“Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is the most unnecessary sequel in years” – and that’s the nicest thing I can say about the new Netflix movie

Go back to 2022, when the BBC hit the period drama Peaky Blinders was finishing its sixth and final season. Lovable local gangster Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) was tricked into believing he was about to die of syphilis, thus becoming a recluse.

However, this was all a lie, with Tommy tracking down the doctor responsible but failing to kill him. In that moment, Tommy learned the ultimate lesson of grace, and his legacy was forever changed (and, more importantly, left on high).

At least that was the case until the new Netflix movie Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. We caught up with those remaining of the gang in 1940, with Tommy’s eldest son Duke (Barry Keoghan), now an adult, embroiled in a plot to thwart World War II. In short, he helps the Nazis distribute counterfeit money across the country, making him rich to the tune of £70 million.

I’m not kidding when I say I never want to watch Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man again

It breaks my heart to be the bearer of such bad news after an agonizing four-year wait, but let’s dig deeper into what’s wrong. More than anything else, it is the scenario itself that The immortal man chose to expand.

Fans have long awaited a dramatic return from Tommy Shelby, wanting more of the same explosive energy we got during the original series. Instead, Tommy became an incredibly insecure man.

He has good reason to be, as fans will discover over the first 20 minutes. But unfortunately, all of this makes for incredibly boring viewing. It’s easy to summarize the whole film like this:

For the first 45 minutes, Shelby continues to say “No, I can’t go back to Birmingham” to the few people present to listen. The middle 25 minutes are Tommy at his best, punching and shooting slackers who don’t respect their elders. For the last 40 or so minutes, we’re back to misery, as Tommy has almost given up the ghost.

Our original crew has also all but dissipated before our eyes. By time The immortal man In the end, we’re largely left with either new characters or B-plots, none of which we really care about. It’s not amazing news if the BBC intends to develop a sequel series in the future…

Essentially, it’s total fear, which isn’t exactly what you want to sit down and diffuse after a long week. Tommy’s ending in Season 6 was also much more fitting, and I really wish it remained his last hurray. The immortal man ends suddenly, sadly, and with little resolution for the characters we’ve devoted nearly a decade to.

Not everyone is suitable either

When talking about period dramas, the term “iPhone face” is sometimes thrown around. This describes someone who looks so modern as you know they saw an iPhone, so it’s not a successful choice for a story set in the past. Barry Keoghan suffers from something I’m going to call “iPhone haircut.”

Sporting a trendy fade and more sticker-style tattoos than I could count, Keoghan’s style takes us completely out of the 1940s moment. Thanks to Salt burn, Eternals, Airbender, The Banshees of Inisherin, Crime 101 and in the next four Beatles films, the man is absolutely everywhere, so maybe it was already going to be difficult to buy him as anyone other than a modern actor.

Nonetheless, it speaks to the disjointed feeling that The immortal man hosts, a patchwork of old and new that sits in a no-man’s land in between. There’s light in the darkness, including multiple touching homages to Helen McCrory’s character Polly Gray, and, ironically for something so dark, the best lighting in a Netflix film I’ve ever seen.

Overall though, these minor victories don’t make up for the boring and depressing bigger picture. My advice? Watch The immortal manthe trailer for before binging Peaky Blinders seasons 1 to 6 start again. Trust me, it’s a much better use of your time.

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