The Penguin
The Penguin is an excellent addition to the Matt Reeves DC Universe that sheds some light on a character that is often underappreciated.
I loved The Batman film that came out in 2022. It has a somewhat familiar tone to The Nolan films, but makes some serious alterations to the main cast to separate it from the other Batman iterations. Matt Reeves excels at creating grounded, gritty landscapes so Gotham was perfect for him.
When The Penguin was announced I thought that it seemed unnecessary, but I was still excited to see more of Colin Farrell's performance. He's excellent in The Batman and he's completely unrecognizable. The same can be said for his performance in the show.
Having completed the show a few days ago, I can say that it's definitely worth the watch. It's a much more gruesome and R rated companion piece to the film. It also solidifies it's place in the Reeves universe by building the importance of Oz Cobb as a villain.
I'd be foolish to not comment on how astounding the cosmetics are for Oz. If we didn't already know that Colin Farrell was cast in this show you would have no idea who he was. There's even a point where they have him with his shirt and pants off. They were already pushing the envelope with just his upper body, but they decided to show off then. It's some of the best prosthetic work I've seen.
Aside from the obviously great performance by Farrell, Cristin Millioti is fantastic as well. She steals many of the scenes even when the two of them are together. Sofia is a well written character with understandable goals and a terrifying personality. She absolutely nailed this role and kudos to the casting department for picking her.
The highs of this show are really something - some of the best content DC has put out in a long time. There are some lows which mainly boil down to pacing issues. Despite this being an eight episode mini series there are still some severely rushed parts especially in the second half. They don't have that much of a negative impact on the show as a whole, but it's very noticeable.
The Penguin is still absolutely worth watching, but only if you've seen The Batman for some context. I'm really excited to see what else Matt Reeves has in store for us.
List: 2024 Ranked**
Last Review: Hundreds of Beavers**