Tom Hardy shines in bad movie.

Rating: 5/10 (11 September 2015)

The only good thing about this very average film is Tom Hardy's acting. A lesser talented actor would have made it almost unwatchable. Short on facts, the writers here have just invented or borrowed bits to try and make the film sensational. It hasn't worked very well but at least shows the 'Krays' were a couple of psychopathic violent lunatics whose scrambled brains believed they were something special. Fact is, in this film, the one bit of fact we do know was said by Chas Palmintiri as Angelo Bruno the Philly mob boss, 'mobsters should keep a low profile'. Ironically poor old Angelo Bruno got whacked by Nicky Scarfo, a psychopath mafiosi who just like the 'Krays' loved being high profile and just like the Krays was sentenced to die in prison.
The 'Krays' and most of the morons who worked for them were as thick as planks. They were also seriously dangerous psychopathic paranoid, disorganised nut cases who would use violence against anybody who got in the way. Although the story seems to have forgotten a lot of well recorded facts and many real people. Where was older brother Charlie Kray and other faces who stood trial with them. Why so many of the main 60s true characters strangely left out of the film. The so called shootout scene was way off the recorded known facts in the Kray's pub the 'Carpenters Arms' and the only gunfight was in Catford at 'Mr Smiths' drinking club in 1965 and neither of the Krays were there. In this film, the 'Blind Beggar' pub had mysteriously moved from it's prominent place on the busy east end Whitechapel Rd to what was some unknown dark cobbled back street which was obviously a film set. Frances Shea had left Reg Kray 8 months after the wedding in 1965, she left diaries clarifying he was fairly useless as a man. The Triumph Spitfire he buys her was a 1967 registered car some two years later. Far from being respected by their 'firm' they were often looked upon a a couple of morons. Albert Donahue's nicknames for the twins was 'Gert and Daisy'.
The film could have told interesting story if it had been researched properly. The true story is far more interesting than this fiction. None of it is anywhere near the truth.
This film takes some of it's stories from an old book written by a toff named John Pearson. The book was written forty plus years ago and I can imagine they must have had a great time filling Pearson full of tall stories. But this film surpasses the book in being so full of fiction it becomes a spot the next mistake game. I am glad to say that the film does not glorify the 'Krays', it shows them more as the pathetic, paranoid, violent, brainless sick morons they were. Very lucky to have gotten away with their crimes for so long. But the 50s and 60s were not long after the war and London and times were a whole lot different. If anyone out there aspires to admire these couple of lowlifes, they seriously need a reality check up.
The Krays and the Richardson stories have been hijacked by so many 'silly b***icks' wannabe gangsters and money grabbing Kray wives it has become a monumental joke. Much of it fuelled by old showbiz people like Barbara Windsor for one who come up with' they were good boys who loved their old Mum'. Many of the most evil despots in history loved their Mothers. The 'Krays' were hated with a passion by many of the proper old faces around London. The Krays were disorganised and out of control. Only last week, Freddie Foreman, who is a wily old fox and was smart enough to shun the limelight when he was active said had the Krays not been arrested they were due to be 'ironed out'. Freddie Foreman would know more about the Krays, the Richardsons and London's underworld than is contained the many books about the 'Krays'. There are many who were there who believe that it would have been better for all of us if they had been ironed out and disappeared off of the face of the earth in 1967.
The 'Krays' do not deserve being called a legend. The bull***t has created an industry out there for second rate books, films and documentaries that will invent anything to get your money. This is just another one. As a gangster movie, it isn't in the same league as American films 'Godfather' 'Goodfellas' or 'Casino' from a Brit angle it doesn't come close to 'The long Good Friday' or 'Sexy Beast'. 'Legend' is just another ordinary film made watchable by Tom Hardy's performance.
Before you see this movie, watch Monty Python's 'Pirhana Bros' sketch and take on the Krays, apart from being hilarious, the Pythons got it far more right than the writers of 'Legend'.