“In the 13 years since it first slo-mo strutted onto our TV screens, ‘Peaky Blinders’ has become a cultural phenomenon,” said Dan Jolin in Empire. Now, we have a spin-off film set in the thick of the Second World War, half a decade on from where the sixth and final series left off.
Cillian Murphy reprises his role as the gangster “King of the Gypsies”, Tommy Shelby, now world-weary and “wearing cardies” as he writes his memoir in a decaying rural manor house. But then a mysterious Romany woman (Rebecca Ferguson) turns up, and persuades him to return to Birmingham, in order to bring his violent illegitimate son (Barry Keoghan) – who now runs his Peaky Blinders mob – to heel.
It’s good to see Tommy “back in his newsboy cap and three-piece suit”, “stalking the streets” and laying down the law – “or rather its opposite”. Still, the film does have the feel of an “extra-long” “Peaky Blinders” episode rather than a “standalone cinematic experience”.
Article continues belowThe Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Meanwhile, as his character ponders the “perennial question” of all long-running TV characters – “Why does everyone around me have to die?” – Murphy alternates between two modes: “haunted and glowering”.