Author: James McMahon

NME

Few areas of media, arts and society are now free from polarising opinion, and that includes within the Wizarding World of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. The opinions of creator (and scriptwriter) JK Rowling are well-documented. Ditto Johnny Depp, who has been replaced by Mads Mikkelsen as central villain Grindelwald. With such conflict already swirling around the films, is there any hope that new sequel The Secrets Of Dumbledore might cast a spell over audiences?

It would help if the plot weren’t so convoluted. As before, we follow the continuing adventures of magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), as he and Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) work to thwart Grindelwald. Unfortunately, there are far too many other characters involved – and most of them don’t do much that actually matters. Similar to the moment in The Lord of the Rings when you realise that the eagles could have taken Frodo to and from Mordor in 1 per cent of the time, you may well feel robbed by the end. Elsewhere, the fascistic imagery that engulfs Grindelwald’s ascension – in Berlin! – feels distasteful rather than poignant, given the real-world suffering and rise of actual fascism – Le Pen, Orbán, Putin – across Europe.

The film is also ridiculously long at 142 minutes. Nor is it aided by Mikkelsen – who is excellent, and all the more unsettling for binning the pantomime shlock of Depp and instead presenting himself a little bit like a branch manager of Foxtons – slitting the throat of a deer. Rated kindly at 12A, it’s worth asking who this film is for?

And yet there is magic here. Dan Fogler as No-Maj/Muggle baker Jacob Kowalski is as ever, thoroughly entertaining. There is an extended segment involving Newt, brother Theseus (Callum Turner) and hundreds of lobsters that is laugh-out-loud funny. And there are of course the aforementioned magical animals, the best of which is the platypus-like niffler, who appears in the aforementioned scene and most of the movie’s other highlights. There’s not enough of these magical animals, but when they appear, they’re nearly always fantastic.

But the bit that provides the warmest feeling is undoubtedly the familiar sight of Hogwarts. It’s a great moment when the majestic castle slides into frame. Ultimately, we don’t spend much time there which is frustrating. Who wouldn’t want to rest their legs in the warm and comforting Great Hall when there’s such a storm raging outside?

The post ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ review: sparks of magic but the spell doesn’t hold appeared first on NME.

NME

Few areas of media, arts and society are now free from polarising opinion, and that includes within the Wizarding World of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. The opinions of creator (and scriptwriter) JK Rowling are well-documented. Ditto Johnny Depp, who has been replaced by Mads Mikkelsen as central villain Grindelwald. With such conflict already swirling around the films, is there any hope that new sequel The Secrets Of Dumbledore might cast a spell over audiences?

It would help if the plot weren’t so convoluted. As before, we follow the continuing adventures of magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), as he and Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) work to thwart Grindelwald. Unfortunately, there are far too many other characters involved – and most of them don’t do much that actually matters. Similar to the moment in The Lord of the Rings when you realise that the eagles could have taken Frodo to and from Mordor in 1 per cent of the time, you may well feel robbed by the end. Elsewhere, the fascistic imagery that engulfs Grindelwald’s ascension – in Berlin! – feels distasteful rather than poignant, given the real-world suffering and rise of actual fascism – Le Pen, Orbán, Putin – across Europe.

The film is also ridiculously long at 142 minutes. Nor is it aided by Mikkelsen – who is excellent, and all the more unsettling for binning the pantomime shlock of Depp and instead presenting himself a little bit like a branch manager of Foxtons – slitting the throat of a deer. Rated kindly at 12A, it’s worth asking who this film is for?

And yet there is magic here. Dan Fogler as No-Maj/Muggle baker Jacob Kowalski is as ever, thoroughly entertaining. There is an extended segment involving Newt, brother Theseus (Callum Turner) and hundreds of lobsters that is laugh-out-loud funny. And there are of course the aforementioned magical animals, the best of which is the platypus-like niffler, who appears in the aforementioned scene and most of the movie’s other highlights. There’s not enough of these magical animals, but when they appear, they’re nearly always fantastic.

But the bit that provides the warmest feeling is undoubtedly the familiar sight of Hogwarts. It’s a great moment when the majestic castle slides into frame. Ultimately, we don’t spend much time there which is frustrating. Who wouldn’t want to rest their legs in the warm and comforting Great Hall when there’s such a storm raging outside?

The post ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ review: sparks of magic but the spell doesn’t hold appeared first on NME.

NME

Last night’s Peaky Blinders finale said goodbye to some old faces (Michael Gray, Captain Swing etc) but it also saw new roads open up for the Brummie gang too (including their now-not-dying leader Tommy Shelby). What happens next – in film or on TV – is a question as exciting as any the franchise has posed to this point. So, as the dust continues to settle, it’s time to retire to The Garrison pub for drinks and to contemplate the future.

How does the final episode set up a film?

Creator Steven Knight told the Radio Times recently that the film will be set during World War II. In years past, the screenwriter mused that the main series would wrap up with the sound of air raid sirens ringing across Birmingham; a plan obviously nixed. Still, when we left the Peaky Blinders last night, it was several years until hostilities start breaking out. Facist lovers Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin) and Diana Mitford (Amber Anderson), whose wedding photo forms the crux of the finale’s twist, were married in 1936.

“I know what’s going to happen in those stories,” said Knight, whose first post-Peaky project SAS: Rogue Heroes is also set during the global conflict. “It’s about a sort of untold story that happened in the Second World War, which Peakys are going to be involved in.” Knight also revealed that the late Helen McCrory, who played Aunt Polly Gray in the first five seasons, will “remain a fundamental part of the movie.”

This suggests that Tommy (Cillian Murphy) will cross paths once more with Mosley and Mitford. Perhaps Winston Churchill too, who was barely seen nor mentioned in the show’s final season. Owing to the real-life existence of said figures there are only so many creative liberties than can be taken with the storytelling. Mosley and Mitford were interned in Holloway Prison between 1940 and 1943, then exiled in disgrace thereafter. Also worth bearing in mind is that some of the Blinders are of age to be conscripted (18-41) – though that doesn’t include Tommy, who would be 48 in 1939. Could he be drafted in as an officer?

Though there’s been no official word, rumours are that the film will begin shooting in 2023.

What about the TV spin-offs?

Knight told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year that “we’ll set in motion some spin-offs that will be part of the same universe.” The easy money would be on a series hung around the exploits of Alfie Solomons. A Jewish crime lord responding to creeping fascism? We’re here for that. Sure, Tom ‘Venom’ Hardy is a film star proper, but he’s no stranger to TV having appeared in Knight’s dark drama Taboo in 2017. Last year, Knight confirmed that season two was essentially written, though he was waiting for Hardy’s schedule to allow the filming of it.

And what of the rivalry born between Finn (Harry Kirton) and Duke (Conrad Khan) that ignited at the end of the main series’ finale? Khan is one of British drama’s fastest rising stars. It seems unlikely he’d be recruited for just three episodes. And is there anything there for Stephen Graham’s Scouse dock kingpin Hayden Stagg to do, an underwhelming if heavyweight addition to season six’s cast. Personally, we’d just like to see more of Ada being sassy. No! Ada and Lizzie being sassy. Kind of like if Absolutely Fabulous relocated to Small Heath.

Is there anything else planned?

Peaky Blinders has stepped off screen and into other realms before, as those who have attended the ambitious but thoroughly fun Peaky Blinders music festival in Digbeth, Birmingham will know. And later this year the first Peaky Blinders ballet – let’s say that again… ballet! – will be debuting in Birmingham before heading out on a UK tour.

It’s called Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby and is directed and choreographed by Benoit Swan Pouffer (a name we’d love to hear Arthur get his chops around). Stephen Knight said via a statement: “Peaky Blinders has always had music and movement at its heart and now the beating heart of the show will be transferred to the stage, an interpretation of Tommy’s story performed by Rambert, one of the leading dance companies in the world. This is dance for people who don’t usually watch dance and what I’ve written has been transformed into something startling by consummate dancers and choreographers. If the concept of a Peaky Blinders dance seems strange, reserve judgement and reserve a ticket.”

As Knight has been saying for about season six months now, this isn’t the beginning of the end but the end of the beginning.

The post How the ‘Peaky Blinders’ finale sets up a movie and TV spin-offs appeared first on NME.

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When NME spoke to Peaky newcomer Conrad Khan last week – the sometime Duke Shelby dancing around our search for spoilers like he might shimmy the night away at a Garrison lock-in – he described the series finale as “satisfying but not satisfying”. “Things are resolved but they’re also not really resolved,” said Tommy Jr, which is about as accurate a description of what just unfolded as we might arrive at.

And yet we shouldn’t have been at all surprised at the show’s lack of finality. For months now, creator Steven Knight has been describing season six as not the beginning of the end, but the “end of the beginning”. Which makes the beautifully written feature-length end to the main series – with future films and character spin-offs planned – all the more worthy of acclaim. You got an ending. But the threads left untied remain tantalising.

Such as? Well, the ostracisation of Finn (Harry Kirton) – easily the most noteworthy moment for the character since he joined us in season two – sets up a feud with Duke that will surely form the crux of that upcoming film. Duke might be new to the fold, but he encapsulated more of the Shelby spirit in a few short scenes than the hapless Finn ever did. And moreover, where does Tommy (Cillian Murphy) go now? He isn’t dead, but perhaps is, at least in the same way his old frenemy Alfie Solomons (Tom Hardy) is. There are scorched memories, a raging pyre, but also a man and a white horse, off grid, free to be whatever he now wants to be.

Before the meat, the trimmings, and the aforementioned Shelby’s meeting with Alfie in Newfoundland – much like their pairing in the Camden cellar earlier in the season – was as delicious a union as Peaky Blinders has ever served up. “We’re all dying anyway,” says Alfie at the bar, managing to sound both wise and utterly deranged as usual. Incidentally, there’s a fan theory that, like Ruby in the episode’s closing, Alfie isn’t alive but a figment of Tommy’s imagination. We don’t buy it. There’s surely a spin-off of the character due to come.

The image of Arthur in Small Heath, mask on, striding through yellow plumes of mustard gas, back in France – at least in his mind – reviving Captain Swing just so he could cast judgement and then avenge Polly’s death, goes to the top of the pile as one of the series most iconic moments. Much like his and Tommy’s beautiful barney in the latter’s office – nice to see John again, incidentally – though some doubt exists as to whether the former has already offed himself unaware of Tommy’s resurrection. Or is he really just catching a trout? Either way, Paul Anderson has been remarkable this season.

But with Lizzie (Natasha O’Keeffe) freed from her miserable marriage, Billy (Emmett Scanlan) dead, Ada (Sophie Rundle) pushed towards the political career that always beckoned, and – thrillingly – the Shelby mansion blown to smithereens, the most satisfying moments of the episode lay with the reveal of Tommy’s doctor as on the payroll of fascists and the murder of Michael (Finn Cole) back in Canada. We were surprised not to see Uncle Jack, but perhaps he’s otherwise detained in acting school, still in search of that illusive Bostonian drawl.

“I’m going to go look at the fog, Tom,” says Johnny Dogs (Packy Lee) after playing bomb switch-a-roo with the Boston mobsters, celebrating being given something to do that isn’t babysit Arthur and leaving Tommy to finish Michael off. We’re not sure it’s what mother Polly would have wanted, but the end for Michael has been marked for some time now. Just one of the lives – remember he once lived a peaceful existence away and unknowing of the Shelbys – ruined by coming into contact with Tom. Still, at least he got to roll around with glamorous Gina (Anya Taylor-Joy) and sit smoking in pyjamas for a bit.

And yet, as the ever-growing Peaky franchise is burnt to the filter – an episode exciting, intriguing, and surprisingly funny it should be said – we can’t help thinking what it was that Tommy whispered to Duke as the Shelbys dined in the shadow of horses and caravans. This is an infuriating dramatic device, it really is. It’s also yet another reason why we’ll be glued to whatever comes next in the Peaky Blinders world.

The post ‘Peaky Blinders’ season six finale recap: the last orders are in appeared first on NME.

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If you’ve had your eyes glued to the events of Peaky Blinders this season, then you will be aware of the recent introduction of one Erasmus ‘Duke’ Shelby. A mysterious new member of the Shelby crime clan, he is head gangster Tommy’s long-lost son – the result of a pre-war roll-around under a hazel tree. Just one more question in a series that has offered many more of them than it has answers for.

But that all changes this Sunday, when after six seasons and almost a decade of Brum-based criminality, the Midlands mob drama finally wraps up. Duke is played by 21-year-old Conrad Khan, the breakout star of 2019 drug mule drama County Lines. We thought we better sit down with the fast-rising north Londoner to attempt to steal some secrets about Duke – and learn what we can expect from TV’s most anticipated finale of the year.

Hey Conrad, are you pleased with the reaction to your Peaky Blinders debut?

“I was super pleased with it. I watched [Duke’s introduction] in episode five a couple of weeks ago, to prepare for interviews and stuff. But then I watched it properly yesterday again. It’s an exciting episode! I’m sure a lot of actors say this, but it’s awkward watching your performances back because you start to notice little things that you would have done differently or you start to criticise your performance, but I just enjoyed it really.”

It’s strange timing for a new Shelby son to be entering the show so late in the game…

“It is strange, but it’s quite timely for the narrative. Tommy has just lost one child, and so it’s like that Christian saying, ‘The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away…’ He had this tragic loss, and then he’s gained something out of that.”

There’s a lot of talk about spin-offs and feature films – is the plan for Duke to feature?

“I have no idea. I don’t think [creator] Steven Knight knows! I would love to be. There’s talk of taking the show in different directions because there’s so much hunger for this universe. And that goes for me too, since before anything I’m a fan of the show. I think that Steven’s head is full of ideas, but as far as I know, there’s nothing written down.”

Tommy and Duke’s conversation in the last episode seemed like a passing of the torch…

“Maybe. I think Tommy sees a lot of himself in this new son. You know that line where he says, “there’s both light and dark in my business…” I think there’s a half of him that he sees in Duke, but I don’t know if he’s passing the torch. Obviously, he has a very finite mortality now, and maybe he’s scrambling to get things in place for when his [tuberculoma] illness becomes far worse and he’s unable to organise the family like he used to. Maybe he isn’t aware he’s doing that.”

You seem quite calm for a 21-year-old actor who’s just debuted in the nation’s favourite drama! Has anyone ever told you that?

“Not in as nice a way as that! I probably have my parents to thank for it, but also being thrown into a professional environment at the age of 15 where you’re dealing with adults and you’re dealing with lots of money. That forces you to mature slightly earlier than you would otherwise. People normally go to school, then college, then uni and then maybe 10 years later you start to think about taxes and stuff, but I had that early. It can be tiring. Sometimes you want to be running around the playground again.”

You’re splitting acting with being at university, aren’t you? What are you studying?

“I’m studying Film and English Comparative Literature. It’s kind of weird being in lectures and stuff when you’ve been in films, but I really like to think of myself as a student. When people ask me what I do, I say I’m a student. It’s quite nice because my course is about film, so I can go in and talk about what I’ve gone through working for the past five years. It’s nice to have that first-hand experience.”

Going back to Peaky, this is a cast who’ve been together for nearly a decade. Do you feel like the new kid?

“I wasn’t made to feel like that at all. And it is a great team. It’s amazing watching Cillian Murphy, the way he stays in character by taking himself away from everyone after a cut. Total dedication to the craft. You can tell everyone misses Helen McCrory [who played Aunt Pol]. My first scene was with Paul Anderson who plays Arthur. He was so sweet. We got on really well. I think because I was the only other Londoner on set, since everyone else is from up north or Irish. After that scene I thought to myself: ‘Yeah, I’m part of it now…’”

Go on then, what can you tell us about the finale…

“I haven’t seen it, so I’m trying to remember from shooting a year ago! It’s epic. There’s action. It’s satisfying but it’s also not satisfying. Things are resolved but they’re also not really resolved. I’m trying to be cryptic…”

The final episode of ‘Peaky Blinders’ airs tonight (April 3) at 9pm on BBC One

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The Sex Pistols are no strangers to having their story told on screen. As early as 1986 – eight years after the band’s messy demise – Sid and Nancy saw director Alex Cox cast Gary Oldman as the titular bassist (and give Courtney Love a minor, debut role). Band cohort Julien Temple, gave us documentaries (2000’s The Filth and the Fury) and mockumentaries (1979’s The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle), while the band’s much mythologised 1976 appearance at Manchester’s Lesser Trade Free Hall lights the touch-paper for the wider story told by Michael Winterbottom in his excellent 2002 movie, 24 Hour Party People.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, singer John Lydon – a man who could start an argument with his own shadow – doesn’t like many of these films. He once described Sid and Nancy as “particularly loathsome”, The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle as “as a pile of rubbish”, and Danny Boyle’s upcoming TV biopic Pistol “the most disrespectful shit I’ve ever had to endure”.

This week, NME saw the first two episodes of Pistol. It’s extremely unlikely Lydon has even seen it, but if he had, he would find that Boyle’s miniseries is an excellent encapsulation of an extraordinary period in British music. Not only that, but it’s easily the best dramatic adaptation of the band to date. Anton Boon (1917, Blackbird) as Lydon is extraordinary, while the relatively unknown Toby Wallace as guitarist Steve Jones (whose 2016 biography Lonely Boy provides the series source material) is a star elect.

Never mind the backlash… here’s five things we learned about Pistol from its cast and creator.

It depicts a decaying Britain in the ‘70s

Episode one splices archive footage of dirty slums, mass unemployment and far right rallies with the band’s dramatised formation. Director Boyle is empathetic that the socioeconomic mess Britain found itself in as the ‘80s approached meant that punk – and the Pistols – had to happen.

“One of the things that we did when we started was talk about how incredibly dull Britain was,” he says. “There are so many opportunities now. So much in the world, and there was just so little then. You felt like you were young and then you were old, and there was nothing in between. The Pistols changed that, especially for working-class people. You didn’t just follow your dad into the factory anymore. The Pistols ignited something.”

Pistol finally gives Steve Jones his dues…

Without Lydon’s anarchic howl, the Sex Pistols would be a footnote in the punk story at best. And yet without Steve Jones – the most exciting guitarist of the age – they’d just be a ginger man shouting. Pistol centres its story on Jones – sexual abuse survivor, felon, thug, dreamer, rock star, the very man who got the Pistols project off the ground – whose story has often been crowded out by others.

“I got to meet and hang out with Steve quite a bit,” says Toby Wallace, who plays Jones, “so it wasn’t just the book I had as a reference point. At the heart of him and at the heart of our story is this traumatic experience that he had gone through that birthed the anger that birthed the Pistols. A lot of people can relate to that, especially working class people. The Sex Pistols made music that was a raw representation of a class that was underserved and underrepresented.”

…as do the women of punk too

In Pistol many of the women prominent in the punk scene have their story told too. These include Chrissie Hynde (Sydney Chandler) and Vivienne Westwood (Talulah Riley).

“These women were iconic women in their own right,” says Emma Appleton, who plays the late Nancy Spungen. “They weren’t just the girlfriend of Sid Vicious or the paramour of Malcolm McLaren. They weren’t an accessory to these men in the story. They had their own stories and their own success. It was an honour to harness their power.”

Maybe – just maybe – John Lydon will like it!

Boyle is keen to point out the “genius” of the Sex Pistols singer and reveals that he’d previously met him when plotting the soundtrack to his forever acclaimed 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. The music of both the Sex Pistols and Lydon’s subsequent project Public Image Ltd appeared in said production.

“He’s a wonderful guy,” he says, “I hope if he does watch the series then he’ll realise how much we love his work. He’s a very special figure in culture. There’s a lot of Oscar Wilde to him, or [legendary Irish poet] Brendan Behan, who I think he’d rather be compared to. I wouldn’t be here without the Sex Pistols. I am absolutely aware of that. Punk changed my life.”

It proves the punk spirit lives on

The Pistols and punk inspired many subsequent generations of creatives that followed. They did this by daring to be original. Both Boyle and the cast hope that Pistol is a reminder that anything is possible if you have the courage to try.

“This is the story of the underdog,” says Anton Boon, who plays Lydon. “I think that will always be a story worth telling and it will never not be relevant.”

“Telling their story taught me the impact of bravery,” adds Christian Lees, appearing in Pistol as the band’s original bassist Glen Matlock. “These kids took on the order of things, the establishment.”

Jacob Slater, who plays drummer Paul Cook, thinks the series will be an inspiration. “I hope kids today can watch it and say to themselves, ‘maybe I should really use my own mind’. To dare to be themselves. That’s what the Sex Pistols mean to me.”

‘Pistol’ premieres on Disney+ on May 31

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If next week’s feature-length finale is the main course, then this really quite strange episode is not so much an appetiser, but a using up of everything in the fridge that might otherwise go off. Basically, this episode is an omelette. Is it a good omelette, like a cheese and spinach one, or a rubbish one with onion? Hmmm. That depends on how much you care about the advancement of Season 6’s already fairly threadbare plot. If that’s why you’re here, we’re afraid to say you’ll be going hungry.

• Read more: The final series of ‘Peaky Blinders’: “This is the end of the beginning”

Not that the episode is without merit. Creator Steven Knight recently described the coming closure to Peaky Blinders’ main series as “the end of the beginning, rather than the beginning of the end”. It’s highly likely that next week’s episode will be a dry run for the long-discussed feature film. With that in mind, this week seems as though it is prepping the Peaky universe for the planned spin-offs that will live on beyond the main series. This means we reconnect with characters we previously thought were lost down the back of Knight’s sofa. There’s Curly! Charlie Strong! And, finally, there’s Finn. Remember Finn? You know Finn. Shit hair. Um. Not much else to say, really.

Yet the most notable return this week is that of Billy Grade, the footballer-cum-singer-cum-Shelby-employed-match-fixer, who this week, at the behest of a brilliantly unhinged Arthur, is forced to garotte an especially principled referee. It’s the most violent scene in the show for some time: an arresting moment witnessed by Finn, Isiah and… Tommy’s son, Duke, earlier introduced to the family in The Garrison as Lizzie’s eyes roll into the back of her head. Oh, and there’s Michael, too. He even gets a scene outside of his jail cell. “I have consulted my mother,” he says, “and it is my intention to kill Tommy Shelby.”

Big words for one wearing pyjamas and a caterpillar on their lip. But as for the purpose of revisiting Arthur’s butchery – Grade does the killing, but metaphysically, the blood is on Arthur’s hands – we can only presume we needed a reminder of Arthur’s corroded soul before the events of next week. But the grisliness doesn’t end there. Later, cleaning himself off in the showers, a naked Billy Grade is accosted by Jack Nelson. He silently slips a garotte around the cock of the traumatised Billy. He draws blood. Jack tells Billy that he knows he’s the informant inside the Shelby Organisation and that he’s the man Billy now works for. “My associates are going to take care of Thomas Shelby, and you are going to give us his brother, Arthur…” Scary stuff, and yet not nearly as unsettling as Jack’s pantomime Bostonian accent.

So next week is going to be a war – total war – and it’s not just Tommy plotting to bring an end to the complexity he’s attempted to stage-manage for at least two seasons now. There are several interesting but perhaps not essential wrinkles to the Peaky universe explored en route to the finale. A fun opening scene in which Tommy demands that opium is eradicated from Chinatown (“from now on you will sell only cigarettes, cake and tea”), a ticking bomb in his bag all the while. A reunion, of sorts, between Arthur and wife Linda. A last salvo for Stephen Graham. The predicted bunk-up between Tommy and the horrible Diana Mitford. And poor, mistreated, desperate Lizzie. “It’s like the clock’s stopped ticking and I’m waiting for the bomb to explode”, she tells Tommy, bringing the episode back to its explosive opening scenes.

But if this week’s episode serves one purpose, it’s to introduce Duke properly, not just to his new family, but to us too. It’s now clear from the scene he Tommy and share in Charlie Strong’s yard that the future of the Peaky Blinders franchise will involve the newcomer, while Tommy now seems resigned to his story coming to an end. “Lizzie doesn’t deserve me,” he tells Mosely, Jack and Mitford, back at that cursed dining table, the room’s lighting as dark as the hearts of those assembled. “She doesn’t deserve what I will become. Truth is, I belong at this table with fuckers like you. Could there be a sadder end…”

It’s a question we’ll get the answer to next week.

‘Peaky Blinders’ airs every Sunday at 9pm on BBC One

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It’s been an interesting journey for the Peacemaker character since his creation almost six decades ago. He was originally part of the Charlton Comics stable, appearing first in 1966 and sporadically thereafter. But when that publisher went down in the mid-’80s, the character was acquired by DC and quickly evolved. In fact, the first time he appeared in a DC title, he was barely recognisable.

Peacemaker got a new backstory: once a pacifist diplomat, he had now been driven to madness upon learning his father was a Nazi death camp commander. Actually, the character otherwise known as Christopher Smith formed the principal inspiration for Watchmen’s The Comedian. Creator Alan Moore envisioned that character as “a little bit of Nick Fury” and “a bit of the standard Captain America patriotic hero-type”. Performatively macho, a hyper-sexualised flag-shagger, he embodied the worst traits of his home nation. Peacemaker influenced Watchmen, but it’s inarguable that Watchmen has now influenced this even newer version of Peacemaker, who now has his own TV series.

Written and directed by James Gunn, it picks up from Gunn’s very good The Suicide Squad reboot. The series bypasses the simple morality tales of comic’s Golden Age of superheroes and instead traces its lineage to Moore and Dave Gibbons’ gritty, R-rated vision. It’s not quite as cerebral as the aforementioned tome – nowhere in Watchmen does Dr. Manhattan announce that “Aquaman fucks fish”. But Peacemaker’s relationship with the superhero genre, half in thrall, half-amused by the pomp of the whole thing, is similar. The character is essentially Judge Dredd if Judge Dredd were Stifler from American Pie.

There’s a growing thirst for superhero stories that are irreverent and much sillier. Few fans of the genre aren’t hyped for the return of The Boys in June. What Marvel wouldn’t give to have Deadpool exist in their cinematic universe. And the best superhero movie in recent times wasn’t a live-action adaptation at all, but a return to the genre’s inky roots in 2018’s zesty, animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The harder-edged stuff still has huge appeal; with a North American haul of $128.5 million, Matt Reeves’ dark and gritty The Batman enjoyed the second-best opening weekend of the pandemic era. But number one with $260 million? The infinitely more fun Spider-Man: No Way Home.

And so we return to Peacemaker, the bombastic eight-part series that positions John Cena inside the character’s shiny chrome helmet, drags back a host of talent from The Suicide Squad, and transpires to be exactly the respite we need in this age of war, disinformation, poverty, airborne illness and broken party politics. Let’s rock. Here are five reasons why Peacemaker is exactly what the superhero genre needs right now.

1. John Cena is a comic genius

Anyone who’s seen John Cena in a WWE ring will know the Boston-born bruiser has some impressive comic chops. It’s hard to imagine anyone else pulling off the majestic douchery of the Peacemaker character the way he does. A case in point: the half-naked actor’s impassioned rendition of The Quireboys’ 1990 hit ‘I Don’t Love You Anymore’ using a vibrator as a microphone. Could be the natural successor to The Rock? Maybe. It’s definitely preferable to being the next Hulk Hogan.

2. The music absolutely wails, dude!

If you’ve watched even a single moment of James Gunn’s creative output, you’ll know music is key to the way he writes drama: he often segues actual songs into the lines of his scripts. Where his Guardians of the Galaxy movies draw from pre-’80s pop music, here hair metal is the order of the day. This means we get ‘Love Bomb Baby’ by glamourpuss Welshmen Tigertailz, ‘Beat The Bullet’ by LA sleazeballs Vain and a skeletal cover of Mötley Crüe’s ‘Home Sweet Home’ played by Cena himself on piano. There’s also a bangin’ heavy metal cover of Foster The People’s ‘Pumped Up Kicks’.

3. It has the best title sequence… ever?

Speaking of music, the show’s opening sizzle – ‘Do You Want To Taste It?’ by Norway’s Wig Wam – is the perfect tone-setter for the drama that follows. A bit like the entire oeuvre of The Ramones, this song is dumb but cleverly so. Still, it’s the choreographed dance routine involving each member of the cast, in full costume, in what appears to be a disused ’70s roller disco, that will live longest in your memory. Such is the temptation to rewind and watch again, you might not even get to the main show.

4. It says a lot about modern America

Though there are (sometimes overbearing, but always cleverly done) references to BLM, #MeToo, the NRA and – best of all – the ranting conspiracy of Alex ‘Infowars’ Jones, the most interesting comment on modern America can be found in the relationship between Peacemaker and father August (later known as white supremacist White Dragon). Superbly played by Robert “T-1000” Patrick, Smith Snr. is a lost cause. His son… not quite, but he’s  certainly damaged by having a beast for a father. There’s something deep in there about breaking the cycle of abuse, but it’s peppered with dick jokes and heavy metal.

5. There are excellent cameos

We won’t spoil them. No, just watch! But let’s say this: the argument that Marvel’s extended universe is better connected than DC’s is starting to sound a lot less credible…

Peacemaker is out now on Sky and Now.

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