CILLIAN MURPHY REPRISES ROLE

MOBSTERS FIGHTING MONSTERS IN TIMES OF WORLD WAR

by PETER THOMAS BUSCH

Thomas Shelby still struggles with his ghosts, whether they be angels or demons, even after retirement from his post war organized crime spree in Birmingham, England.

Cillian Murphy reprises his role from the television series for the full length feature film, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man (2026).

Steven Knight continues with the creative genius as writer, while Tom Harper directs. Harper directed three episodes in season one.

The mobster theme continues but only after a contemplative start as Shelby has sought a quieter life on a rural estate. 

The past will not leave him alone though. The ghosts of his past keep is mind so active that he decides to write a novel. , Eventually Shelby’s sister, Ada, played by Sophie Rundle, comes for a visit to deliver bad news.

The problem is that Shelby’s son, Duke, played by Barry Keoghan, has taken over the city operations and has continued on the street fighting and thuggery that his father was hoping to leave behind.

While Duke has all the thuggery of a mobster, he lacks that bit of ethics amongst thieves, shall we say, that keeps criminals from becoming bigger monsters than the people will tolerate.

Tim Roth plays the protagonist in the main narrative about money laundering for the German Nazis during the bombing of London in 1940.

The Nazis want to use the mobsters to devalue the British Pound by laundering about 450 million counterfeit pounds into the British economy.

Roth brings that unscrupulous screen character he has created for the darker film roles to show that the mob has no loyalty to king and country and would actually welcome the opportunities that are fostered by having chaos spread fear among the population.

Thomas Shelby still cannot hear the trouble until Kaulo, played by Rebecca Ferguson, shows up and reaches inside Shelby to stir his conscience.

Ferguson creates a gypsy who profits one way or another by dealing in the dark arts, even turning family against each other. Thomas Shelby is a bit lost still but he gets tangled up in the black magic when he is reminder of having an affair with Kaulo’s twin sister, Zelda, with whom he had the son, Duke.

The writer and the director keep everything on theme in part by recreating 1940 England and then dipping everything into darkness, and at times, only using just enough flashes of light to capture the images on film.

A few times the chase sequences come to dramatic stops with the script turning on a dime, so everyone can get to know everyone again through intense dialogue. The chase starts up soon enough though, with the three narratives gradually merging until all three protagonists appear in the same scene sequences.

The feature length film definitely has a different pace than the episodic television, but if everyone is patient enough and lets the characters introduce themselves, the monsters emerge to fight the really big monsters.

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man premiers on Netflix on Friday, March 20.