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The Penguin is the long-awaited spin-off from 2022’s unimaginitively-titled The Batman, opening with the news that a number of explosions have taken place, killing many people near Gotham’s seawall, thus affecting only its poorest neighbourhood, and not the rich.
Note that this review will reference events from that movie, as well as the contents of this episode’s opening scene.
Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin) reprises his brief role from the film, as such a huge and unwieldly creature, rather reminding me of one of my exes, but after stealing from a safe, he’s fingered by Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen – Brooklyn), taking over from Carmine, who died in the 2022 movie and was portrayed by John Tuturro, but a slightly younger Carmine will pop up in flashbacks later, played by Mark Strong. Maybe Tuturro was unavailable? I don’t know, but the change does seem rather daft.
I like Colin Farrell – and I still wait for the day when he’ll play me in a film about my life story, but The Penguin is quite ridiculous, with him thinking he’s like a Godfather, just blasting someone away without a thought, and that person… (and I did say I’d state what happens early on) the aforementioned Alberto, putting him in rather a pickle before long.
Work-wise, Oz isn’t having a good day in any form, since the Drops plant is being shut down, so with that being the biggest drops operation around, millions of dollars will be lost. But things are going to get even worse for him, because like a bad Channel 5 drama, Alberto’s sister, Sofia (Cristin Milioti – USS Callister: Black Mirror) turns up, wanting to know where her brother is, not realising that Oz just blew him away.
Additionally in the cast so far, Clancy Brown (Dumb Money) pops up as Salvatore Maroni, who’s in prison and who Carmine fucked over, plus Oz befriends young lad, Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz), who was trying to steal his tyre rims?
Overall, The Penguin is just filmed in the dark way too much, and starts to irritate after a while.
However, Milioti is hot, and the opener does include one of the ’80s greatest pop songs: When In Rome’s The Promise. Whoever put that in deserves a promotion.
The Penguin is on Sky Atlantic/HBO at the rate of one new episode per week.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Director: Craig Zobel
Producers: Claudine Farrell, Corina Maritescu, Dana Robin, Nick Towne
Screenplay: Lauren LeFranc, Vladimir Cvetko, Breannah Gibson, Erika L Johnson, John McCutcheon, Shaye Ogbonna, Nick Towne, Noelle Valdivia
Characters: Bill Finger, Bob Kane
Music: Mick Giacchino
Cast:
Oz Cobb: Colin Farrell
Sofia Falcone: Cristin Milioti
Dr. Julian Rush: Theo Rossi
Nick Fuchs: David H Holmes
Dom Gigante: Myles Humphus
Gia Viti: Kenzie Grey
Leo: Hunter Emery
Mickey Stone: Joshua Bitton
Castillo: Berto Colon
Alberto Falcone: Michael Zegen
Salvatore Maroni: Clancy Brown
Victor Aguilar: Rhenzy Feliz
Carmine Falcone: Mark Strong
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.