“Love is a witness.”
Tom Hardy’s “the double project” Legend rams into the average door. So what takes it down the gnawing jaws of mediocrity? The plot! Yes the plot! Wish they had thought it through before helming it.
The drama isn’t engaging at all. There is a constant upbeat score that keeps going in the background that makes sure of it. You almost know you are in for some humour and constant light-hearted melodrama. So things work until you see some serious business going on.
The biopic had a lot of potential if the story building was given a proper look-see. But unfortunately the direction takes a weird sluggish pit stop as it proceeds with the Frances-Reggie sub-plot to bring the tale to fruition. A lot of real facts in the Kray dictionary go down the toilet as John Pearson’s story tries to concentrate more on Frances and Reggie than the twin story itself.
Screenplay is good at times, however not enough to drop the anvil. You also wish the direction to be a little more engaging. You feel this sudden need for more humour, more drama and more colours into the “not so kray-onic” world of gangsters. When the movie gets over, you instantly feel the void all the aforementioned absent elements leave you with.
The only reason you should watch this movie for is Tom Hardy. Watch him turn into something else yet again. This time he gets to play two of ‘em in a single flick. Both his personalities are very different from each other. He wears two different voices (one’s a monotone where he chews on his words mostly) quite gorgeously. You will marvel at his walk, the way he talks and reacts to a situation. It is both ballsy and reckless at the same time.
PROBABLE SPOILERS:
In the movie Legend, the chemistry between Frances and Reggie was terribly missing. Wished Tom Hardy’s Reggie to be a more feeling kind. His acting at other junctures is simply outstanding though. Like when we get a glimpse of his rad provoked anger at a badass moment when he stabs the hell out of Jack McVitie. It was probably the most memorable thing in the entire movie. That and the fight between the twins which was quite hilarious and emotional at the same time.
Go watch Legend if you wish to have a little glimpse into the history of the Krays and the London mafia scene back then. That and if you are a Hardy boy!
Legend
