LEGEND: A Glossy Take On A Gritty Story

From the minute of its inception I had high hopes for Legend. An earlier attempt at a biopic of the infamous Kray twins has largely been forgotten, starring as it did the brothers from Spandau Ballet. But this one, starring Tom Hardy as both Ronnie and Reggie, with a plethora of great British actors in supporting roles, looked promising. Although, I’ll admit I was trepidatious. Brian Helgeland’s (writer and director of Legend) filmography is sketchy at best, with his closest to relevant recommendation being that he wrote the screenplay for LA Confidential. Which, to be honest, I didn’t hold in high esteem. But as it was, in the end, Legend wasn’t what I was expected, but it wasn’t half bad.

The Voice Of Frances Shea

The most striking element of Helgeland’s Legend is its voiceover. The voice is that of Frances Shea (Emily Browning) and although it is disconcerting at first to hear the voice over a woman narrating a male centric crime thriller, you soon come to understand why Helgeland has done this. By telling the story of the Krays from the position of someone who loved them we pay witness to the world of the Krays through someone who wanted to see the best in them. After marrying Reggie Kray, Shea may have become one of the closest witnesses to the life of the twins, but because of her desire for Reggie to go straight she could also remain objective.

But, as will become clear to you when you see the film, there is no way of us really knowing what Frankie (Frances) thought, and despite the inspired idea to tell the story from her point of view it falls down for two important reasons. Firstly, it feels intrusive, as Frankie is outside of the action that takes place on screen. Secondly, it adds a high amount of romanticism to a story where it really shouldn’t belong.

A Romantic View

After Frankie’s voiceover the greatest surprise in watching Legend is the high gloss and romantic view it casts over the Krays. To be honest, even in present day the British media has been apt to present the Krays as some kind of modern day Robin Hoods. Helgeland possibly wasn’t aware of this idolatry, but it’s exactly how it presents them, as the celebrities they are/were.

But honestly, in Britain at least, we’ve had enough of the Krays as celebrities. As time has gone on we have learnt more and more about how truly violent they could be and people have had little time for their celebrity aggrandisement. So when the production of Legend was announced I, for one, had high hopes of a gritty British crime thriller. What I got was a film that put entertainment far above realism.

Legend is very glossy and a scenic, almost screwball comedy flight through the life of the Krays. Scenes of violence all have a smattering of humour, Reggie and Ronnie seem almost like caricatures of themselves. It’s all a bit lighthearted and sympathetic to two characters who were anything but cheeky London lads. This being said, while the film doesn’t accurately portray the brothers, it is still quite a good watch. While it’s not the gritty crime thriller I was expecting Helgeland’s take on their story is, at least, entertaining.

Failed Potential

While Legend is entertaining, the fact of the matter is that it had a huge amount of potential and while it didn’t exactly fail, it fell short, and that disappoints me greatly. Tom Hardy is superb as the Kray twins, but by his standards their characterisation is just a walk in the park. With a darker script and more attuned direction, Hardy would be on his way to an Oscar nomination. But as it is, Reggie appears nothing more than Tom Hardy himself, whilst Ronnie seems almost like a cartoon version of the man he really was.

The real shame of Legend is that Helgeland didn’t get to the bones of the Krays’ story. There is a lot to be said for the way the film acknowledges the problems between the brothers, compares Reggie’s anger to the violence of his brother, and attempts to explore Frankie’s problems with mental illness. But it only acknowledges, it skims over it lightly, never stopping to really understand what was going through their minds.

I would like to make the excuse that maybe Helgeland could have explored these issues, had he more time. But almost all the scenes actually seem to run a minute longer than necessary. This is close to annoying, but then really doesn’t do much damage. However, Helgeland’s direction is off the mark. Some scenes clearly provoke a tension, as brewing violence approaches. But apart from a few moments, Helgeland never really lets the actors and the camera off the reins to explore it. So, the story, while interesting, never really has you on the edge of your seat.

What really keeps Legend a cut above the film it may have ended up being is the astonishing array of great British actors: Christopher Eccleston as Nipper Read, Paul Bettany as Charlie Richardson, David Thewlis as Leslie Payne, with newbies Colin Morgan, Taron Egerton and Aneurin Barnard providing reinforcements. (Although, whilst I have watched Barnard in other films, and have seen him in the role of David Bailey, I cannot remember him being in Legend at all.)

Whilst these actors have never really hit the mark as Hardy does, I’ve seen them come startlingly close to greatness. But in Legend they don’t really do much at all. They’re never really given room to fill out their characters, they (like Hardy as Reggie) just sort of seem like themselves. Perhaps Helgeland was so focussed on directing two Tom Hardys he really didn’t have time to worry about the other cast?

Where For Art Thou Teddy Smith?

Ultimately the great fly in the ointment of Legend for me, and one which really drives home how little Helgeland paid attention to the greater narrative, is the case of Teddy Smith. Played by Taron Egerton, who is wasted in his role as the guy who mostly stands in the background, Smith’s story seems wildly overlooked. Smith has been referred to as a psychopath, he went missing shortly before the Krays’ arrest, and to the best of our knowledge it appears he was killed by either Reggie or both brothers. How is that not part of this story?

Helgeland based this film on the books of John Pearson. He was originally enlisted by the Krays themselves to write their biography, and then proceeded to write another two books. Whether Pearson’s books are very informed I could not say, but even a brief skim over the Krays’ Wikipedia page would suggest that this film misses out a great deal of events that would have occurred in this time period. Which is a great shame, and in skimming over the lives of Frankie (which the Shea family are not happy about, disregarded as they were from Helgeland’s research) and Teddy only reinforces how little this film is concerned with reality and the true effect of the Krays on the people around them.

Conclusion

If you quickly dispense with the idea of Legend as a gritty crime thriller you will no doubt find it entertaining. More than that, because the quite graphic violence is dealt with so quickly and sometimes humourosly, those squeamish of you will probably find you can watch it quite easily. The story is simple, dealt with quite deftly and any trauma you might feel at Reggie’s neglect and apparent rape of Frankie is breezed through so quickly you will find yourself remembering nothing more than how good Emily Browning looked with her 60’s hair and outfits.

But as a biography of the Krays, it comes up short. I know what you’re thinking, if it tells the story, roughly, who cares? Well, the thing is this, in Britain at least we hear endless stories about the Krays. Occasionally stories or documentaries are trotted out, feature films are made: The Krays was made in 1990, The Rise Of The Krays was released this year, with The Fall Of The Krays soon to follow. Musicians even like to reference them in songs, and actors like to discuss meeting them. So if you’re going to tell the same old story again you should at least make sure it’s packed full of detail, as true as can be, and the definitive article. Because if you don’t make it we’ll quickly discount you and resume waiting for the person who can.

How you seen Legend? How do you think it compares with what we really know about the Krays?

Legend was released on September 9 in the UK, but American audiences will have to wait until November 20 for its release there. For more international release dates, click here.

(top image source: Universal Studios)