Legend 2015

     This film is based on the true story of twin gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray and adapted from a book by John Pearson.  The film begins in the 1960’s and they are the most notorious criminals in the London criminal underworld.  Ronnie advances the family business with violence, intimidation and vulgarity.  Reggie struggles to be a legitimate businessman.  He’s in love with a local girl Frances Shea and she is the sister of his driver.  She doesn’t want to marry a criminal.  Reggie tries to go straight but he’s in and out of prison.  Ronnie is very unpredictable and he is a loose cannon waiting to explode.

     This is a complex film with a LOT of violence!!  Tom Hardy is playing both Reggie and Ronnie.  There are scenes where you can tell they were filmed separately and then put together.  Frances is the narrator of the film and there are times when you feel very sorry for her!!  Her mother never gives her a break!!  I never felt sorry for Reggie or Ronnie.  The brothers both received criminal convictions for murder and they died five years apart.  Ronnie died from a heart attack in 1995 and Reggie died from cancer in 2000.   3* (This movie is OK)

132 min, Bio directed by Brian Helgeland with Paul Anderson, Tom Hardy, Christopher Eccleston, Joshua Hill, Emily Browning, Colin Morgan, Tata Fitzgerald, Nicholas Farrell, Adam Fogerty, Mel Raido, Major Johnson Finely, Millie Brady, Chris Mason, Stephen Thompson, Sam Pruell.

Note:  Imdb 7.0 out of 10, 61% critic 59% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 3.9* out of 5* with 931 reviews, Roger Ebert 1 ½*, Metacritic 55 out of 100 with 31 critics 8.5 out of 10 with 289 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Wapping, Bethnal Green Teesdale Street, Waterloo, Buckinghamsire, Canrobert Street, Bethnal Green, Stuart Road, Stoke Newington, Coventry Street, Greenwich, Crofton Park, Lambeth, London, England, UK.  This film became the highest grossing 18-rated British film of all time and surpassed Trainspotting of 1996.  Rating of 18 is adults only and no one younger than 18.  The British classifications are U, PG, 12A and 12, 15, 18, R18.  The gross worldwide was $41,636,816 with a production budget of $25,000,000.  Ronnie was certified to be insane in 1979.  He also kept his sexuality very private because he saw it as an exploitable weakness.  Tom Hardy received a very serious ankle injury during a pub fight scene.  Hardy won Best Actor from the British Independent Film Awards, London Film Critics’ Circle and Toronto Film Critics Association.