Legend

Brian Helgeland is a writer and director who has a long and illustrious history when it comes to crime dramas. From his Oscar winning script for LA Confidential to his nomination for Mystic River and that’s before you take into account his hard boiled brilliance that is Payback and Man On Fire. So it is a natural fit that he decided to tackle one of the most notorious crime stories in the form of The Kray Twins. 

Legend, as its title suggests, is a retelling of Reggie (Tom Hardy) and Ron (also Hardy) Kray’s story of legend and how they rose to power in the London gangster scene. Told through the eyes of Frances (Emily Browning), Reggie’s wife, we see the rise and eventual fall of the Krays. 

Helgeland shoots ‘60s London with a bright, pastel pallet, the film feeling both vibrant and a little bit grimy. It sets a perfect visual tone for a film that treads a fine line between crime drama and comedy. 

At times Legend feels distinctly Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, all the cockneys being larger than life, sometimes feeling like caricatures but always fascinating to watch. Because they’re all characters who feel on the edge, either ready to charm or explode with violence at the drop of a hat. If that feels distinctly Goodfellas, then it’s a fair comparison to draw. 

The story sometimes feels a little bit of a highlight reel of the Krays misadventures but it’s often deeper than that. Reggie is a deeply torn character. On the one hand he wants to live the highlife of London in its heyday with his beloved Francis. On the other, loyal to his violent brother Ron and easily seduced into the powerful world of being a gangster.

Central to this is a typically transformative performance from Hardy. His Reggie is slick, charming and every bit the playboy you’d expect of a gangster in the swinging 60s. There are moments in Legend where you do wonder how the role of Bond escaped Hardy, his ability to look effortlessly cool in a tux, his smooth, effortless ways with the ladies, even the way he casually lets a cigarette perch in the corner of his mouth screams 007.

But it’s in Ron that Hardy truly shines. From the moment Ron enters the film you’re on edge. One minute he can be the class clown, the next he’s a raging psychopath, as likely to give you a hug as rip your jugular out. But it’s in the body-language that Hardy’s portrayal of the two really is sensational. Reggie all put together, slick. Ron, hunched over, sometimes puff-up and looking broader, more imposing than his better-looking twin. It is Hardy much more than anything else here that is the main selling point, a joy to witness an actor play such opposing roles with so much life injected into both. 

An interesting retelling of a true-crime story made magnificent by a powerhouse performance from Tom Hardy, Legend is aptly named. 

Pair with Goodfellas, Lock, Stock & Two Smoke Barrels or Dead Ringers. 

LEGEND will be released by StudioCanal on 4K UHD on 24 November.

Amazon pre-order link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FS7C3YLT