Critics call Colin Farrell’s Penguin one of the best comic book villain performances ever in rave reviews

Farrell leads the limited series, which serves as an origin story to his Gotham mob boss

Colin Farrell has dazzled critics with his “mesmerizing” performance as the eponymous villain of Max’s Batman spin-off series,The Penguin.

The eight-episode limited drama, which debuts on the streamer next week, follows the supervillain’s transformation from disfigured nobody Oswald Cobblepot to Gotham mob boss The Penguin.

The Irish actor first played the role in Matt Reeves’s 2022 gritty superhero epic The Batman starring Robert Pattinson as the caped crusader.

As described by The Independent’s Nick Hilton, the show “walks in the footsteps of televisual classics such as The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, naturally, but also evokes Succession.”

Hilton wrote that he found Farrell’s performance as Penguin to be “good,” but expressed disappointment in the fact that the Irish actor is “unrecognisable, caked in layers of prosthetics and a fat suit.”

“Farrell is a leading man, with leading man good looks,” he argued in his three-star review. “I don’t quite understand the logic of hiring and then hiding him, rather than just casting someone a better physical match for the character.”

NPR’s Glen Weldon, on the other hand, found Farrell’s physical transformation and decision to use a “Brooklyn accent thicker than bolognese” amusing. “That was a big swing, and it was pretty funny,” he wrote, declaring the series “one of 2024’s best shows.”

“If you skipped The Penguin, you’d be making a big mistake, and missing out on one of the best television series of the year,” Weldon said.

Colin Farrell leads Max’s ‘The Penguin’ as the titular mob boss (HBO)

Writing for Variety, Aramide Tinubu similarly commended Farrell and creator Lauren LeFranc for a “mesmerizing” take on the Batman universe.

“A masterful examination of criminality, the show is twisted, disturbing and deeply enthralling,” Tinubu praised.

SlashFilm’s Chris Evangelista was equally impressed by Farrell’s “excellent” portrayal, writing that Farrell and his co-star Cristin Milioti, who plays Penguin’s only daughter, “make The Penguin worth watching.”

“A superhero spinoff series serving as a Trumpian allegory at all is worth appreciating,” Ben Travers wrote for IndieWire, “as is Farrell burying his disarming charms behind 50 pounds of latex without concealing his considerable talents.”

The Hollywood Reporter’s Daniel Feinberg also found Milioti and Farrell’s character dynamic to yield the actors’ “best work.” However, he noted that the “interplay viewers will crave peaks far too early.”

“The Penguin is unbeatable when compared to other comic book adaptations on television,” Jacob Fisher raved in a five-star review for Discussing Film. “Colin Farrell easily places his interpretation of the Penguin into the conversation of the best live-action comic book villains of all time, delivering a layered performance that makes the audience sympathize with him almost every episode before punching you in the heart with a monstrous evil act.”

Farrell is set to play Cobblepot again with Reeves confirming to SFX magazine via Deadline, that the actor will be in The Batman Part II, explaining: “There are details that actually connect right into the way the next movie begins, and the way that Oz [Oswald] enters that world as we hand the baton back to Batman, and Batman is on another case.”

The Penguin will be available to stream on Max in the US on September 19 and on Sky Atlantic in the UK the following day.

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