Who in the bloody hell is Tommy Shelby? This cheeky line from the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man trailers is clearly there to get a laugh, but it also pretty much sums up the mission of this cinematic epilogue. This Peaky Blinders Immortal Man review sets out to see if the notorious Tommy Shelby, the iconic Brit gangster played by Cillian Murphy, has a hope of finding a measure of peace after a lifetime of kicking around in the violent underbelly of UK life, dogged by trauma & moral grey areas.
Setting the Scene – 6 Years On
“The Immortal Man” kicks off 6 years after the Season 6 finale, putting a pretty swift end to any hopes the viewers might’ve had that Tommy would be starting over. Can’t escape his demons, innit? Now holed up in some crumbling country manse, literally surrounded by the ghosts of his past – the only person around to keep him company is old mate Johnny Doggs (Packy Lee) – Tommy is scribbling away at his now-famous memoir, the one that gives the film its title, while wallowing in decades of unresolved grief.
Back in Blighty (for Real this Time)
Tommy gets pulled back into the world when his sis Ada (Sophie Rundle) brings him the news he’s been waiting for about his unacknowledged offspring, Duke (Barry Keoghan). Now running the Peaky Blinders, Duke is a born rebel who’s decided to prove just how much of a chip off the old block he is by alienating both the local bobbies and the good people of Birmingham at the same time. Barry Keoghan is pretty much the only person you’d think could convincingly play Tommy’s troubled offspring, and he’d also nailed the vulnerability and resentful anger just about perfectly.
Barry Keoghan Steals the Show as Duke
This Peaky Blinders Immortal Man review will praise the performance of the bloke taking the reins as Duke from Conrad Khan. He’s got a deep desperation that comes across in every single line he utters – desperate to prove himself to the father who walked out on him & got him into this whole mess. Getting pulled into a Nazi scheme that’s out to spread dodgy cash across the entire UK, Duke finds himself catapulted into a vortex of attention-seeking – catapulted into a nightmare of confronting the kind of truths that he’d much rather avoid about his identity and what makes him tick.
Key Character Dynamics
- Tommy & Duke: a toxic father-son relationship that screams of unresolved family trauma
- Ada The Mediator: Sophie Rundle does a cracking job keeping everyone grounded in all the chaos
- The Nazis: who aren’t that hard to spot as the bad lot in this film, quite frankly
Where the Lines Get Blurred & the Action Kicks In
One of the things that Peaky Blinders has always been great for is pretty much playing with its moral compass – it’s never as black & white as a lot of these other gangster flicks. Tommy Shelby isn’t a hero, but the series always managed to find so much emotional depth in the fact that he was a bad man who did bad things for what he believed were good reasons.
“The Immortal Man” takes a step back when it comes to exploring the complex bit, instead pitting Tommy & Duke against some actual Nazis in the middle of the Birmingham Blitz. And although that pretty much erases all the nuance out of the situation, it’s a recipe for escalating tension & some pretty fun gangland heist drama. This Peaky Blinders Immortal Man review will say that the second half leans a bit too heavily on the action & doesn’t exactly give a whole lot of depth, which will either satisfy your average genre fan or leave you feeling a bit unsatisfied with the movie as a whole.
Standout Moments That Leave a Lasting Impression
Despite some narrative wobbles, “The Immortal Man” still manages to blow you away with some genuinely breathtaking sequences:
Visual & Emotional Highlights:
✅ A Soaked and Tense Confrontation: That scene where Tommy goes back to Birmingham, intercut with Duke and Ada’s super-tense exchange – the cinematography was absolutely stunning
✅ Morgue Hallway Heartbreak: A gut-wrenching scene with all those gurneys that were just chock-full of emotional weight
✅ A Dark Tunnel Through Time: A dark passageway becomes both a literal route and an evocative memory for Tommy
✅ A Return to the Garrison Pub: Darkly comic moments of casual violence that feel like the real deal – it’s authentically Peaky
✅ That Unmissable Soundtrack: Every single music choice just elevates the whole thing, making you feel the emotional impact
Cillian Murphy’s Masterclass Performance – Again
At its core, this is Cillian Murphy’s show. Having played Tommy Shelby for 36 episodes over 13 years – and winning an Oscar along the way – and still, Murphy finds new depths in a character that could have gotten really stale a long time ago.
What Makes Murphy’s Performance So Special:
- Age and Weariness: The way he’s let his hair grey and gone a bit slower in his movements, and just carrying the weight of all those years of stress
- What’s Unspoken but Not Lost: He’s a master at conveying internal torment with just the right look in his eye or flick of his lip
- Authority at a Snip: Makes it easy to see why people have loved Tommy since that first anachronistic horseback ride and all – he just owns the role
This Peaky Blinders Immortal Man review finds Murphy at his absolute best when he gets to do just about nothing – communicating a lifetime’s worth of regret and failure through super-sparse, precise choices.
Legacy and Memory – The Big Questions
The film raises some really good points about who gets to tell our stories and how the past affects what we become. Tommy is both man and myth – a hero, a monster, a savior and a bringer of harm – a bit like a folklore legend who has caused a lot of damage to those he wanted to protect
The Unresolved Stuff:
- Can violence ever really be a path to redemption?
- How do we reconcile personal myth with actual truth about the past?
- Is Duke going to make the same mistakes as his old man, or start fresh and do something different?
While “The Immortal Man” doesn’t quite have the room to explore these themes in the way that a proper series could, just watching Tommy try to come to terms with himself is a real emotional rollercoaster
Closure vs. Giving People a Break: A Bit of a Mixed Bag
This Peaky Blinders Immortal Man review thinks that the film does give you more closure than the Series 6 finale – but there’s just not as much kindness in it. The film is weighed down by all the references to the past – the grave, the photo, all that recreated stuff – and it’s just a bit heavy-handed in trying to bring everything to an end. Maybe it would have benefited from a bit more subtlety – you know, a seventh season rather than trying to cram it all into a film.
The ending still leaves room for the rumoured sequel series that’s supposed to take the family into the 50s. As Duke teeters right on the edge of making the same mistakes as his dad, viewers might be wondering if this film is just setting up the next round of regret.
The Final Verdict: Who Should Tune In?
“Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man” – the series finale that feels like a mixed bag but still does its job nicely in closing the book on one of the most legendary characters in TV history. Not always consistently paced and occasionally shamelessly indulgent, it still packs some seriously thrilling bits thanks to Cillian Murphy’s performance being absolutely on fire.
Give It a Shot If:
✅ You’re a die-hard Peaky Blinders fan looking for some kind of closure
✅ You enjoy a good crime drama that’s heavy on style and character
✅ You want to see Cillian Murphy bring Tommy Shelby’s story to a close, and see what makes him such a great actor in the process
✅ Gangland heists done with a historical twist are your thing
Save Your Time If:
❌ You’re expecting a super deep and meaningful exploration of what’s right and wrong
❌ You prefer your TV shows to be tightly plotted and not a bit all over the map
❌ You’re not okay with stories that are a bit grim and don’t exactly leave you feeling uplifted
For most viewers – and especially the fans of the series – “The Immortal Man” ends up being a pretty great way for Tommy Shelby and Cillian Murphy to bow out.
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