Consistency. This is the first word that comes to mind to describe The Penguinthe highly anticipated new series from HBO/Max and DC Comics that aims to try to bring viewers back to the world of The Batmanthe 2022 film directed by Matt Reeves, who returns to the production level here together with showrunner Lauren LeFranc to act as a spin-off and allow us to take a closer look at Colin Farrell’s Penguin, already seen in the film. We’ll tell you what to expect without spoilers, reminding you that the series will arrive from September 20 exclusively on Sky Atlantic and simultaneously with the USA, and streaming only on NOW.
Between The Batman and The Batman 2, a midquel series
We chose the word consistency at the beginning of our review because Matt Reeves for his The Batman with Robert Pattinson had chosen the path of Detective Comicsor the origin of the Batman comics. “The best detective in the world”even if in that case still immature and in its infancy. Lauren LeFranc tells a sequel to that narrative universe, moving to the television medium and acting as a link between the first and second chapter, whose filming is expected in 2025 for a theatrical release in 2026. In doing so, she opts for the path of mafia storytaking full advantage of the cinematic tradition of Scarface and from the television one of the Soprano but adapting it to today (or rather, to 2022) and above all to Battinson’s world. A story that is therefore not very supernatural.not very “super” but by definition it has always been that of the Caped Crusader, whose superpower is money as Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne ironically said. After all, the best comic book stories related to one of Batman’s most famous villains are gangster story.
The Penguin, Colin Farrell’s Penguin Lives
In the series we find ourselves ten days after theGotham City flooding caused by Paul Dano’s Riddler, and everyone has to deal with the consequences. Some neighborhoods have been wiped out along with their inhabitants, just like Victor Aguilar’s (a promising Rhenzy Feliz) family. The boy “accidentally” meets Oswald while trying to solve a mess he’s gotten himself into. The Penguin takes the young man under his wing trying to show him a “better” world where he doesn’t have to be ashamed of his stuttering. Often the prosthetic makeup risks taking up all the attention of an audiovisual product, preventing viewers from concentrating on the story and the actors’ performance. Fortunately, in this case this obstacle is overcome and the Colin Farrell’s voice, along with the accentuated movements to bring out Cobb’s limping walk, they give us a great character: full of contradictions and always ready to turn his back on the highest bidder, because he has learned that this is the only way to survive in a world of sharks. Especially if you are a handicapped fish and you have to transform that handicap into your strength, as he will try to teach Victor. This is why he bounces his devotion between the Falcones and the Maronis as if nothing had happened, always trying to get around the obstacle and convince the person in front of him that he has always sided only and exclusively with that person.
Oz e Victor, partners in crime.
The Death of Carmine Falcone (who we find in the series in some flashbacks played by Mark Strong) leaves a power vacuum in the city and everyone wants to try to fill it, including Oswald. The surviving members of the two families are also positioned on the chessboard: on one side Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown), now in prison, and his wife Nadia (Shohreh Aghdashloo together with her wayward son; on the other the eldest Falcone, Alberto (Michael Zegen) together with his uncle Luca (Scott Cohen), his trusted advisor Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly) and the Sister Sofia (Cristin Milioti) found, released from Arkham Asylum after a decade where she had been locked up for killing a series of women, who had given her the nickname of The Hanged Man. The mechanisms set in motion at that point come from thethe most classic of gangster stories but at the same time they fit almost seamlessly into the narrative fabric of Gotham City, whose prevailing corruption has always been its emblem. We thus discover new places in the city, such as Victor’s neighborhood or those of the criminal families and the titular character. Even the directed by Craig Zobel and cinematography by Darran Tiernan change from the protagonist’s progressive darkness, to give the show its own identity, however derivative. If there it was Batman, here it’s the Penguin: consequently, there is a tendency towards gray and a Gotham always in disarray, but less chaotic and out of control.
Nobody puts Sofia in a corner
Precisely the female characters that revolve around the titular character and act as a counterpoint to him are the The Penguin’s strength. On one side, the mother Francis (Deirdre O’Connell), who begins to show signs of Alzheimer’s and at the same time has a relationship of co-dependence with her son, who outlived his brother. Here too, we must reiterate the concept of consistencycompared to the paper origin stories and the various audiovisual transpositions (above all, that of the series Gothamwhich coincidentally focused on the city itself) in which their relationship was the beginning and end of many of the Penguin’s problems. However, shining alongside Colin Farrell is Cristin Milioti. He has come a long way since How I Met Your Mother and after having demonstrated his comic and dramatic skills (Fargo) elevates and completes them with the role of Sofia Falcone.
A young woman victim not only of a man’s world like that of organized crime but also of a highly toxic family and a system that does not recognize the importance of mental health and plays dice with the authorities to control the narrative of what is happening in the city streets. Not the only theme addressed by the series – especially in one episode above all, the fourth, truly crazy. It’s just a shame that it takes a while to get there, requiring patience from the viewer, also due to an unnecessarily long duration of the episodes. A theme accompanied by the proverbial “Revenge of the Losers” that are here freaks in all respects, like the handicap to the protagonist’s foot, or Victor’s stuttering: everyone must redeem their image, their family, their place in the world. A corrupt and unjust world where you have to be smart to avoid being swallowed up. In the Gotham game, after all, you either win or you die: and the series is absolutely not afraid to show it.
Review by Federico Vascotto
As explained in the review, The Penguin follows an absolutely linear path with its predecessor, The Batman by Matt Reeves, trying to fit into a more gangster dimension but still earthly and not very superheroic, to tell the revenge of an undergrowth that loudly asks to be heard in Gotham City. Colin Farrell goes beyond the mask and the caricature, while the one who really shines is Cristin Miloti, a multifaceted and incredible Sofia Falcone who not only denounces a rotten and corrupt system but also tries to take back everything that is hers, becoming the main enemy of our Penguin.
- Colin Farrell: he’s behind the prosthetic makeup and luckily you can see and feel it.
- Cristin Milioti is something extraordinary as Sofia Falcone.
- The monographic episodes and the theme of personal redemption.
- The photography is different from The Batman, less dark and more grey.
- This is a “classic” mafia story and this might make some people impatient.
- It takes a while to get going.
- The excessive length of the episodes.
