SYNOPSIS: Oscar winner Cillian Murphy returns to theatres in “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man,” a feature-length, direct sequel to the original TV series that answers the question posed in the film’s trailer, “Whatever happened to Tommy Shelby, the famous Gypsy gangster?”
CAST: Cillian Murphy, Sophie Rundle, Ned Dennehy, Packy Lee, Ian Peck, Stephen Graham, Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Roth, Jay Lycurgo, Barry Keoghan. Directed by Tom Harper.
REVIEW: Set in 1940, six years after the end of the television series, the story begins with former Peaky Blinders crime boss Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) living in self-exile. Trauma, PTSD from World War I, and betrayal led him to a monastic life, writing a memoir, far from the violence that infected most of his life. When asked why he’s sitting out WWII he says, “I have a war of my own. Inside my head.”
In Birmingham, as World War II rages, Tommy’s son ‘Duke’ Shelby (Barry Keoghan) has assumed control of Peaky Blinders. “Peaky Blinders are going to do,” says one onlooker to the gang’s violence, “whatever the Peaky Blinders want to do.”
Doing whatever they want includes stealing weapons meant for British soldiers fighting the Nazis. Concerned for her family and country, Tommy’s sister Ada Thorne (Sophie Rundle) visits her brother, urging him to “talk to your son before he gets hung by the law or lynched by the people.”
“If it’s trouble he’s in,” Tommy says, “I’ve got enough of my own.” But when Duke becomes involved with Nazis in a money counterfeit scheme to flood the British economy with £70 million worth of fake pound notes—”We’ll end the war with banknotes instead of bombs,” says British fascist Beckett (Tim Roth)—Tommy puts on his trademarked peaked cap and returns to Birmingham to confront Duke. “My son,” he says, “my dark reflection.”
Like the last chapter of a thick novel, “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man” serves as a climax to the long-running series. It’s not exactly a stand-alone story, so, for the complete effect, you might want to watch the show—available for streaming on Netflix—or, at the very least glance at the show’s Wikipedia page before buying a ticket.
No time? That’s OK. Screenwriter Steven Knight, who also created the original television series, doles out background information by weaving it into conversations, and through excerpts from Tommy’s memoir. There’s no “Previously on Beaky Blinders” recap as such, but you get enough info to keep up, but perhaps not get the richness of Murphy’s take on Shelby, a man trying to battle against his worst nature.
It’s a slow burn, a story of family, fathers, sons and legacy with elements of magic realism, courtesy of Rebecca Ferguson’s enigmatic character Kaulo, a psychic figure with Romani heritage.
Style wise, tribute is paid to the streaming show.
Murphy moves through the film’s brimstone smoke and low-level, atmospheric lighting with Shelby’s signature style—sharp suits, dangling cigarette and confident walk—bringing with him a moral complexity as he works to discover if “from this bad some good will come.”
Murphy’s mastery of Tommy’s dangerous stoicism is entertaining, but it is the character’s battle between the good and evil that exist within that makes him fascinating.
In this big screen adaptation, screenwriter Knight and director Tom Harper clearly believe that bigger is better, but in the staging of the large scale, climatic “Mission Impossible” style sequence, the movie loses the intimate, inner world that mark its best moments.
The 2023 worry-of-the-week, that Artificial Intelligence is too powerful, that it will soon be controlling our lives, is kicked up a notch or two in “Heart of Stone,” the new Gal Gadot high tech thriller now streaming on Netflix.
Gadot is Rachel Stone, a computer tech/operative for a super-secret peacekeeping group called The Charter. “When governments fail, the only thing left is the Charter.” They are a specialized unit of “the most highly trained agents with no political leanings, no national allegiances, working together to keep peace in a turbulent world.”
Helping them to police humanity is a powerful AI program called the Heart. “If you own the Heart,” says MI6 agent Parker (Jamie Dornan), “you own the world.” It’s a vital organ, the most advanced AI program on earth, capable of scrutinizing and evaluating all human data, finding patterns and using those results to make predictions of future global threats. “The Heart is knowledge and power. It can crash a market or drop a plane out of the sky. Who needs to steal a nuclear bomb when you can control them all?” says Parker.
In the wrong hands a program that formidable, with the totality of human knowledge, could destabilize the world, which is exactly what mastermind hacker Keya Dhawan (Bollywood superstar Alia Bhatt) has in mind. “Now you will answer to me,” she taunts like a good movie villain should.
Cue the globetrotting mission to stop Dhawan from stealing the Charter’s Heart.
Directed by Tom “Peaky Blinders” Harper, “Heart of Stone” is a big, slick story of international intrigue that works best when it is in motion. When Godot is flying through the air on a skidoo or going one-on-one with the baddies, it zips along like a 90s era 007 movie. That means, loads of high-tech nonsense, flamboyant characters, a dastardly villain, international intrigue, a propulsive soundtrack and, of course, outlandish action.
But when the characters speak, and they speak quite a lot, the 007ness of it all reduces to a jumble of b-movie spy clichés. It looks good, but speaks in the language of truisms. In other words, been there, done that.
Cinematographer George Steel shoots for the big screen, and has an eye for action. The location work—including the now obligatory chase scene through the cobble streets of a European city—gives the movie an up-market sheen, but don’t be fooled, this is an expensive knockoff, a Canal Street copy of other, better spy movies.
Playing an aspiring country-and-western singer in “Wild Rose,” “Chernobyl’s” Jessie Buckley embodies the elements that lay at the core of the music. It’s a breakout performance that delivers sincerity, heartache and most of all authenticity.
Set in Glasgow, the coming-of-age story focusses on Rose-Lynn (Buckley), a young mom with dreams of going to Nashville to become a country singer. “There’s nothing for me here,” she says of her hometown. “There I can hone my craft. I want to use my talent.” She’s so devoted to country music she even has a “three chords and the truth” tattoo on her arm.
But her life contains as much struggle and bad luck as the country-and-western lyrics she loves so much. As an ex-con, she also has an electronic ankle bracelet and can’t leave her apartment after dark, making booking gigs next to impossible. Her two kids barely remember her and only speak to her when forced, They’re being raised by Rose-Lynn’s mother Marion (Julie Walters), who scolds her daughter, “You don’t stick at things.”
During the day Rose-Lynn works, cleaning the house of Susannah (Sophie Okonedo), a rich woman who is very taken with her employee’s spunky attitude and beautiful singing voice. With her help Rose-Lynn may finally see her dreams come true and begin a journey of true self-discovery.
Part “A Star is Born” and part family drama, “Wild Rose” is a low-key story of over-coming adversity. Rose-Lynn may be her own worst enemy, refusing to take responsibility for her lot in life, but ultimately, she aspires to improvement for herself and her family. Without that this kitchen sink drama of musical boot strapping would be too downbeat. Instead we meet someone, beautifully played by Buckley, taking the hard road to personal success.
The movie is a showcase for Buckley, who impresses both when she’s singing and when she’s not. First, the voice. She can belt it out with the best of them but it’s the moments where she brings it down, gracefully and emotionally delivering Wynonna’s “Peace in this House” ballad, that she reveals the depth of her talent. It’s a heartbreaker and she breathes life into it; no frills, just raw emotion.
She manages to make Rose-Lynn compelling, flaws and all. Impulsive, she puts her wants and musical ambition ahead of everyone, including her kids but in her self-aware moments Buckley allows us to understand that it’s not simply irresponsible behavior that landed Rose-Lynn in her current situation but her inability to balance her dreams with her reality, desire with duty. She’s messy and often gets in her own way but despite all that Buckley’s charisma makes us root for her.
“Wild Rose” is very specific in its Glasgow setting—the accents may be a bit daunting for the uninitiated—but like the songs Rose-Lynn loves so much, it deals with universal themes of regret, love, family and redemption. You don’t have to be a country fan to like the movie, it wouldn’t hurt, just a fan of raw, emotional storytelling.
