“The Penguin” reviews are pretty good

Next week, “The Penguin” launches on HBO and Max, a spinoff series from the 2022 film “The Batman” that serves as a bridge between that film and its upcoming sequel.

The series has come a long way and has had several guises before it finally emerged as a dark mafia series starring Colin Farrell who dons a lot of makeup to play the role of Oswald ‘Oz’ Cobblepot.

The reviews are now in and the reaction so far has been fairly positive with an interesting range of opinions. Some people love it, including some high-flown critics who admit they went into it with low expectations. Others seem to find it rather lackluster with a recurring complaint about a slow first few episodes.

On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 93% (8/10) from critics, which is almost exactly the same score as the recent fourth season of “The Boys” at 93% (7.9/10). However, it also has a lower 73% (7/10) from top critics. On Metacritic, it holds a notably lower 68/100, just one point above “The Acolyte” and Farrell’s recent Apple TV+ series “Sugar.”

Here is an example of review quotes:

“Farrell’s wild, all-or-nothing performance at its peak makes the series a must-see, even if it goes down more brutal, dark paths than you’d ever expect from a Batman spinoff.” – Hoai-Tran Bui, Inverse

“LeFranc’s unsentimental rejection of Batman allows The Penguin to flourish in his absence, revealing new textures of a Gotham we thought we knew everything about.” – Roxana Hadadi, Vulture

“A masterful investigation into crime, the show is twisted, disturbing and deeply compelling.” – Aramide Tinubu, Variety

“I’m here to tell you — and no one is more surprised than I am, I assure you — that if you skip The Penguin, you’re making a huge mistake and missing one of the best television series of the year.” — Glen Weldon, NPR

“This is a five-star series that mafia film fans will love. It’s a real Italian-American gangster Penguin, with Farrell finding the sweetest of the evil moments between Tony Soprano and De Niro’s Vito Corleone.” – Martin Robinson, London Evening Standard

“It manages to tell an entertaining crime story without relying too much on the absent Dark Knight — though it ultimately falls victim to some of the weaknesses inherent to Batman adaptations.” — Christian Holub, EW

“Like far too many shows of this ilk, it treats us to cycles of colorful threats, sadistic torture, predictable betrayals and subsequent body disposal, delivered with professional polish but not enough creativity.” – Daniel Fienberg, THR

“The drama-filled second half of the season may help audiences forget the weak opening episodes, but the fact remains that a lot of fat could have been trimmed to focus on the most interesting parts of the show.” – Louise Griffin, Radio Times

“If The Penguin is just going to use the former Oswald Cobblepot to tell a traditional Mafia war story, it has to tell a much more interesting version of a story, with a more compelling protagonist, than what we get here.” – Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone

The series “The Penguin” starts on September 19 and runs for eight episodes until November 10.