‘Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man’ film review: Cillian Murphy bids farewell to Tommy Shelby

It has been less than half a decade since Tommy Shelby bid adieu to our screens in 2022. Four years later, Cillian Murphy returns as the Birmingham gangster, to give his final farewell in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. The film serves almost exclusively as a vehicle to provide Tommy with a proper goodbye, but the signature Peaky Blinders beats still manage to deliver a thrilling film.

In 1940, Tommy Shelby has sheltered himself away from the Birmingham alleys he once ruled, in a remote mansion, with only Johnny Dogs (Packy Lee) for company. It is also the year when the Nazis are spreading their war across Europe. But away from all this, Tommy’s daily routine now features him poring over the autobiography he is writing. When not doing that, the retired gangster finds himself being tormented by the deaths of his brother Arthur and his daughter Ruby.

Meanwhile in Birmingham, Tommy’s son Duke (Barry Keoghan) has taken over the Peaky Blinders, and fashioning himself (quite literally) after his father. But much to his aunt Ada’s chagrin (Sophie Rundle) he is also raiding ammunitions factories, and stealing morphine from hospitals. When Nazi footsteps reach the Garrison Pub, as John Beckett (Tim Roth) attempts to rope in Duke in the plan to make Britain lose the war, it finally sends alarm bells ringing all the way to Tommy’s cottage.

A still from ‘Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man’
| Photo Credit:
Netflix

A visit from Zelda’s sister Kaulo (Rebecca Ferguson) manages to stir Tommy enough, as he races back to Birmingham to take part in his final battle against the Nazis. He is going to save his son from himself, save Britain from the fascists, and go out in a blaze of glory. Spoiler alert: he does, but not before some serious self-referencing that dishes out enough majestic scenes, and broody dialogues to serve the Peaky Blinders fans twice over.

Besides the timeline, there is not much new on offer from the film. But that does not mean it’s all bad. Steven Knight’s screenplay, predictable enough, is made interesting because of how it approaches the nostalgia around the show. It is just self-mythologising enough to be reverent of its successful past, but stops short of completely losing sight of the future.

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is a farewell tour tailored for Tommy Shelby. Its tragic, bloody and muddies the streets of Small Heath. Along the way, it appears to pass the baton to a new generation of the Shelby family. The Immortal Man is a decent detour, but it remains to be seen what Steven Knight intends to expand upon this legacy.

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is available for streaming on Netflix