Review of Legend (1985) by Foxgrove — 20 Nov 2015

There are two very good reasons to see and appreciate ‘Legend’ and they are both Tom Hardy. His dual performances as the Kray twins is nothing short of sensational and he is magnetic in both roles. Aided by some seamless camera trickery he often appears as both brothers in the same frame. Unlike Director Peter Medak’s ‘The Krays’, which came out in the early 90’s, this film concentrates first and foremost on the brothers themselves rather than building the story around their mother Violet. Here this is well and truly Hardy’s show and Violet is relegated to a very minor role in the story. Even the fine supporting cast are generally over shadowed by Hardy’s tour de force performance although Emily Browning, as Ronnie Kray’s mentally unstable wife Frances, impresses by effectively communicating her character’s fragility via understatement. She also serves as the movie’s narrator.

The film looks great with outstanding production design depicting the East End of London during the 60’s. Many hits of the period pep up the soundtrack sharing musical duties with a surprisingly melodic original score. Only the sound seems a tad off in the early stages, but this probably has more to do with the cockney accents of its cast rather than bad mixing by the sound department. As if to confirm this, after about half an hour one’s ears begin to attune to the dialect being spouted. There in after one is able to totally surrender to the film’s vice like grip.