Wow! Exciting! A much hyped good looking and edgy new crime drama. Can this pull me away from unsatisfactory emails and muted responses to my spontaneous Facebook posts? I relax and stare at the High Definition screen diligently.
Thrown into a dirty, industrial, post WW1 Birmingham; struggling for opportunity, devasted by the horrors of the most critical war in history and acutely aware of the quick riches to be made in vice, we follow the fortunes of the Shelby family. Ruthless, savvy and turned out with surprisingly good suits and haircuts, can their struggle satisfy the demands of my hum-drum, easily bored and passive life?
Not short of intreague; communists, police, government forces, rival gangs, The Church, aristocracy and some mysterious Russians amongst others, all whisper, cahoot, shout, shoot, steal and kill in a violent and complex web of crime, seduction, lies and murder.
Sensorarily and emotionally you will be bombarded. Characters built up to be wholesome are mercilessly butchered and the Brummy tongue transports you away from familiar Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes cockney London into a bustling, urban population gasping for an identity of their own. Powerful performances do keep you gripped, Most notably Paul Anderson as troubled Arthur; destructively battling his demons head on, never quite finding a path to salvation.
The sometimes brutal deaths of innocents, not to mention the often brutal and vicious deaths of the guilty form a dark cloud over developments. Murder, near murder and beatings become common place, often uninspiringly used as a plot mechanism. The main characters, in spite of what we know about their level of involvement in the latest nefarious plan, have no release, outlet or spiritual motivation. Not one character breaks the mould of a tortured individual; paralysed either by duty or fear, reluctant moll facing a moral dilemma or a key decision maker weighing up politics and the bigger picture. And so they whisper, cahoot, shout, shoot, steal and kill into further turmoil before the grand resolution, which Shelby leader Tommy (Cillian Murphy) is burdened with all collective hope to make it good.
What troubles me is that because the lead characters are so torturously greyscale, I find it hard to justify the ultraviolent, scheming and totally immoral lifestyle they choose. For every life Tommy Shelby saves countless die, some he kills with animalistic brutality by his own hands. The palpable relief felt by the audience at the end of each climax isn't that of joy, hope or victory; merely satisfaction that a tumultuous catastrophe has been averted and the characters you've been rooting for are more or less intact.
Peaky Blinders leaves me entertained though morally perplexed. Despite its style and good acting, I feel unrewarded. It certainly distracted me from a life far removed from the Shelby post Great War Birmingham canals, though ultimately I'm no happier or informed and scarred with vivid graphic images of murder and death.
Not short of intreague; communists, police, government forces, rival gangs, The Church, aristocracy and some mysterious Russians amongst others, all whisper, cahoot, shout, shoot, steal and kill in a violent and complex web of crime, seduction, lies and murder.
Sensorarily and emotionally you will be bombarded. Characters built up to be wholesome are mercilessly butchered and the Brummy tongue transports you away from familiar Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes cockney London into a bustling, urban population gasping for an identity of their own. Powerful performances do keep you gripped, Most notably Paul Anderson as troubled Arthur; destructively battling his demons head on, never quite finding a path to salvation.
The sometimes brutal deaths of innocents, not to mention the often brutal and vicious deaths of the guilty form a dark cloud over developments. Murder, near murder and beatings become common place, often uninspiringly used as a plot mechanism. The main characters, in spite of what we know about their level of involvement in the latest nefarious plan, have no release, outlet or spiritual motivation. Not one character breaks the mould of a tortured individual; paralysed either by duty or fear, reluctant moll facing a moral dilemma or a key decision maker weighing up politics and the bigger picture. And so they whisper, cahoot, shout, shoot, steal and kill into further turmoil before the grand resolution, which Shelby leader Tommy (Cillian Murphy) is burdened with all collective hope to make it good.
What troubles me is that because the lead characters are so torturously greyscale, I find it hard to justify the ultraviolent, scheming and totally immoral lifestyle they choose. For every life Tommy Shelby saves countless die, some he kills with animalistic brutality by his own hands. The palpable relief felt by the audience at the end of each climax isn't that of joy, hope or victory; merely satisfaction that a tumultuous catastrophe has been averted and the characters you've been rooting for are more or less intact.
Peaky Blinders leaves me entertained though morally perplexed. Despite its style and good acting, I feel unrewarded. It certainly distracted me from a life far removed from the Shelby post Great War Birmingham canals, though ultimately I'm no happier or informed and scarred with vivid graphic images of murder and death.