To Brits of a certain age, particularly Londoners, despite their acts of unspeakable violence the Kray Brothers have always been considered with great affection as part of the folklore of the East End in the 1950’s and the 1960’s. Their exploits filled the tabloid newspapers at the time, as despite their thinly veiled gangster activities they became celebrity club owners mixing with the rich and the famous until it all came crashing down in 1968 when the Law finally caught up with them once and for all. Now their quintessential English story, has been made into yet another movie, this time with the perfect title of Legend, written and directed by an American Brian Helgeland, although he based it on John Pearson’s book The Profession of Violence that the Krays had commissioned him to write. Helgeland is actually following a small new trend of international filmmakers edging into a territory that they had been excluded for years and producing some of the best British period dramas such as Danish Lone Scherfig’s “An Education” and “The Riot Club” and Swedish Tomas Alfredson’s “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor”.
Helgeland tells the story through the eyes of Frances (an excellent Emily Browning) the petite and rather fragile young girl who Reggie first dates and then who eventually becomes his wife. She’s an East Ender so she is well aware of all the stories of the criminal activities that Reggie and his twin Ronnie get up, but this never stops her trying to persuade him to go ‘straight’. That in itself takes on a potentially different meaning with psychopathic Ronnie who is so mentally unstable and completely fearless that in a fiercely heterosexual culture he actual revels in the fact that he is gay. When an American gangster (Chazz Palminteri) promises to get him a Philadelphian girl, Ronnie simply trots out with “I prefer boys. Italians. Sometimes Greek. I’m not prejudiced.”
Charismatic Hardy is at his very best as the suave sophisticated playboy Reggie in his sleek shiny suits as he oozes charm as he keeps a tight grip on all the ‘firms’ activities. It’s he that wants to create and nurture some legitimate enterprises such as nightclubs and casinos as a cover for all their criminal activities that make them the underworld kings of the East End. The only thing he can never control is his manic and irrational brother who has a ferocious appetite for seeking grisly murderous revenge on anyone who crosses his path. ‘He’s completely bonkers’ as someone so aptly claimed more than once. Hardy powerfully portrays the heavier Ronnie with all his distinct mannerisms including his tic and his menacing eyes behind his big glasses and he beautifully captures the unintentional humor that spills out of Ronnie’s ramblings, but they are a very few flashes when you are aware that Hardy seems to trying just a tad too hard to distinguish him from sane Reggie.
Whatever the minor niggles are, this award-winning performance quite rightly confirms Hardy as one of the most important actors of his generation, and the perfect candidate to fill the soon-to-be-vacated shoes of 007. Although the supporting roles were not major parts they were crucial to the story and were filled by a remarkably talented British cast that included Christopher Eccleston, David Thewlis, Tara Fitzgerald, Taron Egerton, Paul Bettany, Kevin McNally rounded out by veteran actress Jane Wood as the mother. An unrecognizable Duffy played the nightclub singer Timi Yuro too.
The production designer Tom Conroy got the most of many of the East London locations that are still relatively untouched which really added to the frisson of the movie. So too did the soundtrack by Carter Burwell who seems to be the composer to go to right now for period pieces as he also wrote the score for Todd Hayne’s Carol.
Labels: 2015, British, drama, dramatized reallife
