When the ‘Peaky Blinders’ British TV series ended after its sixth season in 2022, I wasn’t banking on getting any other entries into the franchise.
It seemed determined to end on a cliffhanger without any hopes of continuing.
Well, those hopes only grew once rumor of “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man” became a rumored capstone for the series.
Since we didn’t get the film in our local theater, I had to wait until it was available for streaming on Netflix last weekend.
Overall, I was glad to have some sort of finality for Peaky Blinders’ main character Thomas Shelby, but I feel like it was a pathetic end all the same.
But, maybe, depending on how this is received there could be a spinoff from the franchise or something - I just feel like there’s more to the Peaky Blinders story that could be told.
Immortal Man is a British crime drama film directed by Tom Harper and written by Steven Knight.
It is a continuation of the British television series Peaky Blinders (2013–2022), and stars Cillian Murphy alongside an ensemble cast including Sophie Rundle, Ned Dennehy, Packy Lee, Ian Peck, and Stephen Graham reprising their roles, alongside new additions Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Roth, Jay Lycurgo, and Barry Keoghan.
The movie clocks in at 112 minutes long and is rated R for violence/bloody images, language throughout, some drug use and nudity.
Amidst the Blitz in November 1940, Nazi Germany initiates a plot to economically subdue the United Kingdom by using copious amounts of counterfeit British currency manufactured by the inmates of the regime’s concentration camps.
The overall plan is to inject the counterfeit money into the British economy with the assistance of pro-Nazi agents to trigger hyperinflation.
Concurrently, a Luftwaffe night raid in Birmingham decimates a BSA munitions factory, killing the factory’s female workforce.
Elsewhere, Tommy Shelby (Murphy) lives in isolation, having retreated from public life after the death of his elder brother Arthur, who supposedly committed suicide in December 1938.
His only company is his loyal assistant Johnny Dogs (Lee); Tommy is working on his autobiography, but is haunted by visions of his deceased daughter Ruby.
Ada Shelby (Rundle), who has succeeded Tommy as the MP (Member of Parliament) for Birmingham South, visits him to inform him of the acts committed by the Peaky Blinders, now led by his son Duke Shelby (Keoghan).
Concurrently, the gang raids the destroyed factory and steals its munitions.
In private, Duke has joined forces with Nazi agent John Beckett (Roth), who intends to have the Peaky Blinders distribute £350 million of counterfeit currency inside Britain through the gang’s networks.
Meanwhile, Tommy is approached by Kaulo Chiriklo (Ferguson), the twin sister of Zelda Chiriklo - with whom Tommy had conceived Duke with in 1914.
Calling Tommy the Rom Baro, or the Gypsy King, Kaulo claims to have spoken to Arthur from beyond the grave, and goads Tommy into divulging that he had accidentally killed Arthur, who had acted erratically under the influence of opium.
She nevertheless interprets Tommy’s act as a kindness, and convinces him to return to Birmingham to save Duke, whom she deduces is in trouble.
Elsewhere, Beckett discovers that Ada had collected testimony about Duke’s raid at the factory and that she intends to submit it to the military police, which could derail the entire Nazi plot.
Things just get worse for the Shelby family from there and the ending is both sad and semi-hopeful.
But, you should definitely check it out yourself and form your own opinions.
