Legend
Just in case there is still anyone out
there harbouring romantic notions about the glamour of East End gang warfare in
the 1950s and 60s (and I know they are out there because it’s my job to refill
the true crime shelf of my local Oxfam every week!), director Brian Helgeland’s
new film ‘Legend’, on the life and crimes of the notorious Kray twins, will
surely lay them to rest.
Having already seen the 1990 biopic ‘The
Krays’, I was under no illusion about the gruesome reality behind this particular
piece of East End mythology. I have a vivid memory of watching much of the
action of that film through my fingers, yet I don’t recollect the Kemp brothers
being quite as menacing as Tom Hardy in his excellent portrayal of these ‘iconic’
London gangsters. By contrast to the earlier film, Helgeland’s movie skips the
twins’ childhood and takes us straight into turf war with the Richardson gang. An
early scene, in which the Krays’ rivals are picked off in spectacular fashion in
the now infamous ‘Blind Beggar’ pub, is the first of the many crescendos of
violence that punctuate the movie. Though grist to the mill for moviegoers who
enjoy this kind of machismo, those of a more delicate disposition will find themselves
squirming in their seats. Because ‘Legend’ is (of course) very violent, a grisly
chain of murders and maimings, shootings and stabbings, which is often all the
more shocking because of the terrifying 0-60 speed and arbitrary nature of (mostly
Ron’s) violent outbursts. I found several of the set pieces, such as the
brothers’ scrap in their nightclub truly scary. Hard to watch indeed, but
essential in that it provided at least a glimpse of the symbiotic relationship that
existed between the brothers – loving and hating each other at the same time,
Reg always looking for ways to control the psychopathic tendencies of his
younger twin.
Unlike the earlier film, however, which
focused on the perspective of the twins’ mother Violet Kray, the narrator here
is Reg’s wife, Frankie, beautifully played by Australian actress Emily Browning.
Many critics have attacked the ‘love story angle’ of this film. I thought it
worked well and did much more than just “dampen the machismo”, as one critic
put it. I liked the female perspective and found the early scenes of Reg and
‘Frankie’s courtship almost tender, and all the more poignant given her rapid
descent into abuse, pill-popping and eventually suicide.
Tom Hardy does an incredible job with his
portrayal of Reg, the cool, calculating charmer of the duo. His Ron – every bit
the shambling, nutcase ‘homo’ given to random cruelty – is, many critics think,
much less believable, even verging on comic. (I must admit there were occasions
when the nasal twang and padded cheeks put me, ever so briefly, in mind of Tommy
Cooper - but it was only briefly!) I think one critic summed up the performances
well: “Reggie […] carries menace. Ronnie is truly terrifying.” Many of the minor
characters, a motley line-up of spivs and chancers, are strongly played - in
particular Sam Spruell as the notorious Jack “the Hat” McVitie, for whose
murder Reg was given a life sentence.
Though many will dismiss ‘Legend’ as just
another product of the Kray ‘industry’, and unlikely to add anything to what we
already know about this well-documented period in London’s underworld history, I
think it is still eminently worth seeing, if only to enjoy the performance of Tom Hardy’s career so far… and a great
soundtrack.
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