By order of the FOOKIN’ PEAKY BLINDERS
THERE’S GONNA BE SPOILERS HERE. EH? DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
There is a part of me that absolutely adores Peaky Blinders. I watched all six seasons on and off over the years—it was compelling, it was brooding, the acting was fantastic, the story moving along in shifty shadows.
I would also argue that the longer it went on, the emptier it felt.
I’m not saying that Season 6 was a bad season by any means. It just felt like a decent conclusion, not anything that made me upset, but it also didn’t thrill me. It was just passable.
The movie felt like it should have been a better conclusion to the overall story, but unfortunately, I think I disliked the movie even more than Season 6.
Let’s get into it.
First, it’s great to see Cillian Murphy back as Tommy Shelby. He’s a little grayer, a little more subdued at first, but he’s still Tommy Shelby. The movie does a pretty great job at showing just why he’s at where he’s at–his demons finally caught up with him and now he’s writing a book to combat them.
It was even good to see Johnny Dogs, Curly, and Charlie–all mainstays that have been there since day one. But I couldn’t help this nagging sense that the rest of the Peaky Blinders world felt–neutered? Much less colorful?
The cinematography, the production, all of that felt fine. But the story, and the characters just felt emptier this time around. Beckett (Tim Roth) is okay. Rebecca Ferguson showing up as the twin sister of the girl that Tommy got pregnant when he was young was…a choice. And while I am okay with Barry Keoghan 90% of the time, I really didn’t like him as Duke Shelby.
All in all, I was pretty wholly un-interested in most of the story the whole time. It had an interesting hook–preventing the Nazis from winning the war by distributing millions of counterfeit pounds into the banking system. But that was about the end of it.
There’s also the elephant in the room–that Arthur wasn’t around. And man, you could tell that really through the whole balance of characters off. Paul Anderson was a force to reckon with–it’s a shame that he seemed to suffer the same issues as his character in real life, which may have contributed to him being killed off in this. I really hope he gets the help he needs to get back on his feet. I know I missed him immensely in this project.
And maybe that’s what I also felt…wrong about doing this movie. Tommy has lost pretty much everyone he’s ever loved. Even in this movie, they decide to kill his sister. I know he left on bad terms with Lizzie, but there’s not really any presence felt from her–not even from Alfie (Tom Hardy). It felt like by the end of the series he had lost everyone important but Arthur and Ada, and I’m sure there’s some sort of cosmic poetry there about how Tommy did so much but lost it all. Blah blah blah.
It just felt like a gut punch when you see the time skip and see what Tommy and his empire has crumbled. All of that effort building something huge and insane, through six seasons, and it’s practically nothing in this movie.
We see the return of the pub, a little smidge of Birmingham to let you know that this is Peaky Blinders, but that’s about it. If you had told me this was a one-off movie that wasn’t connected to Peaky Blinders at all–I almost would have believed you.
If it weren’t for Cillian Murphy and the score to really drive it home, I don’t know if this would have been Peaky Blinders at all.
Now there’s tell of a sequel series coming–with a recast Duke Shelby played by Jamie Bell. And I got to tell you–I kind of don’t care. Without Cillian, there’s no Tommy Shelby. And maybe that’s the way it should remain.
By order of the Peaky Blinders.
