Black Comedy Par Excellence

Rating: 10/10 (7 December 2015)

I loved director Brian Helgeland first movie "Payback," starring Mel Gibson and I expected I would enjoy "Legend" too. And I certainly did. Like "Payback," "Legend" is a dark comedy at heart. There are scenes here where I laughed out loud, like the one where Ronnie Kray informs his American mafia counterpart that he's gay, taking pains to describe his sexuality in some length. This was the 1960s, where gays were referred to as "faggots," and the look on the mafioso's face as he's being told all this is priceless. Then there's the scene where Ronnie Kray behaves badly with the guests at the Kray brother's night club. When Reggie gets back from his stint in prison, the only ones in the club on a Friday night are his gang members. When you're making a movie on two murderous gangsters I guess it's best you keep the treatment light and not take them too seriously. Another recent movie called Dark Mass starring Johny Depp took itself too seriously and suffered as a result. In the end end, they were stupid gangsters and there's no point getting into your knickers into a twist over whether they look glamorous on film or not. Like "Payback", "Legend" has a certain look and feel and the artwork and cinematography are excellent. Tom Hardy in a dual role is great too as are the supporting cast. Yes, it's hard to catch the dialogue sometimes, but that's not a major issue.