The Penguin Series Review: A Great Gangster Series in the World of The Batman
Cast: Alex Anagnostidis, Colin Farrell, Clancy Brown, Carmen Ejogo, Cristin Milioti, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Michael Kelly, Michael Zegen, Deirdre O’Connell, James Madio
Director: Craig Zobel
Streaming Platform: HBO
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars)
Not to say that HBO’s The Penguin is derivative, but it’s the second film in less than six months in which Colin Farrell plays a character obsessed with the glamour of old black-and-white Hollywood movies. It’s a yearning melancholy for a world that no longer exists, full of mystery and morality long lost. In recent years, we’ve seen a wave of origin stories for famous villains, from Norman Bates to the Joker to half of Disney’s catalog. These revisionist approaches invite audiences to empathize with figures traditionally considered evil, suggesting that even the worst characters are rooted in deeply recognizable human conditions: loneliness, trauma, treatable mental illness, or even just a hatred of Dalmatians. There are things worse than death. By far. Things that the wicked, truly wicked, and cruel-minded inflict on their enemies. The Penguin is one of them. An evil man, but not in a superficial way No.
The Penguin, the HBO series that revolutionizes the approach to DC Comics villains, tells us how Batman’s enemy becomes the cruel monster we know. The Penguin will debut on September 20th simultaneously with the United States, exclusively on HBO Max. An unmissable event. Don’t expect fantasies like children who fell into the river and were raised by penguins, though. There are no superpowers here: just like Batman, the human superhero through and through, his archenemy is also human. Simply, imperfectly, frighteningly human. Can you build a story totally centered on Evil? Without heroes, without good guys, without mercy. And without Batman, above all. Francis Ford Coppola turned Cinema upside down in 1972 with The Godfather, and The Penguin owes a lot to that family epic of a spiral toward one’s own oblivion (just as The Batman mixed with noir cinema). After all, we are in Gotham, a city turned upside down by the events unleashed by the Riddler, from which The Penguin takes its cue directly. A city in chaos, even more than usual. Indeed, as someone said, chaos is a ladder: and Oswald Cobb knows it very well.
The Penguin Series Review: The Story Plot
Following the chronological order of the film saga, The Penguin tells the story of Bruce Wayne/Batman’s archenemy Oswald Cobblepot (Colin Farrell), known as The Penguin. After The Batman (2022), of which this series is defined as a spin-off, Matt Reeves signs for HBO 8 episodes that show us the life of Cobblepot, with flashbacks of his past and the path that transformed him into the King of Crime of Gotham City. A journey into the history and mind of Oswald Cobblepot, from his childhood to his rise to the top of the criminal world in Gotham City, which transforms him into Batman’s number one enemy. Oz finds himself in trouble when his impulsive nature lands him in the crosshairs of the local criminal underworld. After enlisting the help of young Victor (Rhenzy Feliz), Oz begins to think about his own ambitious plan to become the one who gives orders, rather than the one who must obey them…
As we were telling you, The Penguin begins exactly where The Batman ends: Gotham has been flooded by bombs planted by the Riddler and the Iceberg Lounge is a distant memory, also destroyed after the events of Matt Reeves’ film. The King, Carmine Falcone, is dead, and the undergrowth begins to stir just when Oswald Cobb goes to his former nightclub to swipe what he can. From this moment on, an unstoppable chain of events begins, made of last-second turns, dizzying collapses, and climbs on the edge of the precipice. The true strength of The Penguin, both as a TV series and as a character, is precisely this: improvisation. Oz always has a plan that takes shape in his head, but he is never caught unprepared in the face of any possible change, big or small. This Penguin in the making is an inveterate gambler with a nose for the lucky number, he takes risks often and willingly but always with a logic behind it, adapting from episode to episode to everything that the events he sets in motion reserve for him. It almost becomes a direct game with the viewer, who begins to bet on how Oswald will manage to get out of it this time too, even though everything seems to decree its end.
The Penguin Series Review and Analysis
We had already praised him in The Batman but now that he has the spotlight on Colin Farrell he shines even more. His Penguin is perfect from every point of view: a facial expression that is not affected in the least by the make-up (also thanks to the make-up work that makes Farrell unrecognizable), a face always in motion, eyes that peer into the darkness, sudden flames, forced smiles and a tongue that now wraps now clicks. Colin Farrell becomes The Penguin, becomes Oswald Cobb, and transmutes into a despicable being that takes us inside his abomination episode after episode. Here The Penguin grips us because we root for the worst of all: we knew from the beginning that Oz was pure Evil, ruthless selfishness personified, and yet episode after episode a new room of horrors is revealed to us, forcing us to accept what we have always known. The Penguin has moments of absolute darkness in the rise of its protagonist, who seems to have a more human side that in reality is just a mask, a tangle of lies that he gets into, to make it in the criminal world of Gotham you have to eliminate everyone, especially yourself. Especially anything that could make us weak.
The question that hovers throughout The Penguin is obviously one: what about Batman? Because the spin-off series stands comfortably on its own two feet, yet we know that everything is taking place in Gotham, and as events grow in importance, we wonder what Bruce Wayne is doing. By now we are used to shared and interconnected universes, so in a small universe reality like that of The Batman, it is natural to expect the arrival of the Dark Knight when the criminal world of Gotham is in such turmoil. The Penguin still manages to do without him, thanks to solid writing and a never-predictable sequence of events that always keeps the viewer’s attention high, even if we have to accept the fact that Batman would have intervened on more than one occasion. Luckily, Colin Farrell’s supporting characters all win us over in their own way, starting with Cristin Milioti, the “mother” of How I Met Your Mother, who elegantly inhabits a complex role like that of Falcone’s daughter just out of Arkham.
The Penguin, however, lays the foundations for Oswald Cobb’s future in Gotham created by Matt Reeves, focusing everything on his character and giving him an ending that would almost be fine on its own without thinking about the Batman in the room. The culmination of a journey made of bloody lies, spilled blood, and cold revenge ready to explode. All while a penguin dances limping in the Gotham night. Like Tony Soprano in that HBO masterpiece – not by chance – that gives us a film lasting 6 seasons, Oswald Cobblepot – an unrecognizable Colin Farrell – also divides himself between two families. His family, the one of origin, with the close but complicated bond with his mother (an exceptional…) and the “family”, the criminal one, the Falcones. Oz has always worked for them. He started at the bottom, like everyone else, and climbed the ladder to the top. The Penguin tells us about this climb, in a clear parallel (with many unmistakable tributes) with Scarface, in De Palma’s remake starring Al Pacino.
Because crime pays, in money, but we all know how high the price is to pay to reach the top of a mountain crowded with traitors, spies, liars, ruthless killers, and psychopaths. Oswald Cobblepot pays that price episode after episode, from flashbacks that tell us about his past and his history to a finale in which the city of Gotham realizes that it can’t take it. The entire city. Because now, in Gotham, everyone knows who they’re dealing with. And we know it, too, better than we ever have before. The Oz family and The Penguin “family” walk on parallel tracks, destined to meet and then separate again. In a game of roles that break the heart, hurt, and hide unspeakable secrets. Unspeakable. Think about the worst that parents can do to their children and the worst that children can do to their parents. Then, multiply that idea a hundredfold. Only then will you be close to what The Penguin tells us about family relationships? Always remembering, constantly, as in a nightmare without waking up, that there are things far worse than death.
Gotham City is the darkest city in the entire narrative universe of comics. We have always seen it as it is: gray, gloomy, dirty, squalid, scary. We have always seen it in the dark, under a cold light that makes it hostile to us. The Penguin‘s Gotham, like the entire narrative world that concerns it, is different. The photograph is warm. Gotham is no longer gray and black. It is sand-colored, and dusty, with a cloudy light that filters the sunlight. But it has colors. For the first time, it is a photograph that reminds us of the world as we know it. A world in which it cannot always rain, it cannot always be dark, and there cannot exist that climate change that makes Oswald Cobblepot pant at every step, for his disability and for that deformity of the soul that distinguishes him. Because The Penguin is a story that is deeply rooted in our times. In our world. And for this reason, it is even more frightening and more engaging at the same time.
The world of The Penguin is a world of wars, abuses, and carelessness for who and what surrounds us. A world of selfishness and prima donnas, of ambition and power, of money that can buy everything. Exactly like in today’s world, ours. The Penguin is not called that because, like Danny DeVito in Batman Returns, he resembles his appearance and has frequented his habitat. He is not called that because, like the female version in Batman: Caped Crusader. The Penguin is called that because the metal bracket he wears on one leg for his physical disability makes him walk with a gait that resembles that of a penguin. Like a cruel nickname given to him by his schoolmates, again like in reality. Colin Farrell is on Apple TV+ with Sugar, the series in which he plays a charming private investigator with a passion for cinema in Los Angeles that seems to be from the ’60s and would seem so in every way if it were not for technology and other people. John Sugar is handsome, elegant, and fit.
Oswald Cobblepot is heavyset, with a lined face, full of scars and well-known walking problems. Under that aspect, there is the same actor who gives life to Sugar, Colin Farrell, who makes you feel – even with his breathing – how difficult and tiring it is to move under that extra weight, that moving with difficulty, that peeking at the world through a mask of makeup and heavy prosthetics. A trick that cannot change the look. And those eyes, with an incredibly deep, disturbing, attentive, and inquiring gaze, are those of Colin Farrell in what is undoubtedly the television interpretation of his life. Oswald Cobblepot is an ambitious criminal. Since he was a child, he has dreamed of conquering everything he wants, for himself and his beloved mother. Perhaps his determination, since childhood, makes him so determined on the one hand and insensitive to violence on the other. And violence, in The Penguin, I warn you, there is a lot. Scenes that are at times difficult to bear, precisely because the Gotham in which they take place could be any of our cities.
The Penguin‘s realism and verisimilitude hit you right in the heart. And sometimes it’s more like a punch in the face. Without Batman catch that fist in mid-air before it lands on you. This isn’t a series about heroes or superheroes. This is the story of the criminals who made Gotham the city that needs Batman. The line between evil and mental illness is thin. This is what The Penguin tells us while exploring how the system, paradoxically, creates monsters. Monsters that crowd the homes of the protagonists, monsters of cynicism and cruelty. Monsters are incapable of putting their children above themselves. Monsters that are not dissimilar to the monsters that kill, massacre, and torture in the name of something that perhaps does not even exist. These are the monsters of Gotham City. And all these monsters can be traced back to a family. And a “family”. The cradle of experience and personality. For some, family is everything, the engine that pushes you forward. The ultimate motivation. For others, family is the worst of weaknesses. The weak point to shake off.
There are two points of view on the family, the blood family and the criminal “family” in The Penguin. These are the points of view of Oswald Cobblepot, who often talks about his own story, telling his life to the first stranger without too many compliments, and of Sofia Falcone (the actress Cristin Milioti, already seen in Fargo and The Wolf of Wall Street and here ready to demonstrate that she has talent to spare and, we hope, to dispense with many new roles). The Falcone “family” is the one that dominates Gotham City unchallenged after winning the war (or maybe just a series of battles?) against their rivals, the Maronis. The role of women in both the Falcone crime family and Oz’s family of origin is fundamental. But not without risks.
All the clichés about how the heads of organized crime families see and treat women are present in The Penguin. As in Scarface, for that matter, and in all the other similar gangster stories. But they are regularly fought by the women of the series. Sofia, Nadia Maroni (Shohreh Aghdashloo, Dina Araz in 24), Francis (Deirdre O’Connell, Hearts in Atlantis, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), the woman who gave life to Oswald Cobblepot. And who, probably, sooner or later is destined to regret it? Women are few, they have important roles, but they are still few. Because the criminal world of Gotham, like the criminal world of Scarface, is a male world. Women give life, they cannot be monsters like men. Unless men make them so.
From Oswald’s first instinctive and unstoppable gesture that sets in motion the series of events destined to take him to the pinnacle of crime, we witness a descent into hell. We will experience fear, tangible, from the pilot episode. We will enter Arkham, the infamous criminal asylum of Gotham City, to experience hell and discover that there are really many things worse than death. We will see our trust betrayed, we will experience that emotional moment that we knew would come, even though for all 8 episodes we hoped it would be spared us. But The Penguin has no intention of sparing us anything. He slaps us, scares us, and betrays us. The tension is palpable. It erases the outside world, as we immerse ourselves in the world of Oz. And it is not that of the eponymous wizard.
There is nothing supernatural here, I repeat. As Bruce Wayne is a man, so is Oswald Cobblepot. A simple, imperfect, cruel human being. The most ferocious and ruthless species on the planet. Oswald Cobblepot arrives to run the Falcone family’s drug trade in the city. And he’s waiting for a very, very special shipment. Something that will revolutionize the market and make the Falcons millions of dollars. But the Falcones don’t care: we are not in a free enterprise, and entrepreneurial initiative is not appreciated here. And so, Oswald understands that his place is not that of a man who obeys orders he doesn’t like. His place is that of a man who gives orders. Leading a group of extraordinary characters and actors. The great Mark Strong (Tàr, 1917, Kingsmen). Clancy Brown (The Shawshank Redemption, Billions). Michael Kelly (House of Cards, Man of Steel). Carmen Ejogo (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Selma). And many others. All exceptional, yet almost overshadowed by the talent of Farrell and Milioti, who will keep you glued to the screen for 8 episodes. Guaranteed.
The Penguin Series Review: The Last Words
From September 20th exclusively on Sky and streaming only on NOW at the same time as in the United States, The Penguin arrives, the series starring Oscar nominee Colin Farrell, a spin-off of the film The Batman based on the characters from DC Comics. A hypnotic protagonist – at the head of a truly exceptional cast, starting with Cristin Milioti – keeps us glued to the screen for all 8 episodes filled with violence, twists, and an extremely earthly vision of Gotham. A city revolutionized to be any city in the real world, with no fantastic or supernatural elements. Only the cruel, ruthless, imperfect humanity of those who fight over it. HBO has Matt Reeves (already author of The Batman) write a piece of history in the television transposition of some of the most popular comic book characters of all time.
The Penguin Series Review: A Great Gangster Series in the World of The Batman - Filmyhype
Director: Craig Zobel
Date Created: 2024-09-13 15:04
4
Pros
- Cristin Milioti's performance as Sofia Falcone.
- The dark atmosphere of Gotham City.
- The scenes in Arkham Asylum.
Cons
- This Penguin owes too much to Tony Soprano and too little to the Batman universe.
- The story contains all the clichés of the gangster genre.
- Victor Aguilar's character is weak.
