the penguin
★★★★
starring: colin farrell, cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, and clancy brown
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REVIEWER: lyall carter
The transformation of Oswald Cobblepot from a disfigured nobody to a noted Gotham gangster.
Aside from Robert Pattison’s portrayal of the titular character the world building and story, one performance and prosthetic clad character stole the show in a mere handful of scenes. Colin Farrell’s Penguin, far removed from the cackling, mad-eyed DeVito portrayal in the 90’s, chewed up the scenery like no other celluloid character that year.
So deservedly, Oswald Cobblepot gets his very own series. And, in a world saturated by content due to the constant streaming wars, HBO’s The Penguin is appointment viewing. Straddling the line between likeable rogue and brutal thug with ease, The Penguin is a terrific character study, wonderfully incarnated by Farrell, with a cracking tale to boot.
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Created by Lauren LeFranc (Chuck, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D), The Penguin is a crime-drama spin-off television series of 2022's film The Batman. Set shortly after the events of The Batman, Oz Cobb, A.K.A. the Penguin, begins his rise in the underworld of Gotham City as he contends with the daughter of his late boss, Carmine Falcone, for control of the crime family's empire.
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After being mesmerised by Farrell’s wondrous performance in 2022’s The Batman, you’d be forgiven for thinking that The Penguin would be built purely on that performance. But The Penguin doesn’t rest completely on Farrell’s incarnation, instead spinning a tale that is filled with resounding dramatic moments punctuated with bloody, thunderous violence. For a series that has a lot of exposition which could quite easily start losing its audience interest, The Penguin manages to be utterly compelling, as it crafts characters that draw you in.
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Farrell’s performance will get all the accolades, completely disappearing beneath the prosthetics and penguin waddle, but Cristin Milioti’s Sofia Falcone is mesmerising in all of her madness.
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Straddling the line between likeable rogue and brutal thug with ease, The Penguin is a terrific character study, wonderfully incarnated by Farrell, with a cracking tale to boot.