OMFG THIS MOVIE IS AMAZING. Sorry but I adored this film! Be aware: It is a biopic, do not go into this expecting something different. So yes, it has pacing issues and is a little long but that can't really be helped. But those issues are nothing compared to how slamming this movie is.

I've seen it twice already, it's been out in Australia for 2 weeks. In saying that I recommend a second viewing lets you pick up lots of little elements you may have missed the first time, subtle foreshadowing and commentary.

Now onto the important stuff! Tom Hardy is genius, actually genius. He said in an interview recently that he preferred playing Ronnie (the twin with glasses) and I am so happy he did because Ronnie was played spectacularly. He was by far the most interesting and complex character . Reggie was brilliant too however Ron's depth of character and surprising humor was flat out amazing. Emily Browning surprised me, I didn't hate her as much as I thought I would. In saying that I didn't really enjoy her character either. I believe her acting was a little to subtle as her character has a little flat. This is probably just me but Taron Egerton was great, I love the kid and he is going onto to do amazing work but in this film Mad Teddy was to die for. Hilarious and well-rounded. On the topic of Teddy he story line with Ronnie was very well handled. I was scared they would brush over it as is quite common and just stick to alluding. Whilst nothing was show I felt it received the same treatment as other story lines. That's my slightly confusing way of avoiding spoilers.

Had a great soundtrack and a beautiful screenplay. Seriously, just the construction of sentences and dialogue was perfection. As always for my favorite films I'll leave you a quote of this film, hopefully to entice you to watch it.

"It took a lot of love for me to hate him the way I do"

Tom Hardy is quite accomplished here as he portrays both of the legendary London gangster Kray twins. The pair managed to stay one step ahead of the pursuing constabulary (led here by Christopher Ecclestone's ocassional appearances as "Nipper of there Yard") for many a year living the life of Riley whilst killing, extorting and running a network of protection rackets in the East of the city through their infamous "Firm" gang of henchmen. His persona of Reggie presents us with the more calculating, business-like approach whilst his portrayal of the sometimes gay Ronnie delivers a loose-cannon, violent character - but to be clear, it's pretty safe to say that neither are to be messed with, even by those closest to them. Much of the narrative dwells rather disappointingly on the relationship between Reggie and his first wife Frances (Emily Browning) and actually the rest of this is all rather weak and shallow. Aside from a few flirtations in a seamy gay brothel, the seedier side of Ronnie's life is barely touched upon and the story seems intent more on bringing us the bullet points of their lives rather than trying to develop anything like an insight into their respective (and frequently quite unstable) personalities. It's produced to a very high standard with much attention to the detail of 1960s London, but somehow the whole thing is just a bit too empty. The shell of a story that tries to cram too much into too little screen time. It's watchable, and is certainly better than the 1990 attempt at telling us the story of these brothers - but this is probably a story that can only be told comprehensively in a mini-series that allows the nature of their brutal yet sometimes quite sophisticated personalities to emerge more fully.

'Legend' was not a very good film. It was poorly acted and written on the most part. It was predictable and just seemed like a forgettable straight-to-video gangster film. However, the only saving grace (and a really good one) was Tom Hardy.

Hardy was brilliant in the main roles (playing both of the Kray twins). He made the film funny and really tense when it tried to be. The soundtrack was also really good.

★★★

When I first read about this film, I automatically took it like they had ripped off the movie title from the Ridley Scott fantasy classic. A friend of mine brought it up recently so I decided to check it out. The highlight for me was Tom Hardy playing as twin brothers who are gangsters in this sort of 50s noir settings. It seemed at some parts he's trying so hard that it looked and sounded ridiculous with his accent, haha. But I do like the technique they did to appear as there are two of him in the frame, perhaps with double exposure(?) and/or stunt double. That part reminded me of other past films that have done this such as _Double Impact_ (1991) with Van Damme, or _Multiplicity_ (1996) with Michael Keaton, and one I rewatched recently called _Doppelganger_ (2003). But the story, setting and characters made me think of films like _The Great Gatsby_ (2013) with Leonardo DiCaprio, and _Public Enemies_ (2009) with Johnny Depp. Of course I remember Emily Browning from _Sucker Punch_ (2011) and _Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events_ (2004). The drama arc is rather very minimal. The music selection is very nice though, almost as if they tried to cram as much of the good oldies as they can every chance they can get within the two-hour film length. Kray Kray