The Kray twins biopic, Legend, isn’t exactly a case of style over substance as such, but the styling of the film is definitely one of the more impressive aspects of it. However, it can also add great performances and a killer delivery to the list of positives that comes with the recent DVD release, but in its bid to go beyond the confines of the historical account it doesn’t quite hit the nail on the hat.
Ronnie and Reggie Kray, for anyone completely out of the loop, were the big name London gangsters of the swinging 60s and their nightclubs, casinos and mob rule were the talk of the town. They leveraged their connections with celebrities, the American mafia and compromised politicians, along with their strong arm tactics, to stay at the top of their ill gotten game right the way up until their eventual downfall to a concerted police effort towards the end of the decade.
There’s plenty of story to cover and it covers it well, including key moments in the Krays’ rise and fall as well as putting in a lot of time and focus on developing the characters. It’s a fine balance between the glitz and glamour of the flash circles that they moved in, the down-to-earth reality of the East End and the shadier side of their business ventures, but writer and director Brian Helgeland gets it just about right.
Where the film struggles is striking the line between lovable rogues and vicious villains in its treatment of the Krays, leaning a little too much in favour of the former with the odd one or two absolutely despicable incidents of the latter piercing it at intervals. Obviously, there needed to be an element of both but there’s not quite enough shade to make the transitions between the two feel entirely convincing and with a little too much positive treatment it makes things feel a little less genuine.
The entire cast is pretty solid throughout, but with Tom Hardy (The Revenant) playing both of the brothers there was a lot of weight on his performances to make Legend work and he does it convincingly. There’s definitive a difference between the two of them and while you can see the strings if you really look for them it works well with Hardy as both Ronnie and Reggie.
Emily Browning is very good as Frances Shea (Sucker Punch), Reggie’s girlfriend, acting as the fulcrum around whom everything seems to revolve. Paul Anderson, who also stars alongside Hardy in The Revenant, makes a decent Albert Donoghue, the Krays’ chief enforcer and general gofer and Colin Morgan (Humans) is well balanced as their chauffeur and Frances’ brother Fankie. There are also good performances from David Thewlis (Macbeth (2015)) as their fixer Leslie Payne, Tara Fitzgerald (Child 44) as Frances’ mum and Taron Egerton (Eddie The Eagle Movie) as Mad Teddy, along with a random and comic appearance from Paul Bettany (Captain America: Civil War) as the Krays’ South London competition Charlie Richardson.
However, the defining feature of the film is the sheer quality of its styling, with incredible set construction, costume design, hair and make-up. Cinematography plays a big part in this, with director of photography Dick Pope (Cuban Fury) finding the best shots in every scene, helping to make the film worth going back to just to see it all come together with so much skill.
The action scenes are brutal with a lot of blood, knuckle dusters crunching and claw hammers flying along with gun fire and more than a little biting to really set the nastier tone of the film. These aren’t entirely faultless though with a few moments where it looks like the choreography and ad-lib interplay get a little muddled and while this often adds to the raw nature of the scenes it can also make them seem a bit daft too.
That aside, Legend is one of the must-see films of 2015 and if you missed it at the big screen then the recent release on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download will be a good opportunity to catch up. If we were to compare it to other films we’d say it feels like a very British meld of Scarface and Raging Bull and while it’s not quite as brilliant as either it’s still a good example of the troubled force that makes them so effective.
Legend DVD review: 4/5
