TOMMY SHELBY IS in a bad place. But was he ever really in a good one?

When the film Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man reintroduces us to the former leader of the Peaky Blinders gang (played by Oscar winner Cillian Murphy), he’s moping around an old mansion, with just the ghosts of his past and Johnny Dogs (Packy Lee) as company. He’s also trying to write a memoir, which is forcing him to get up close and personal with the last few decades of his turbulent life.

Set in 1940 during World War II, The Immortal Man is a feature-length continuation of Shelby’s story, roughly six years after the end of Peaky Blinders’ sixth season. But what can you expect in it, and is it worth watching?

Nazi plot

In the opening scene, we learn about a Nazi plot to flood Britain with counterfeit notes, which is based on the real-life Operation Bernhard (Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight favours taking real-life situations and building on them, which is always enjoyable). A scene later, a German bomb is dropped on a Birmingham small arms factory.

Miles away, Tommy is visited by his sister Ada (Sophie Rundle) and informed that his wayward son, Duke (Barry Keoghan – originally played by Conrad Kahn) is leading the Peaky Blinders back in Birmingham and terrifying the locals in a style his father wouldn’t approve of.

Before we know it, Tommy is visited by Romani woman Kaulo (Rebecca Ferguson) who tries to convince him to head back to his son in Birmingham city… via having sex with him after revealing she’s the identical twin sister of Duke’s mother.

Could this period gangster drama have completely removed Kaulo and still been coherent? Absolutely, but it feels like there was a desire here to shove in a sex scene to make things a bit exciting. Which is unfortunate.

Meanwhile, Duke gets entangled with Nazi collaborator John Beckett (Tim Roth). John Beckett urges Duke to get involved with the counterfeit plot, and the scenes between the pair convincingly show us how pliable Duke’s morals are. That Roth plays Beckett with a disturbing level of calmness adds a nice twist to their interactions. 

Paternal dynamics

Tim Roth as John Beckett Netflix Netflix

This is a film about legacy and love; about what fathers pass onto sons, and whether you can really escape your genetics. As Tommy Shelby heads towards the city to face off with his son, the paternal dynamics are highlighted by Beckett telling Duke: “If you were my son, I would cherish you.” 

Keoghan is always skilled at playing young men who treat morals as optional and then feel a little distressed over it. Cillian Murphy continues his winning streak of imbuing Tommy Shelby with a muscular violence, tempered by a desire to try and make up for past indiscretions. Memories of his time in World War I are always on the edge of his mind.

Peaky Blinders never shrinks away from violence. When it can make its characters suffer, it does. There’s plenty of this in The Immortal Man. Family is at the centre of all things, but family members will also pay the price for each other’s actions.

Visually, the film makes good use of Birmingham’s grey stone and dark cobblestones, mirroring the darkness that surrounds the Shelbys. Tommy’s big house has a coldness to it, but enough texture to suggest he’s not living an uncomfortable life there. When Tommy makes his return to The Garrison, it’s through a hazy curtain of cigarette smoke. 

For fans of the original series, The Immortal Man is an enjoyable continuation of the Peaky Blinders story. The soundtrack is on point, with songs from the new original soundtrack working seamlessly alongside contemporary music, while the costumes are spiffy. 

Had the film’s plot been explored across a series, we’d get more of a sense of what underpins all the drama. But in this feature, the main details are drawn clearly enough that we’re not looking for deeper explanations.

Even those who haven’t watched the previous six series will know enough about Tommy Shelby – responsible for a generation of young men re-embracing flat caps and tweed – to understand the basics of what’s happening. Some exposition is handily injected in one key scene, when Shelby meets people at The Garrison who have no clue as to his former status. His way of showing them what he’s made of quickly gives them and us a sense of his power. 

Surprises

Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby Netflix Netflix

There are some big surprises here – longtime fans will certainly have opinions about the revelations around Tommy’s brother Arthur Shelby’s death. 

A dramatic ending paves the way for an upcoming follow-up BBC series about the Shelbys, which will be set a decade after the action in The Immortal Man.

The film is a clever bridge between the original Peaky Blinders series and its next version, and fans of its violence, glamour and period vibes will find all that they love in this movie. If you’re less of a fan of Peaky Blinders, this is unlikely to convert you. But given the series’ success, you might be in the minority anyway.