"Legend" stars a Legend in the Making in a FAR less than legendary movie.

Rating: 4/10 (23 November 2016)

I love this guy. Love, love, love, love, LOVE him. Ever since being thoroughly stunned by his astonishing one-man tour de force performance in "Locke" I have been a gigantic fan. He is gifted, multi-dimensional and compelling. He is Tom Hardy. And he just may be the best actor alive.
So established, I regret to say that I definitely did NOT love Hardy's 2015 dual role project "Legend". Oh, HE was outstanding as usual in bringing us both Reginald AND Ronald Kray, the real life identical twin brothers who ruthlessly ruled the gangster roost in 1960's London. The problem is that the story, along with this production, is stultifyingly bleak and doggedly despondent. Add to this that there is never any effort dedicated to fleshing out a backstory, nor is there nary a cursory attempt to explain how these repugnant thugs became consumed by a life rife with crime and terrorization while apparently establishing and wielding absolute power over all competition along with Scotland Yard.
Consequently, it is damn near impossible to recommend that anyone watch "Legend". Even WITH two times the Hardyness to behold.
Reg and Ron each rotted and died in prison, as well they should have. And it sure as hell wasn't getting any more pleasant for either one of them after they perished.
But did we really need a spirit-smashing movie like "Legend" to inform us that these abominable snakes once slithered about our earth in the first place?