Tom Hardy is epic.
Cut the bullshit. Cut the cryptic interpretations of most modern day movie reviews and this is what this film amounts to.
Legend, Hardy’s latest British bad boy flick, sees Britain’s latest hot right now actor portray, not one, but both members of the infamous gangster duo the Kray twins.
The Krays’ ruled London through fear and violence during the 1950s and 1960s building an organised crime empire around their group called “the Firm”.
Brian Helgeland directs Legend guiding us effortlessly through Ronald “Ronnie” and Reginald “Reggie” Krays’ main era of dominance in London’s east end during the 1960s.
Hardy is simply captivating as both halves of Britain’s most infamous double act, using witty humour, charm, charisma and grit to convey both sides to Ronnie and Reggie’s characters.
Ronnie struggles psychologically and Hardy’s portrayal of him is perhaps the most impressive as he manages to show quite a dark and challenged character in a humorous but more importantly serious demeanour.
His decision making lacks planning and sense throughout whereas Reggie plays the brains of the operation despite struggling to balance work with home life.
Hardy’s Reggie Kray is charismatic, almost desirable, the classic gangster, but his treatment of wife Frances (played by Emily Browning) is a good grounder to allow the audience to struggle at sympathising with the duo.
If Hardy hadn’t already announced himself as a major player in British and American cinema, he certainly does so with this film.
Similarities can be drawn with Hardy’s previous role in Martina Cole’s Sky series The Take, where the brilliant front man plays criminal Freddie Jackson, and his portrayal of Reggie mimics this with a sprinkling of the charm that Eames provides in Inception.
On this showing it is easy to see why his name is being linked so heavily with the impending vacancy that Daniel Craig’s James Bond role will provide. Such is Hardy’s versatility, he would almost pull it off.
The storyline is ropey at times struggling for focus on much that the Krays were notorious for. With the exception of one short torture scene, there is no real showing of an extended amount of brutality.
Individual clashes are not investigated further, Helgeland instead focussing on the private lives and central moves of the main two characters, but this provides the audience with a unique insight into the minds and motivations of the twins themselves, which in this case is actually a huge positive.
This different take on the storytelling of the Krays is what makes Legend different to any attempt to do so before.
If action, comedy and charisma is what you’re looking for in a film this September, Legend is the film to go and see.
8/10
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