Review of Legend (2015) by Phil P — 13 Sep 2015

"I came for proper gun fight!".

All the focus is going to be on 'Tom Hardy' - and rightly so. His performance of the two title characters is the most interesting thing about the film prior to seeing it. That's no disservice to the story as such but 'Hardy' looms over it before you even set foot in a cinema to see it. Even more so as when I went to see the poster displayed opposite was, large and was taken up entirely by Hardy's presence as 'Ronnie' & 'Reggie 'Kray'.

His performance of the two is rightly lauded, instantly getting it out of your head that they are both 'Tom Hardy'. The voice, the look the demeanour are so different that you'd swear they were two similar looking actors. The rest of the film is solid without being great - as unfortunately the thing to see this for is (as we expected) 'Hardy'.

Set during 1960s as brothers 'Ronnie' and 'Reggie' 'Kray' build their Mafia style stranglehold on 'London'. Quickly buying up bars, casino's as well as the attention of those in 'Las Vegas'. While it does chronicle the rise an fall of the twins it's spread too thin. With only small inklings of the brothers deeds and their involvements. It's more about 'Reggie' and his relationship with 'Frances Shea' (Emily Browning). Though bizarrely it's narrated in parts by 'Frances' despite her tiny character development and screen time - playing the usual gangster wife.

Even this will go down as a gangster film it's more of a biographical film than anything else. More so 'Reggie' than 'Ronnie'. As 'Reggie' has to deal with his wife distant feelings, his brother psychotic mood swings and al the while keep his empire a float. All of whom feel they're being left out, being pushed aside. Along with the performances the other things that stands out (which I didn't expect) is it's quite funny. Ronnie's off the cuff remarks and rambling that seem to go no where being the stand outs.

Unfortunately the story progression is ghostly, not really flowing in an interesting manner. Coming across as more of a series of bullet points and the best of the Krays as oppose to the nitty gritty which would have really boosted this. There are some stand out moments teh very, very brief war between them and the other gang vying for control. But they're fleeting and last no more than 15 minutes of teh total running time. it all comes to life when one of the Kray's decides to do something active and visceral. The talking just isn't all that interesting (Ronnie aside).

It's certainly worth seeing 'Legend' but not for it's entirety but (and iv'e said a few time already) for Tom hardy's performance. Regardless of the accuracy (as my knowledge on the Kray's is zero) his managed distinguish the two as completely separate people. 'Reggie' - smart, calculating and often calm but with explosive anger - and 'Ronnie' off-beat, psychotic and in it for the bloodshed. If this doesn't get him an Oscar nomination I don't know what will. The rest of the film is neither bad or good. In the end it's there as a vehicle for the incredible central performance.