Not So Memorable – Legend Film Review

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; right&semi;">&NewLine;<p>Directed by&colon; Brian Helgeland<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Starring&colon; Tom Hardy&comma; Emily Browning&comma; Taron Egerton and Christopher Eccleston<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Genre&colon; Biography&comma; Crime&comma; Thriller<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>In a Nutshell&colon; <&sol;strong><em>Legend<&sol;em> is the story of notorious gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray and how they terrorized London during the 1950s and 1960s&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>My thoughts&colon; <&sol;strong>Coming hot-on-the-heels off the success of <em>Mad Max&colon; Fury Road<&sol;em> &lpar;arguably <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;old-school-wins-every-time-mad-max-fury-road-movie-review&sol;">this summer&&num;8217&semi;s best movie<&sol;a>&rpar;&comma; Tom Hardy takes on the dual role of the infamous gangster brothers from London&period; This isn&&num;8217&semi;t the first time the infamous siblings have received the big screen treatment&comma; with <em>The Krays<&sol;em> &lpar;1990&rpar; starring real life brothers Gary and Martin Kemp as <em>Legend&&num;8217&semi;s<&sol;em> predecessor&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Front and center is Hardy&comma; who gives a riveting performance as both brothers&period; The danger of using the same actor for both roles was not a technical one but rather the fact that it was potentially a distraction for one person play two separate people&period; This is thankfully not the case as Hardy delivers a masterful and unique performance as both Ronnie and Reggie respectively&period; Reggie is the more balanced suave good looking brother&comma; while Ronnie is the unhinged sibling with an itchy trigger finger and hot temper&period; They truly are very different people and I never felt during the film that the same actor was playing both roles&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Couple Hardy&&num;8217&semi;s acting abilities with superb split screen CGI and you had two living breathing brothers&period; A huge credit must go to Hardy who is clearly turning out to be perhaps <em>the<&sol;em> actor of his generation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;91325" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-91325" style&equals;"width&colon; 750px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04180027&sol;legend-film&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"wp-image-91325" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04180027&sol;legend-film&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Legend&sol; Universal Pictures" width&equals;"750" height&equals;"484" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-91325" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Legend&sol; Universal Pictures<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Tom Hardy is well supported by Emily Browning as Frances Shea&comma; Reggie&&num;8217&semi;s love interest and story&&num;8217&semi;s narrator&period; Browning gives a great performance  and proves that she is one to watch&period; The cast also features well known names such as Christopher Eccleston&comma; Taron Egerton&comma; David Thewlis&comma; Tara Fitzgerald and Chazz Palminteri&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Legend<&sol;em> shares the gritty atmosphere and swagger of 1960&&num;8217&semi;s London&comma; with the wonderfully well realized East End that&&num;8217&semi;s extremely well shot and lit&period; Kudos to Dick Pope the cinematographer and set decorator Crispian Sallis&period; Given its 18 rating here in the UK&comma; I was expecting <em>Legend<&sol;em> subject matter to be as violent and foul-mouthed as its subject matter could offer – which it is&period; However&comma; I wasn&&num;8217&semi;t expecting just how funny it turned out to be&period; The lionshare of the funniest moments were supplied by Ronnie&period; The movie in general actually&comma; despite it&&num;8217&semi;s certificate&comma; never had a totally serious edge to it which was good&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Legend<&sol;em> however is not without it&&num;8217&semi;s issues and it&&num;8217&semi;s these issues that I&&num;8217&semi;m afraid to say hold it back from greatness and from the movie I wished it had been&period; <em>Legend<&sol;em> is engaging and well acted but structurally the movie is a bit of a mess&period; Also&comma; despite Hardy&&num;8217&semi;s stunning central turn and a beautifully recreated world it can at times drag quite a bit&period; The pacing is a out of whack and as a result the movie feels longer than it&&num;8217&semi;s 2 hours 11 minutes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The film would&&num;8217&semi;ve definitely benefited by having 10-15 shaved off it&&num;8217&semi;s running time&period; <em>Legend<&sol;em> already has a great cast&comma; but save Hardy himself&comma; they aren&&num;8217&semi;t used to benefit the film&comma; especially Browning and Eccleston&&num;8217&semi;s character &lpar;the policeman on the Kray&&num;8217&semi;s tail&rpar;&period; These were pivotal people in the history of the Krays&comma; but here&comma; they&&num;8217&semi;re unfortunately brushed over and severely underwritten&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;91326" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-91326" style&equals;"width&colon; 750px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04180019&sol;legend&lowbar;film&lowbar;pic&lowbar;2&period;png"><img class&equals;"wp-image-91326" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;04180019&sol;legend&lowbar;film&lowbar;pic&lowbar;2&period;png" alt&equals;"Legend&sol; Universal Pictures" width&equals;"750" height&equals;"311" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-91326" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Legend&sol; Universal Pictures<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em style&equals;"line-height&colon; 1&period;5&semi;">Legend<&sol;em><span style&equals;"line-height&colon; 1&period;5&semi;"> will do nothing to damage the rising star of Tom Hardy&&num;8217&semi;s ever prosperous career&period; Based on his efforts alone&comma; the movie deserves a better rating but his stellar dual turn is held back by a lackluster story that is wrapped up in a movie whose framework is far from clear&period; Offering us a frustrating meandering approach and one that feels at times very surface level rather than a more dynamic deeper look into the lives of these infamous siblings&period; But Hardy is a delight and the movie is funnier than expected and looks great&comma; so I would still recommend you check this one out&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><em>My next review will be&&num;8230&semi;&period;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong><em>Maze Runner&colon; The Scorch Trials 3D starring Dylan O&&num;8217&semi;Brien&comma; Kaya Scodelario and Thomas Brodie-Sangster <&sol;em><&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong><em>September 10th<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;