Legend

Hello dear reader. It would appear it’s that time again. To tell tall tales of wonder and exhilaration, to enthral you and fill your head with images of delight and elation. To set the scene and invite you read my humble blog and offer up an opinion on the latest cinematic banquet that I consumed recently. The film in question is Legend and for you of a certain age, I am not referring to the Ridley Scott, Tom Cruise, Tim Curry, Unicorn extravaganza that first saw the light of day back in good old 1985. No, I am of course about to embark on a review of the new Tom Hardy & Tom Hardy story of the Krays. One of the greatest double acts since Romeo and Juliette, Laurel and Hardy or Noddy and Big Ears. Ronnie and Reggie Kray, for those of you who were sick they day they taught ‘east end gangsters’ at school, did for clean living and upholding the law what Bernard Mathews did for promoting vegetarianism. During the sixties they were the ground zero for organised crime in London. Their presence was felt everywhere and such was their appeal that it wasn’t uncommon for celebrities of the day to frequent their clubs and casinos. They were an unstoppable force that quite simply ran an empire from the east end of London. They were courted by the American mafia, they crushed anyone that stood in their way and didn’t suffer fools gladly.

There have been films and countless documentaries about the Krays before, dramatising their rise to power and how they ruled with an iron fist but this is the first that I am aware of that tells the story from the point of view of Reggie Krays wife, Frances.  This gives a unique slant and stops it becoming a formulaic action film wrapped around a great story. It also helps show what Frances had to endure and go through and ultimately forced her to make some choices that were undoable.   

So, as always I shall start at the beginning. Legend is a film that, if you’ll pardon the pun, doesn’t pull any punches. It’s extremely violent when it needs to be and should not be viewed by those of a nervous disposition. One of the ‘confrontations’ that takes place during the film starts with Reggie stood next to a bar with about half a dozen men in front of him and then Reggie announcing to the world ‘a paranoid schizophrenic walks into a pub’. Then Ronnie walks in behind these six and pulls out two claw hammers and chaos ensues. Afterwards Ronnie and Reggie walk out of the pub. The other men involved in the fight do not. That pretty much sets the tone for the entire film. Don’t get me wrong, Legend is not what I would call gratuitous. I wouldn’t need that much convincing that everything that’s portrayed on screen actually happened. Ronnie and Reggie were ‘mommies little monsters’ and as a pair they were inseparable. Even when Reggie has to serve time at her majesties pleasure, his spirit and will is never broken. He believes that he will always overcome and triumph over anything put in front of him. And when his brother is making decisions that have consequences and impact on people they care about, his faith in his twin, at least in public, is unshakable. That said they do fight each other during the film and after what has to go down as one of the finest pieces of cgi that you’ll never notice, it ends with the realisation that despite each of their own flaws, they will always need each other to survive. 

When Tom Hardy was first approached to make this film it was originally to only play Reggie Kray, or Ronnie Kray, depending on which online source you’re prepared to believe. The long and the short of it is that the director, Brian Helgeland, apparently had someone else in mind to play the other twin. Who it was has never made the light of day but if I was a betting man I’d have a fiver on Tom Hiddleston, Damien Lewis or if you prefer your longshots, Helen Mirren.

Now, in what will go down in history as either a very brave or very unwise decision, Mr Hardy agreed to make Legend on the proviso that he played both brothers. Brian Helgeland isn’t exactly a man without a pedigree when it comes to movies. His screenplay CV includes such gems as LA Confidential, Mystic River and Man on Fire and although his directorial back catalogue isn’t quite as extensive, it does include the Heath Ledger film A Knights Tale and 2014’s bio pic about the baseball player Jackie Robinson, 42 to name but two. Having one actor play both roles would completely change the way the way was shot and easily add a couple of million onto the post production budget but Helgeland agreed. How Tom Hardy convinced him that he could pull both performances off is somewhat of a mystery. Again, depending on who you’re willing to believe, there was either a meeting that involved several bottles of scotch and a trip through the finer parts of Bethnal Green and Shoreditch, with Mr Helgeland in tow or an audition where Tom sat in a chair in the middle of an empty studio, played both parts and was ‘chilling’ as he spoke to himself. 

The latter I have absolutely no problem believing at all. Tom is very good at playing Reggie but it’s as Ronnie where he excels. For me it’s in his eyes where most of the character comes from. At times they look dead, as if there’s nothing there behind them and whatever vestiges of a soul that were once contained there have long since departed. Tom also has an unnerving ability to actually look like a completely different person playing each brother. Yes, he wears glasses and dentures for Ronnie and his hair is styled differently but whereas when Clarke Kent removes his glasses he instantly becomes recognisable as Superman, when Ronnie removes his glasses he still looks like Ronnie, not Reggie. I found the difference between Tom’s portrayal of Ronnie and Reggie remarkable at times and there were moments when I completely forget that it was one person playing both parts.  

Legend isn’t prefect perfect but I’d have to give it full marks for effort. It’s quite clear from what you see on screen, or more importantly, what you don’t see on screen that a lot of time and effort has gone into making London look like its back in the 60’s. Again it’s the computer generated images that you don’t realise you’re seeing that help there. That coupled with a great supporting cast that includes Emily Browning, an under used Christopher Eccleston, Duffy, David Thewlis, Chaz Palminteri and a blink and you’ll miss it appearance from Paul Bettany makes Legend one of the best British films to come along in a while. For the most part the narration for the film comes from Emily Browning’s, Frances and as I mentioned earlier, having the story told from her point of view makes Legend a very compelling and ultimately poignant film. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea or particular brand of vodka but if you do get the chance to watch it I would recommend you do so. Also just a quick aside here, if you have a look at the poster above, pay close attention to the Guardian review and where it’s been placed. They only gave it two stars…

Twitter Review:

Loyalty to my brother is how I measure myself.

#ICameHereForAProperShootout

Useful links:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3569230/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey7S4hko_Mc

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=139205