LEGEND – The Review

An actor uses different means to convey a character to the audience. Tom Hardy’s main strength resides in his voice. Whether it is creating a bombastic and operatic voice for the villain Bane in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, delivering lines in the manner of a Southern preacher in LAWLESS, or conducting conversations in a charming Welsh accent in last year’s criminally underrated LOCKE – not to mention his restrained growl in this year’s MAD MAX: FURY ROAD – Hardy consistently shows a knack for bringing to life memorable characters through his unique vocal inflexions and speech patterns.

LEGEND is no different. Except this time around, Hardy is given the task to create voices and characters for twin brothers who share some similarities – both have a bad habit of getting into trouble – but are quite different. Hardy plays the famous 1960s English gangsters the Kray brothers. Reggie is the suave ladies man while his brother Ronnie is more of a gruff brute who has a soft spot for the men. As you can expect from Hardy, he gives each of them their own style of speech and physical mannerisms. Both brothers fuel the other’s drive to succeed. Furthermore, they pick up each other when one falls down; as can be seen when Reggie hatches a plan to get Ronnie out of jail at the onset of the film. However, all this changes when a new woman steps into Reggie’s life. Frances (Emily Browning) pushes for Reggie to focus just on running his nightclub, but the pressure from other gangsters, a rival mob, and some Italian-Americans from Vegas, all pull Reggie and his loose cannon brother the other way. And as trouble mounts more and more, so too does the interest of the police.

The star of the show are the stars themselves. Hardy and Browning… and Hardy… are all fantastic. The three… I mean two of them… propel the story forward much more so than Brian Helgeland’s limp direction. Perhaps it’s the lack of camera coverage in a number of scenes or perhaps it’s Helgeland’s apprehension to tell a more intimate story, either way, LEGEND fails to pull you into its crime web.

At 2 hours and 11 minutes, Helgeland’s film feels about 30 minutes too long. What makes this all the more apparent is not having a strong story that runs throughout the film. Sure, the Krays are dynamic in and of themselves, but a lack of a narrative drive as well as dangling subplots that never take off like they should all amount to a long affair. A rival gang threat never really lights a fire under the boys. The Vegas mobsters that travel to London to do business with the boys doesn’t add a whole lot of dimension that we already didn’t know or expect from the duo. Even the police investigation is used better as a joke at the beginning of the film than a working plot device towards the end. If you are a fan of gangsters talking shop and flexing their bravado, there’s some stuff here to chew on. LEGEND isn’t a complete time waster even though it wastes too much time between the good stuff.

As a result, the film rests solely on its actors and on the throwback musical tunes from the 50s and 60s interspersed throughout – which is certainly better than the hamfisted musical score by Carter Burwell. Browning delivers much more than the script allows. Maybe I’m just a sucker for her doe eyes and soft features, but her internal concern and struggles are evident in the scenes opposite Hardy. Likewise, you can see the love he has for her in his eyes.

It’s no easy feat bringing to life two characters in one film. It’s even harder when the character carries such complex internal baggage with him or her – as is the case with the tortured Ronnie. LEGEND, as a film, may not live up to its namesake, but the same can’t be said for its captivating and dashing star. Tom Hardy is a modern film legend, and this is yet another entry that showcases his artistry.

OVERALL RATING: 3 OUT OF 5 STARS

LEGEND opens nationwide
Wednesday, November 25, 2015.