I'm Sure the Krays' Story Is Legendary, Solid Is a Better Way To Describe This Movie

Rating: 7/10 (2 February 2016)

This movie looked like it was tailor made for me. A gangster epic with a 1960s backdrop, written and directed by Brian Helgeland (admittedly I haven't seen L.A. Confidential but 42 was a well made biopic that was really enjoyable)and Tom Hardy playing a dual lead (Tom Hardy is one of the top actors working today). I couldn't wait to see it, even after the reviews came out and it didn't receive the praise I thought it would and as much as it shouldn't matter what anyone else says, in this instance the critics were right.
*Minor Spoilers Ahead* Our narrator is Frances Shea (Emily Browning) Reggie's eventual love interest. The movie starts with Ronnie Kray (Tom Hardy) and Reggie Kray (Tom Hardy) riding around in their playground, 1960s London. Frances gives us a brief description of the two men and promises us a hell of a story about how the Krays became the "legends" they would go on to be. The start of the movie revolves around Reggie, the more level headed and ambitious of the two brothers trying to get Ronnie out of psychiatric care. Ronnie had been convicted for a violent crime but moved to a mental hospital because he's crazy. He's a paranoid schizophrenic with a particularly nasty mean streak. But Reggie is able to intimidate his psychiatrist to recommending his release. It is also at this time that Reggie meets Frances, who is the sister of his driver. He begins a relationship with her despite being constantly watched by Det. Leonard Reed (Christopher Eccleston).
A warning ahead of time, the actor's accents can be hard to determine for anyone who isn't from the U.K. That's not a criticism, I'm sure it's very accurate to the real people this story is based on. Being Canadian though, it was hard to understand the actors at times (I found especially at the beginning). This is too bad because a lot of the dialogue is pretty good and there's lots of funny jokes and an interesting story here.
One of the things that this movie does differently is that there's a lot of focus on the love story between Reggie and Frances, to the point that it makes Ronnie a supporting character. This is different and it's not a bad decision but I wanted to know more about the Krays' dealings as opposed to Reggie's relationship with his girl. The best scenes in the movie are when Ronnie and Reggie are starting mayhem or cutting deals to keep power and while I liked both Tom Hardy and Emily Browning in that subplot, it just isn't as interesting.
If there's anything that almost lives up to this film's title, it's Tom Hardy's performance as Ronald and Reggie Kray. Hardy's a great actor and this project is a good showcase for his talent. Both Ronnie and Reggie have distinct characteristics and to Hardy's credit there are scenes where they play off each other remarkably well. I wasn't a big fan of Emily Browning previously, I had only seen her in Sucker Punch but she was pretty decent here. She does a good job and she and Hardy have good chemistry. Getting to the rest of cast, a lot of the supporting characters have good actors playing them but they are reduced to one note. Chris Eccleston and Chaz Palminteri are barely in the movie, the trailers are misleading that way. Chris especially feels wasted here, he's more comedic relief than anything. David Thewlis gets more to do and he does a solid job. Taron Edgerton isn't given a whole lot to do conversely, Kingsman: The Secret Service was a lot better of a showcase for him. On a side note, Paul Bettany is barely in the movie but he steals his scenes completely. He plays a rival gang leader and he's pretty crazy and funny.
I think the biggest drawback to Legend is that while certain things are different, you get the typical rise and fall gangster story when it comes to the plot. Sure it's dressed up well, the cinematography is beautiful and they hired the right people to make something interesting. It just didn't end up being the equal to the sum of its parts. I thought I was going to love it and while it was still a good movie, it definitely falls short of being great.