Maybe it’s just me. Legend used to mean a bit more than “guys you’ve might have heard of.” Perhaps I just wasn’t terribly impressed with the East End crime empire (as presented) built by brothers Reggie Kray (Tom Hardy) and Ronnie Kray (also Tom Hardy) – lessee, a bunch of money laundering for the American mob, one (1) nightclub that promptly went sour and another that didn’t get the chance because, among other things, Ronnie Kray has the self-control of Veruca Salt.
Told from the perspective of the woman who fell out of love with Reggie (Emily Browning), Legend doesn’t exactly overwhelm with underworld swagger. In the film, Frances (Browning) moves from one ugly crowded flat in London’s East End to another ugly crowded flat in London’s East End. Movin’ on up, girl. That’s what being the big man’s woman is all about. I’m a tad puzzled as to where all the ill-gotten gains of the Kray empire went as they didn’t show on screen. You guys are kinda modest crime lords, huh – what, you’re only in it for the thuggery?
When the film begins, the cops are already taling Reggie Kray 24/7. Wait. You’re starting here?! I don’t even get to see the roots of this “empire?” I suppose the 
producers figured the stuff worth telling doesn’t really begin until Ronnie Kray gets sprung from the mental ward. Unlike most depictions of the rags-to-riches-to-wormfood mobster tale, Legend didn’t seem taken with the details of transition so much as the details of Tom Hardy vis-à-vis Tom Hardy. Reggie was a businessman, a romantic, a schemer and, unfortunately for Frances, a big fat liar. Ronnie, of course, was a freaking psycho. I believe Tom Hardy intended to play Reggie for swoons and Ronnie for laughs, although the latter is certainly debatable. I point to the one big brawl in the film in which Ronnie is so visibly upset that the men who have come to rough him up failed to bring proper weaponry that he literally foams at the mouth – that’s gotta be comic, right?
Tom Hardy is the reason to see Legend and there isn’t another. You want to see the smile slowly disappear from Emily Browning’s face? How about the straightforward mobbery of Chazz Palminteri? No? Me neither. Wish I could tell you there were better things surrounding a pretty great performance … there weren’t.
♪One man come in the name of blood
One man, he’s a goon
One man came here to spring a mate
One man is loony tunes
In the name of blood
Two bros not quite beloved
In their hearts, just brutes
With each other in cahoots♫
Rated R, 131 Minutes
D: Brian Helgeland
W: Brian Helgeland
Genre: Thugology
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Gangsterphiles
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: “Tom Hardy has really big lips.”
♪ Parody inspired by “Pride (In The Name Of Love)”
The thing is they focuses so much on the insanity and tried to make them too nasty. In reality the ‘people’ loved Ronnie and Reggie. Yes they were nutters but they did more to keep the east end safe than the police ever could.
Tom Hardy was fantastic though and part of me sees Bond when he’s in the tuxedo. Great composing too from Carter Burwell.