"Who the f**k is Tommy Shelby?" a British soldier asks when Tommy (Cillian Murphy) finally makes it back to The Garrison in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't end well for the soldier. For Tommy though, it swiftly highlights that he's no longer just a man but a myth.
When we catch up with him at the start of The Immortal Man, around seven years have passed since the end of series six. Tommy is a shadow of the man he once was, caught in a liminal space between life and death where he's (literally) haunted by the ghosts of everybody he's lost. He's "not that man anymore" as he tells Ada (Sophie Rundle), happy to let his son Duke (Barry Keoghan) cause chaos as the new leader of the Peaky Blinders.
But that wouldn't be much of a movie – Tommy moping around his house as he waits for death – so when Duke gets involved with fascist Beckett (Tim Roth), Tommy dusts off his flat cap in a suiting-up scene that wouldn't look out of place in Avengers: Doomsday. Tommy might not be "that man anymore", but Tommy Shelby is so much more than a man and if this is the last time we see him, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man sends him off in style.
As with the TV show, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man folds in real-life history to tell its story. Here it's Operation Bernhard, an actual Nazi plan to forge British banknotes in order to crash the economy during World War Two. Steven Knight also brings in the real-life bombing of a Birmingham Small Arms factory at Small Heath in November 1940 as an inciting incident for the movie.
All of this is deftly told in an opening sequence that cuts from prisoners in Sachsenhausen concentration camp making money, to the Nazi bombers undertaking their devastating assault. It's all backed by a seat-rattling and muscular score from Antony Genn and Martin Slattery that continues to be a stand-out during the movie, including new recordings from Grian Chatten, Amy Taylor and, of course, Nick Cave for 'Red Right Hand'.
It's an opening that is unmistakably Peaky Blinders, but what's more impressive is that it's told on a scale that even the series, which was often cinematic in scope, didn't match. If you feared that this would be a TV movie or just a feature-length episode, it's absolutely a 'proper' movie and one that you wouldn't regret seeing on the big screen if you can.
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Even with the broader canvas, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man doesn't forget that Tommy Shelby should always be the focus. It almost goes without saying that Cillian Murphy is magnificent, with the movie showing off his full range as Tommy confronts both the trauma that has lingered since the First World War and the losses he's endured since.
At its heart, the movie is about the father-son relationship between Tommy and Duke who, in the absence of Tommy, is caught between mimicking his father and attempting to be his own man. Barry Keoghan is an excellent addition to the world, despite some slight accent wobbles, and the scenes between Tommy and Duke are electric and unpredictable, even when they're just staring each other down over The Garrison bar.
Keoghan is far from the only impressive addition to this world though. Rebecca Ferguson's enigmatic Kaulo continues the Peaky Blinders tradition of giving female characters true power in the show, effortlessly manipulating Tommy and Duke to her will, while Tim Roth's Beckett is another compelling antagonist for the series who, despite his Nazi allegiance, ends up having more in common with Tommy than you'd think.
Peaky Blinders fans might be disappointed that the new cast members pull the focus away from other returning stars, such as Sophie Rundle's Ada Thorne and Stephen Graham's Hayden Stagg, but they still have their part to play. Thankfully Steven Knight avoids the temptation of making it a cameo-fest and uses characters in service of the story rather than fan service.
In the same way, Knight also doesn't play it safe with the story, which takes some bold swings along the way. Another version of this movie would just be one where the status quo is re-established at the end, safely playing the hits of the series. But Knight ensures that it feels like a satisfying culmination, both emotionally and narratively.
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man avoids becoming a needless continuation of a series that already wrapped up neatly, and is instead an excellent ending to this particular chapter of the story. Who the f**k is Tommy Shelby? This movie ensures he remains one of the most captivating characters around.
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is released in select cinemas on 6 March and will be available to watch on Netflix from 20 March.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
