LEGEND – movie

Reginald “Reggie” Kray and Ronald “Ronnie” Kray are twins. But unlike most stories about twin brothers where one is evil and the other is good, Reggie Kray is a gangster and his twin brother Ronnie is a psychopath. Nothing redeeming about these boys – except that Tom Hardy, who played both Reggie and Ronnie with equal despicability, showed his acting talents. The fact that Ronnie Kray wore glasses was a minor distinction. The difference in their facial expressions, speech patterns, vocabulary and delivery was convincing enough for me, had I not known, to believe that two separate actors played the parts. So, Tom Hardy deserves an award for his acting. 

The movie narrated by Frances Shea (Emily Browning) the young wife of Reggie, after she committed suicide, begins with a horrific scene of a man being tortured by the Torture Gang, rival of The Firm, the gang led by the Kray twins who terrorized London during the 1950s and 1960s with robberies, murders, racketeering, and worse.

Part love story (Frances and Reggie met when she was only 16 and they were married when she turned 22), part violence (cold-blooded murders and cruel torture of anyone who got in the way of the Krays), and part character studies of the psychotic Ronnie Kray, his very misguided twin brother Reggie (who couldn’t give up his power), and Frances (his enamored love who dealt with her desire to lead Reggie straight by turning to pills as her dreams turned to futility), could have been riveting. Unfortunately, this movie was too gory and too long. Even the stellar performances of the actors didn’t leave me wanting more. Actually, the characters were instantly forgettable when the movie ended.

Tom Hardy stars as Ronald and Reginald Kray, twins who terrorized London during the 1950s and 1960.

Emily Browning plays Frances Shea, who met Reggie when she was 16 and married him at age 22 in 1965. She committed suicide in 1967.

Christopher Eccleston plays Leonard “Nipper” Read, detective and superintendent in charge of taking down the Krays.

Taron Egerton plays Edward “Mad Teddy” Smith, another psychopath who had an affair with Ronnie, who was openly gay.

Paul Bettany plays Charlie Richardson, childhood friends, and leader of the Torture Gang, the rival gang of the Krays gang, “The Firm”.

LEGEND was Directed by Brian Helgeland.