Review of Legend (2015) by Maksim B — 29 Mar 2016

An early pre-season Oscar contender, Legend is polarizing crime period drama that entertains, but also disappoints. Impressing when it comes to acting and attention to detail, the gangster biopic fails to impress in terms of narrative and an in-depth study of the two main characters.

Brian Helgeland's biopic of the famous twin-gangsters Reginald and Ronald Kray is surely a different type of a movie if compared to similar movies regarding American gangsters. The nature of the British crime scene differs from the American one and this already increases the curiosity of the viewers. Secondly, but probably with greater importance, Legend benefits from the absolutely brilliant performance of Tom Hardy as both twins. He has been on my "favorites" list for already several years, but his ability to step in the shoes of two so different characters in one single movie is pretty impressive. Therefore, it will not be surprising if you catch yourself focused more on Tom Hardy's performance than on the story.

Speaking of the story, this is where the movie failed to match the initial Oscar-expectations (being an early October 2015 release it was speculated that it has the quality to contend). The narrative is slow and the taking the point of view of Reggie's wife Frances (Emily Browning). Probably due to this, the audience is a sort of an observer of the whole story and it never truly develops a connection with the twins, a connection that could have increase the emotional load of the movie in its second part. Having said this, the second issue in the biopic is that the relationship between Reggie and Ronnie is also shown via a one-dimensional point of view. This is unfortunate; especially having in mind that Tom Hardy is simply stunning in his role and squeezing even more out of him would have been wonderful.

As a whole, Legend is an excellent crime period drama that would please the fans of the genre. Unfortunately, though, due to the initial high expectations some might be disappointed if they do not approach the movie carefully. The story is solid, the cinematography and settings are solid too, the costumes and dialogues are excellent and Tom Hardy is brilliant, but the combination of all of that is simply not Oscar-worthy.