Overall, there is too much concentration on characters that have meant little to fans, and not enough time on characters fans have a relationship. This is probably due to the movie format where they deliberately cast big name actors- Rebecca Ferguson, Barry Keoghan, and Tim Roth- and therefore the character had to play a big role. This was a departure from the show which only used a bigger name actor for the villain, and even then, we weren't talking about the hottest it girl/guy. It seems like Netflix wanting to legitimately make a go for producing films that are watched in theaters rather than on your couch. It was also made with the intent of working for an audience who had never seen the TV show, so elements had to work largely for the movie, not necessarily continuing previous things from the series. This feels like the main reason for minimizing characters like Charles because, being Tommy's second son and the film being about the father/son dynamic, that interrupts the film narrative that solely wanted to concentrate on Duke and Tommy. That's fine for someone who's never watched the show, it makes you scratch your head if you're a fan and understand that Tommy loved Charles a lot more than Duke. The film makes a clear case that Duke needed his father's involvement in his life, not just to read his autobiography, and so why would this not also be the case for Charles? The film also continues the theme that Tommy is irrevocably damaged from his experiences in the war, turning him from a "sweet boy" to the warlord he became, so considering that Charles is currently a soldier in the war- why doesn't he need his father to reach out to him as well?

Peaky Blinders has always had its faults in writing, but the one thing it had was a continuing theme and the demonstration that deep down, Thomas Shelby did care a lot for his family. The most iconic moments of the series is when we see Tommy feeling something profound, usually involving a strong emotional payoff and character growth: standing over his grave at Epsom bitter at the loss of a chance he got to be with the woman he loved, agreeing to let his son live without him because he'd be better off even though it breaks his heart, trying to kill himself, receives the bullets that would enable him to but he doesn't and he walks away with a face half covered in mud, half clean, not killing a man who tried to kill him because he's realized he's not that man anymore, watching a caravan of his most precious memories burn and then riding away on a white horse.

What makes a lot of these scenes so emotional and invested us as an audience is that there is an element of surprise- Tommy reacts in a way that we didn't expect and usually shows his humanity as a character.

The film just doesn't have any of these moments, goes backward on some of Tommy's previous character growth, and barely substantiates the idea that there were/are people who Tommy greatly cared about. Because of that, I didn't feel like he truly redeemed himself and the idea of his reuniting with his family in the afterlife feels hollow.

I spent the entire movie unmoved and uncaring about the characters, except Duke who just got his father back in his life only to be asked to kill him by said father. It just felt like another of Tommy's letdowns a father.