Peaky Blinders, you’ll probably like this film, and if you didn’t, you probably won’t. 

This feature-length Peaky Blinders tale carries on the saga of gangster, politician, and war hero Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) beginning in 1939, two decades after the start of the TV show’s story about organized crime in Birmingham.  The series eventually brought Tommy into difficult contact with fascists. Now with Britain at war, Tommy, who has withdrawn from public life and his family’s criminal enterprise, battles Nazis plotting to destabilize Britain’s currency with counterfeit banknotes (a historically accurate story, by the way).  

Tommy spends the film seeking to destroy those fake banknotes and the men conspiring to spread them.  But the real MacGuffin here is not the notes; it’s the love and loyalty of his son Duke (Barry Keoghan), who has taken over the gang and is flirting with the bad guys.  And then again, it’s not just Duke’s love that the tormented Tommy is pursuing. His overall goal—waiting at the end of the character arc he’s been on since 1919—is some peace, which he seeks through a noble (but, as always, violent) swansong.

This movie version of Peaky Blinders feels more concentrated than the Netflix series, and its world feels darker and less nuanced. Tommy’s mental torment is deeper. His ghosts are more real. The gang’s conduct is more ruthless.  The poverty, destruction and pollution of Birmingham are worse.  The scale of destruction is greater, and the stakes higher, than ever before.

Making a freestanding movie sequel has its difficulties: How do you make it work for audiences who haven’t watched the show? This film attempts that through exposition that can feel stilted and cursory. Despite Steven Knight’s skills as a screenwriter, the script isn’t deep enough to give new viewers a full appreciation of the backstory—and to be fair, that’s probably impossible.

Another difficulty is how to compress a massive story into its timeframe.  It may seem ironic that a two-hour movie should be more hurried than a one-hour TV show, but this film isn’t just trying to add one or two episodes’ worth of story; it’s adding an entire seventh season’s worth of plot with only two hours to do it.  And because the series did such a marvelous job of developing plot at just the right pace, the film feels rushed.

Production quality is at the same admirably high level as the series, and there’s no weak acting in sight.  Cillian Murphy, in particular, has a physical presence that communicates his character’s pain in a remarkable way. You can’t look into those striking, wide-set eyes without feeling something.

Parents should know that this film is simply not for children, any more than the series was.  My recommendation:  If you’re not put off by heavy violence and swearing, you’ll enjoy this well-crafted story. If you do plan to see it, I recommend watching the series first, which is easy enough, since it’s sitting right there on Netflix alongside the sequel.  Have a good time, enjoy a good film, and don’t—DON’T—watch it with young kids.

About author

Donald Bugg

Donald Bugg is an actor, singer, composer, choir director, writer, attorney, and retired military officer living in Utah. He is married to a beautiful Canadian, has six children, and has always loved movies.