Review of Legend (2015) by Dave M — 06 Dec 2015

If the bond between twins is special, the bond between identical twins is almost spiritual. Identical twins share their DNA, their looks and often (but not always) their personalities. No twins are ever completely identical, but what joins them is almost always stronger than what separates them - for better or worse. In the case of Reggie and Ronnie Cray, the real-life 1950s and 60s-era London gangsters portrayed in the biopic "Legend" (R, 2:11), their unbreakable bond and their similarities were definitely for the worse.

In real life and in this film (the second one about the brothers, following 1990's "The Krays"), Reggie and Ronnie were tough kids who became tough and ruthless adults. As kids, they once had a fight during which Reggie almost killed Ronnie. As teens, they made very effective use of their aggression and their physical abilities in the boxing ring. As adults, their "might makes right" mentality made them the most powerful and feared gangsters in London. They were two halves of the same fertilized egg who became two halves of the same coin, but there were still differences. Reggie was more of a lover governed by his mind and Ronnie was more of a fighter ruled by his impulses. Reggie was more refined, and Ronnie was simply psychotic. Romantically and sexually, Reggie liked women, while Ronnie liked men. One could note other differences between these men, but those differences are almost inconsequential when viewed in light of their unbreakable bond as twins and unshakable commitment to being crime legends.

British actor Tom Hardy plays both Kray twins, with all of their differences and similarities, and through the separate, yet intertwined events in their lives as gangsters. Both men did time in prison for their business methods, but were never incarcerated at the same time (at least during the period of their lives covered in this film). When Ronnie was in prison, Reggie proudly ran a classy dinner and entertainment club. When Reggie was in prison, Ronnie practically ran that club into the ground with his odd behavior and counter-productive business practices. With both the twins on the streets at the same time, they added clubs and gained power in London's criminal underworld through a combination of extortion and violence. They also partner up with gangsters in the U.S. (represented by a character played by Chazz Palminteri) and pursue very different love lives, with Reggie becoming engaged to his beloved Frances (Emily Browning), while Ronnie spends time with young men like "Mad Teddy" Smith (Taron Egerton).

The underworld empire of the Krays, like all other criminal organizations, inevitably peaks, then declines. For a while, they seem untouchable, due to a combination of their brutal business tactics and just plain luck. (For example, when a member of the British House of Lords becomes involved in the homosexual activities of Ronnie and his friends, and a scandal looms, the authorities increasingly ignore the brothers' criminal activities in order to keep the public's attention diverted from the lord's indiscretions.) The Kray brothers' business manager (David Thewlis) struggles to keep their criminal empire solvent in spite of Ronnie's erratic and violent behavior. Meanwhile, Reggie struggles with Frances' persistent demands that he pursue his business activities without resorting to illegal methods. Through these and other challenges, the continued success of the Kray twins' endeavors are threatened by problems from their pasts, increasingly erratic behavior during their present and that ever-present unconditional loyalty which starts to seem unlikely to sustain them much farther into their future.

The mixture of strengths and weaknesses in the movie "Legend" mirrors that same condition that we see in Reggie and Ronnie Kray. Telling the story primarily through Reggie's eyes keeps the story focused, but the directing is uneven and the use of narration by Frances is unnecessary and gimmicky. The story unfolds like a British version of "Goodfellas" (especially if you imagine Ray Liotta's and Joe Pesci's characters as brothers) and seems to be paying homage to Martin Scorsese's gangster classic, but the amount of similarities between the films becomes distracting. Writer-director Brian Helgeland, whose efforts gave us "L.A. Confidential", "Mystic River" and "42", delivers a strong movie here, but fails to tap into the magic that produced some of his earlier work. This film is engaging and entertaining, but it owes most of that to its experienced and talented cast, especially, Browning who is both adorable and strong as the film's emotional center, and Hardy who caps off a great year of on-screen work (including "Child 44" and "Mad Max: Fury Road") with an Oscar-worthy performance (actually... two performances) which is/are earthy, funny, heartbreaking and frightening. Would that the rest of the film were as impressive. While it doesn't suffer from flaws as fatal as those in the Kray twins, "Legend" isn't quite legendary. "B".