Legend
Director: Brian Helgeland
Stars: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, Taron Egerton
Duration: 131 mins
Class: 15
KRS Film Releasing Ltd
Legend focuses on the legendary – some would say infamous – twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray, who ruled the world of organised crime in London’s East End during the Swinging 1960s.
The Krays were involved in robberies, arson, protection rackets, violence and ultimately murder as they ruthlessly took on their rivals while courting the American Mafia, an organisation keen to create a foothold in England’s capital. The Krays enjoyed the high life, their legitimate nightclub businesses lending them an aura of respectability under which they rubbed shoulders with politicians and celebrities.
The twins were certainly larger-than-life characters who dominated the headlines and whose exploits still resonate today. Yet, as with most biographical movies, the factual truth about their subjects is often elusive. How do you tell the true story of two men – now both deceased – who were certainly violent and ruthless, while at the same time were certainly charming, elegant and always looking out for their own?
To answer that, writer/director Brian Helgeland admits that in Legend, he has brought to the screen his version of the story of the Krays, saying that “I’d like to believe that by stripping out the extremes I’m closer to telling the truth than you might think”.
The special effects easily convince the audience that it is two distinct actors playing the part
Helgeland’s screenplay covers the Krays’ lives from the mid to the late 1960s, a period when the brothers were at their peak, Ronnie having been released from prison after a brief stint; and Reggie about to marry Frances Shea (Emily Browning). It is through Frances’ eyes that we see the story unfold, as she narrates the story. She introduces the viewer to Reggie’s charms, which she initially resists, and Ronnie’s psychosis, which she fears.
It is an effective device in which Browning evokes sympathy for her ultimately tragic character, while painting a detailed portrait of the two protagonists. Her point of view is certainly skewed, yet she depicts them as neither wholly evil nor as men to be looked up to.
Otherwise, Helgeland’s script is pretty straightforward, depicting the boys’ continual rise to power in a series of sequences peppered by occasional spurts of bloody and brutal violence as they mark their territory.
The film offers us two amazing character studies courtesy of Tom Hardy, who commands every scene that he is in (sometimes twice) and his performance is worth the ticket price alone. He displays astonishing award-worthy chops as he embodies each of the twins so wholly and profoundly, it can very well be the actor has granted his director’s wish of telling the whole truth about what made the Krays tick.
It’s a remarkable tour-de-force from Hardy aided and abetted by the special effects that seamlessly bring the two performances together, easily convincing the audience that it is two distinct actors playing the part.