Critics rating: 1.5 Stars

Cast :  Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, Christopher Ecclestone, Joshua Hill, Colin Morgan

Direction: Brian Helgeland

Produced: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Chris Clark, Quentin Curtis, Brian Oliver.

Written: Brian Helgeland.

Genre: Thriller

Duration: 133 Mins

Tom Hardy is electrifying and everything else significantly less so in the crime-drama which takes the road to nowhere.
The Kray twins, Ronald and Reginald (Tom Hardy, double role), ruled post-war London as the untouchable and formidable twosome, heading the gang simply known as “The Firm”. Except for minor references to their streetfighting background, there is little on their origins from rags to night clubs. They were wartime evacuees. We get nothing on their father, their older brother Charlie Kray and least of all their mother, who was an important influence on their lives.

They dive right into the plot with Reggie offering two cops some coffee in their car as they watch over him before taking on a lover boy mould for wooing the dainty but bland ingénue Frances Shea (Emily Browning). There is also that little matter of threatening a psychiatrist to give a clean chit to his mentally unstable twin Ronnie, though the actual escape from the psychiatric ward involved a swap of identities as a more exciting means of escape.
A lot of what the Kray brothers actually saw or did has been glossed over in the film. Legend showcases Ronnie as the mentally unstable brother with homosexual leanings while Reggie was the balanced, faithful lover to Frances. In real life, they were both allegedly bisexual and with a propensity for violence.

While many sources attest to the fact that Reggie was never physically violent with Frances, an anecdote reveals that he did exploit her fear of blood once by slashing his hand and dripping the blood over her as she slept.
The brothers, apparently, also ran a lucrative bodyguard and protection business from their jail cells, with none other than Frank Sinatra hiring their services.
Legend is a slowburn crime drama which moves at exactly the same momentum from the beginning to the end, if you choose to stay long enough for the end credits. It is more unfortunate when noted that director Brian Helgeland was the writer who adapted L.A. Confidential for the big screen.

Ronald and Reginald Kray had enough fodder in their lives for a riveting biopic or a crime thriller, which makes the film seem like an opportunity lost. Tom Hardy does his best as the two distinct personalities but it deserved a better script, not the flatlined narration that Legend insists on trudging through.
This is Oscar-bait but hold on until the DVD release. No point going “kray” about it in the halls.