We now live in The Age of Tom Hardy, a magical time in which practically everything this actor touches turns to gold, or at least into 3,000 gallons of guzzleline. Mad Max: Fury Road, Locke, Bronson, The Drop, the list goes on and on and on and on but it nearly stops at Legend, a film that somehow manages to feature not one but two Tom Hardy performances without being outright amazing.
It got off to a good start though. Directed by Brian Helgeland, Legend follows the infamous Kray Brothers throughout their ascent to the top (or is it the bottom?) of the London Underworld in the 1960s. Reggie (Tom Hardy) is the sensible one, violent when he needs to be and rational the rest of the time, and Ronnie (Tom Hardy) is the paranoid schizophrenic who just wants to start a utopia in Nigeria and also kill everybody just for the hell of it.
The visual effects used to let Tom Hardy to play both Kray brothers ranges from seamless to fairly dodgy, but the problem isn’t with the CGI, it is with Hardy himself, who appears to be utterly fascinated by Ronnie and going through the motions with Reggie. The unhinged Kray brother is yet another of the actor’s fantastic creations, a grumbly mountain of hazy ideas and dumb violence. The respectable Kray brother is a stock character, thanks largely to Helgeland’s script, which flies whenever the Krays go Kray-Kray and plummets whenever they try to act normal. Hardy simply doesn’t bring much energy to Reggie’s humdrum subplot of marrying a nice girl and trying, kinda, to go straight and make her happy.
Emily Browning plays Frances Kray, and although she is often a very good actress she has even less to work with than Hardy does in their many scenes together. That she also narrates Legend does the film few favors. Legend may be a perfectly functional crime story but it lacks focus and a unique personality, whenever Ronnie isn’t on screen anyway. The Kray brothers were some of the most intriguing and bizarre organized criminals from the 20th Century – just wait until you hear about their orgies – but Helgeland’s film tells their tale from the perspective of Frances, whose personal journey is far more usual and less exciting than those of her husband and his unbalanced bro.
It’s not that Legend has no momentum, it’s that it’s moving in the wrong direction, pushing the most familiar elements of the Kray brothers story into the foreground and making all the truly memorable moments feel like anecdotes. The Kray brothers are at their most fascinating when they were given something to work with, a task to be performed in a bizarre new way, and an excuse to act out. Not unlike Tom Hardy. Keeping all of these men at Bay turns Legend into something rather ordinary.
Images via Universal Pictures
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
The Best of TIFF 2015 | Exclusive Reviews, Interviews and Videos
The Best of TIFF 2015: Exclusive Reviews, Interviews and Videos
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'The Martian' Sciences All The Science
Matt Damon stars in an outer space thriller by nerds, for nerds. The rest of us can enjoy it too.
Image via 20th Century Fox
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Brian Helgeland on ‘Legend’ and ‘The Wild Bunch’
The Oscar-winning filmmaker reveals which Tom Hardy was hardest to work within a film that stars two of them.
Image via Universal Pictures
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'High-Rise' is an Impressive Erection
An insulated community gradually collapses into anarchy and horror in Ben Wheatley’s slimy J.G. Ballard adaptation.
Image via Recorded Picture Company
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Denis Villeneuve on 'Sicario' and 'Blade Runner 2'
The filmmaker promises to 'take care of' the mystery of whether Deckard is a replicant or a human in his next film, the long-awaited follow-up to Blade Runner.
Image via CraveOnline
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'The Boy and the Beast' is Best of the Fest
Mamoru Hosoda’s unique and brilliant animated fantasy could very well fill a hole in your soul.
Image via Mongrel Media
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Chiwetel Ejiofor on ‘The Martian’
He can about playing a super nerd, but he cannot talk about playing a supervillain (yet).
Image via CraveOnline
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Tom Hardy is Kray-Kray in 'Legend'
Tom Hardy plays identical twin organized crime bosses, but only one of them well, in Brian Helgeland’s uneven biopic.
Image via Universal Pictures
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'The Danish Girl' Flakes at the End
Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander give soaring performances, but this Oscar contender lands with an unexpected thud.
Image via Focus Features
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'Mustang' Isn't Just Turkey's 'Virgin Suicides'
A promising new filmmaker explores the repressions five sisters undergo when they’re accused of sexual indecency.
Images via Cohen Media Group
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Drew Goddard on 'The Martian' and 'Sinister Six'
"It was the epic Spider-Man movie of my dreams," says the acclaimed writer/director.
Image via CraveOnline
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'Body' Makes You Laugh Without Knowing Why
Corporeality haunts three characters in this masterful Silver Bear winner from director Małgorzata Szumowska.
Image via Nowhere
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'Green Room' Has Strong Fear on Tap
Jeremy Saulnier's neo-Nazi thriller is a worthy follow-up to Blue Ruin.
Image via A24
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Superb Satire in 'Chevalier'
The Greek New Wave demands to be viewed with this comedy about hyper-competitiveness turning men into horse's asses.
Image via Faliro House Productions
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'Sicario' Borders on Greatness
From the director of Prisoners comes a gripping episode of narcs and violations.
Image via Lionsgate
