The “Peaky Blinders” movie is a hit.
You don’t have to know much about the long running series to appreciate the film, called “The Immortal Man,” which opens Friday in theaters.
The next week it goes to Netflix but remains on the big screen, where I think you should watch it. It’s that good.
Oscar winner Cillian Murphy, Tim Roth, Rebecca Ferguson, and Barry Keoghan star in what is the final episode of what Murphy calls “this chapter” of the show, meaning it could go on without him.
Roth plays a villain added to the story, a British fascist sympathizer named Beckett, who was not in the series. When I told him I’d seen all the episodes, he exclaimed, “Would you believe I’ve never seen one!” To be fair, his character comes along years after the series’ finale.
But “The Immortal Man” stands alone as a film, and it’s very very good.
For the film, all the original creators returned including director Tom Harper, screenwriter Stephen Knight, within insanely rich cinematography from Ben Wilson and George Steel.
Netflix threw an old fashioned elegant premiere for “Immortal Man” last night with a private screening at the DGA Theater. Among the guests were Kathleen Turner, and Steve Buscemi. Later the crowd moved to an elegant dinner buffet at the Plaza Hotel where Murphy held court.
(As a total aside, I met WNBC’s Natalie Pasqarella, a rising media star and anchor of the Channel 4 News here in New York. She’s lovely.)
Keoghan and Ferguson never arrived, but Murphy spent a lot of time accepting congrats. (He did miss fellow Oscar winner Adrien Brody, however, who came to the party in a super Thom Browne black suit.)
Netflix loves this movie. Every guest at the DGA found a genuine tweed cap, the kind worn in the movie, on their seats. At the Plaza, the tables were adorned with replica pocket watches.
As you may know, the TV series follows the antics of the Peaky Blinders gang in Birmingham, England from 1880 to 1920. The gang is Irish but they’re mixed with Romani’s — gypsies — making the stories and cast extremely colorful. A mild warning — there’s a lot of gritty violence, including the disposal of enemy who is eaten alive. Pigs factor into it, and you don’t want to miss Murphy and Keoghan mud wrestling.
There are a lot of takeaways in “The Immortal Man.” Ferguson is great, this role is a big departure from her “Mission Impossible” role. She deserves to be a real leading lady. Keoghan, as usual, has his show stopping moments. Roth steals a lot of scenes with aplomb and gets what’s coming to him.
But it’s Murphy’s movie. I asked him if was possible that he could be old enough to be Keoghan’s on screen father? “Biologically, yes, I’m afraid so,” he replied drolly. “Tommy Shelby got busy at 16!” Murphy, now 49, has matured into being one of the world’s great stars, a lyrical Irish actor whose range is unlimited. You can’t take your eyes off him here.
